Certified Legendary Thread 34 Essendon* Players suspended for doping violations - No opposition fans. Check OP for thread rules

[The Smoking Gun]

Why do people keep on assuming the AFL are going to decide their fate? They're not. They're leaving the fate of the players to an independent tribunal.
Two of the panel happen to be former county court judges with decades of experience, the chairman having led corruption enquires in the past so he's not going to be some sort of AFL patsy.

Well it did look like AFL did decide their fate. They decided their fate when Demetriou tipped off Evans the night before the "Darkest day in Australian Sport" announcement. The AFL was always determined to reduce the damage to their brand to an absolute minimum...and succeeded.

 

[Thrawn]

Well it did look like AFL did decide their fate. They decided their fate when Demetriou tipped off Evans the night before the "Darkest day in Australian Sport" announcement. The AFL was always determined to reduce the damage to their brand to an absolute minimum...and succeeded.

It was the AFL's best shot, and what do you know, it worked out well for them. Suddenly all those events make a lot more sense. I couldn't believe it otherwise but now it seems plausible.

 

[Thrawn]

There's someone on the Demonland forums who sums it up nicely:

Funny how all the leaks in the immediate aftermath of the case pointed to very bad news for the players, then late last week all the pro-Essendon commentators began gleefully proclaiming that they expected a non-guilty verdict.

This has been one large charade, and the AFL were pulling all the strings. They know ASADA/WADA can/will go above them to the CAS, but that will now paint them as the "bad guys" for dragging this on even further. Meanwhile, the AFL can rub their hands of it and say they let the players off, thus avoiding any scorn from the 'powerful' Essendon supporter base.

Funny how many press conferences were ready to go almost immediately following the verdict. You're a fool if you think the key players here weren't entirely aware of the outcome long before today's hearing.

Also note the carefully orchestrated media circus by the Murdoch press. Apparently, it's all over now! Gillon, Hird, Little, Jobe & the playing group and the AFLPA... every one of them painting a picture that this dark saga is finally over, and encouraging all fans to move on and get excited about football again. This drugs rubbish is over, folks! Perfectly painting the scene to make ASADA/WADA look quite the bad guys when they appeal, even though all they're trying to achieve is true justice for an illegal drugs program. Fans will be enraged at them for resurrecting the saga, especially after all the key parties have come out asking for us to move forward with our lives. Masterful manipulation of public sentiment by the AFL here.

It staggers me that Essendon's company line continues to be the walking contradiction, "we have absolutely no idea what the players were given, but we know for a fact it wasn't illegal!" Do they actually take us for idiots? I'll bet they didn't provide a shred of evidence to this tribunal as to what ingredients were injected, either. It was a total coincidence that the dosages correlated perfectly with the recommended dosages for TB4. Yep, pure coincidence.

Just ask yourself, why do so many of Essendon's actions since 2012 make absolutely no sense in the light of a non-guilty verdict? Self reporting a drugs program, rapidly turning over their player list, constantly delaying ASADA's case, endless appeals to suppress evidence and prevent SCN/IN's being issued, orchestrating an unprecedented anti-ASADA propaganda campaign in the Murdoch press, etc.

BECAUSE THEY'RE GUILTY.

 

[AlecDuncan]

This must be how Nicole Brown's family felt.

 

[james Dean]

I don't get why Essendon fans are celebrating, this doesn't change the fact that the club ran a dangerous and unacceptable supplements program which put the health of its players at risk.

The reason they weren't found guilty is because of insufficient evidence that doping occurred. They should not be celebrating James Hird, they should be celebrating the secretary who used the paper shredder to destroy all those invoices and consent forms

 

[Blueballs38]

Spot on.
Even OJ Simpson got found not guilty.

Me too!

This cannot stand!

 

[gandaal]

I don't get why Essendon fans are celebrating, this doesn't change the fact that the club ran a dangerous and unacceptable supplements program which put the health of its players at risk.

