bing181

Just to be clear, the UCI (cycling's governing body) don't and haven't banned any cycling teams. On a few occasions where there have been multiple doping cases in the same team, either race organisers refuse to allow the offending team to participate (by simply not inviting them), or the teams actually "ban" themselves under an agreement the've put in place. This is what happened at the recent Tour of Beijing, where Astana withdrew after two of their riders returned positives in lead-up races. I know cycling gets a bad rap, most of well-earned and self-inflicted, but what has happened at Essendon in terms of refusing to play by the rules, going to court etc. etc., has NEVER occurred in cycling.

Sums up how I feel. No harm in trying and failing. Good luck to him.

Yes. They're doctors and physios, not fortune tellers.

Thanks for pointing that out.

Bit of a contradiction there, could be tricky to resolve. Who to believe? On the one hand we have "your mate", on the other, we have professional footballers who worked with him for many years. Hmm.

Latest update: Essendon supplements saga: McDevitt says Essendon players 'have a case to answer' Sounding pretty ominous. They know what they're doing.

Head coach. Development coach. See ... not the same. Of course, I realise that that's two ideas, which seems to be one more than you can get your head around at any one time, but perhaps if you repeat it enough times, comprehension will come. If not, refer to posts above, and/or perhaps run through a list of players that he was in charge of at Geelong as development coach, and look at what's become of them. Might as well work through the list alphabetically, so first name out of the hat ... Ablett. I don't know, you tell me, put that down as a success or not?

France. Yep, pretty rugged. Indoor trainer, watching replays of Dees matches. And just when I can't take it any more, NAB Cup starts up, which usually gets me through the last month or so.

Agree, but look where it got us last time ... (Scully/Trengove). Not saying it would happen again, but I don't know ... wonder whether they mightn't do a Draft Day (watch the film if you haven't already) and pull someone out of left field and take Lever.

I live in Europe.

Yes and no. The AFL know here that they're signed up to the WADA charter, and if they don't toe the line, WADA will just come in over the top with appeals to the CAS. If cases are proved, of course.

OT: I am indeed. Just heading out for a nice 40 k spin now ... Pinarello (though an entry level one ...) Mick Rogers. Great to see him achieving some results - as he said, lots of soul-searching during his enforced layoff, and he's come back a more gutsy rider. /OT

To add to that: when Contador failed the doping test, he was (immediately) provisionally suspended by his team - which was in September 2010. His doping case was heard by the Spanish doping authorities in January 2011, and he was cleared, and resumed racing. WADA and the UCI (cycling's governing body) appealed in March, and the hearing was eventually held in November, but only announced in February 2012. IOW, he raced one season while the appeal process was ongoing. Also, he served more than 6 months: the provisional suspension was for 5 months, and then he was banned from February till August 2012, so served a total of around 12 months. This covered the end of the 2010 season, but then more tellingly, basically the entire 2012 season. Sorry ... slightly long-winded (!!), but the point is that he did serve a hefty ban, albeit not a full 2 year one. On the other hand, if the Essendon players are to be provisionally banned once they go on the register, regardless of matches they might miss, my understanding is that they would be banned from any official AFL- related activity, including training. So, no pre-season. Interesting little aside to that this weekend, USADA have stepped in to stop Lance Armstrong participating even in a charity ride, as he's banned for life.

"ASADA's statement revealed it had written to the players' association's legal team to "remind" them the ADRVP was a "separate and independent body to ASADA and the CEO has no legal power to direct the function of the ADRVP or to dictate the timing of its consideration of cases".

Happy to see Blease go. He had his chances, but not a smart footballer.

So, as it stands, only first 2 picks in ND possible without further delistings: 7 out, 5 in. ??? (sorry, hard to keep track of ...)

Presumably because we didn't believe Hunt would last through to the Rookie list. Apparently a few clubs had spoken to him and if he was being considered by us, he would have been considered by others.

Agreed. But I don't believe it had much to do with misinformation or confusion, simply that: - there have been very few S0 prosecutions. On the other hand, Thymosin Beta 4 is clearly banned under S2. - ASADA must feel that they have a stronger (= easier to prove) case and evidence in regards to the use of TB4 at Essendon. Without the full facts behind ASADA's decisions, Essendon fans are simply deluding themselves if they think the non-prosecution of the AOD case shows some kind of incompetence or confusion on ASADA's behalf. It would be an unwise path to take, just as it was in regards to the court case re the legality of the whole investigation.

Statements like that do nothing to reinforce your argument, or even help establish one. Quite the reverse.

Perhaps including Simon Goodwin. Could be a worry ...

Not what's reported by people who know him.

For example?

It's not whether or not WE had alternatives, it's whether or not any other club had alternatives. We can hardly turn around to Richmond and say "Looks like the Trenners deal isn't going to work out. Tell you what, you can have Sam Blease instead, we'll send over the paperwork." Even the "we should have shipped Watts out" ignores the fact that many clubs might not have been interested, and the ones that were might not have had the picks/salary cap to make a trade work. For example, if Watts was worth in the 10 - 15 range - only Richmond, WCE, Crows, Geelong and Freemantle had picks in that range. Hard to see any of them wanting/taking him, even if they could. You only have to read the comments from Richmond (re Armitage) and Port (re Gorringe) to see how a lot of these trades are really like getting a camel through the eye of a needle.

Or he simply agreed to postpone his retirement by a year to help Roos get started.