The reason they weren't found guilty is because of insufficient evidence that doping occurred. They should not be celebrating James Hird, they should be celebrating the secretary who used the paper shredder to destroy all those invoices and consent forms

How can you not get why Essendon fans are celebrating? Their players were doped up to the eyeballs, and they're getting away with it because someone at Essendon can press a delete button and use a paper shredder.

I'd be dancing in the street if I was them. I'm actually wondering why we don't give Dank a call. We have paper shredders too.

 

[Gavstar]

Can WADA please request that the appeal takes place in Geneva say about end of August early September and make player attendance compulsory?

 

[Navara79]

The morning after the day before and im still angry at the result. Normally i would be upset at other AFL related issues and and then get over it within a few hours and get on with supporting our great club. But this is bulldust! The bastards got away with it! Cant wait for the ball to be bounced on thursday night. Hopefully ill forget about it then....

 

[SBYM]

Probably get crucified for this, but honestly...I just don't give a s**t.

Them getting off/suspended has no bearing on the CFC in 2015 and beyond...maybe if they'd been wiped out we would have finished one spot higher??...dunno...

They didn't but, and that is that. Let's worry about what we (our club) can control, and leave the hand wringing to others.

 

[Jabba73]

Probably get crucified for this, but honestly...I just don't give a s**t.

Them getting off/suspended has no bearing on the CFC in 2015 and beyond...maybe if they'd been wiped out we would have finished one spot higher??...dunno...

They didn't but, and that is that. Let's worry about what we (our club) can control, and leave the hand wringing to others.

Why would anyone crucify you at Easter ..... that is so 2000 years ago?!?!

 

[Weiterbot23]

Probably get crucified for this, but honestly...I just don't give a s**t.

Them getting off/suspended has no bearing on the CFC in 2015 and beyond...maybe if they'd been wiped out we would have finished one spot higher??...dunno...

They didn't but, and that is that. Let's worry about what we (our club) can control, and leave the hand wringing to others.

If they got the first month off, it would have helped us. An easy win on trip back from WA, they would have lost their first 4 so wouldn't have made finals, plus they'd be playing full strength against all the other teams fighting for the last spot in the finals.


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[ESKIE]

If they got the first month off, it would have helped us. An easy win on trip back from WA, they would have lost their first 4 so wouldn't have made finals, plus they'd be playing full strength against all the other teams fighting for the last spot in the finals.


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They have a tough few weeks but

Bring it on

 

[Seen5]

Is this the biggest club liable situation since our salary cap issues? Yes. What did the AFL do then? It crucified Carlton. We are not yet recovered. Look at the administration (hopefully moving in the right direction since 2014). Look at membership and what clubs we are behind in terms of numbers. We are one of the three pillars of the AFL along with Essendon and Collingwood. If we three clubs are thriving on and off the field, the competition does not get bigger, nor better. What are the legendary games that people talk about? Is it Brisbane v Bulldogs? No, of course not, it's the Collingwood v Carlton Grand finals. It's the 1999 Preliminary Final.

Having over-reacted and crippled one these pillars for so long, are they going to do the same to another? No. This result has been about AFL self-preservation.

This is the only way I can understand and make sense of this Essendon decision.

The only way to get over it, for me, is to slay them on-field. They've taken their best shot at gaining advantage, let's allow them that and shove it right back in their faces (not the word I want to have chosen)>

 

[BIGGUS 64]

Probably get crucified for this, but honestly...I just don't give a s**t.

Them getting off/suspended has no bearing on the CFC in 2015 and beyond...maybe if they'd been wiped out we would have finished one spot higher??...dunno...

They didn't but, and that is that. Let's worry about what we (our club) can control, and leave the hand wringing to others.

Well said! We've been so fixated on this issue for so long, it has become more important than it should be to us. Sure we want to see them go down and justice prevail and all that, but at the end of it all, our club is untouched by it and I think EFC* have lost a lot more than they gained.

Back to the footy.

 

[LanceRomance]

Still cant believe the verdict. I feel for the players but am angry with the hierachy.

I hope there is an appeal.

 

[MrsEddieBetts]

I don't understand why everyone is talking about 'vindication'. No one has been vindicated. 34 men were still injected with something...but no one seems to care what that something is.

 

[1981]

I don't get why Essendon fans are celebrating, this doesn't change the fact that the club ran a dangerous and unacceptable supplements program which put the health of its players at risk.

The reason they weren't found guilty is because of insufficient evidence that doping occurred. They should not be celebrating James Hird, they should be celebrating the secretary who used the paper shredder to destroy all those invoices and consent forms

Brainwashed they have been

 

[Wickzki]

We are one of the three pillars of the AFL along with Essendon and Collingwood. If we three clubs are thriving on and off the field, the competition does not get bigger, nor better.

Keep telling yourself that. The AFL made sure we are no longer one of those three pillars. You can insert Hawthorn or Richmond in our place. That's a reality. The AFL ****ed us. They protected Essendon.

Anyone watch Goddard on AFL 360? Absolutely sickening. At one point he was describing how he was telling the players who never knew. One of them asked him if he was joking to the point of "I can't believe we've gotten away with that s**t." Even the players knew that they were guilty. If they never then why the fuss out of Paddy Ryder, why the numerous open Facebook posts by Crameri's sister describing her angst at the EFC, the mother ringing into SEN, etc.?

Further, I love how the verdict was to be kept private and confidential until 2pm. That nobody was supposed to know the verdict before then. Not that that's part of a law or anything (oh wait....). Yet everybody at the AFL and Essendon knew long beforehand what the result was going to be. If anyone dare dig deep enough (pretty shallow if you ask me) you'll find that there was consistent tampering throughout the entire shady ordeal.

If ASADA doesn't appeal then it's clear as day to me that they were ultimately in on it too. Let's just pray that WADA doesn't accept ASADA at their word and they shouldn't because at the end of the day they have much bigger fish to protect the sanctity of than a piddly little AFL (unlike ASADA).

 

[Big Sim]

Just read the Age inside scoop on the tribunal hearing.

As expected, a two-fold defence: you can't prove what it was because there were no records, and even if you could, you can't prove what each individual player got.

A tip off, a shredder and the delete button of a computer were all it took to get away with doping in the end.

Not sure if WADA will be happy for this loophole to become a precedent.

I feel for ASADA. Heard Tracey Holmes, that vacuous, biased fool, join her fellows in Robbo and Chip in declaring that EFC was a victim of an AFL, ASADA and media conspiracy. And the reporter who was talking to her did not ask a single question about the fact that they not only still purport that they don't know what the players were given, but have now established the narrative that we will NEVER know.

Bunkum, balderdash, and bullshit.

 

[HBF]

Well that could seriously get right up Essendon*'s butt. And CAS has the right to subpoena and force people to testify

This is the powers ASADA should have had in the first place.

 

[HBF]

I don't understand why everyone is talking about 'vindication'. No one has been vindicated. 34 men were still injected with something...but no one seems to care what that something is.

Yep.
Tim Watson was shocked this morning when Nathan Lovett Murrays manager said that he'd been injected 20 times in one day.

 

[Blue Pulse]

This was a balls up from the beginning, from the government announcing "the blackest day in sport", Vlad phoning Evans, and then ASADA and the AFL allowing Switowski to carry out an independent investigation. (who investigates their own crime scene?)
If the ACC had paper trails of the drugs to * they should have notified ASADA and sent them in to * unannounced and started the investigation.

I doubt there will be an appeal due to the poor amount of evidence left behind

But this is not over by a long shot, as Biggus has suggested, if a couple of players in years to come suffer from the same illness, heart conditions, kidney problems or whatever, I reckon * will be back in the courts.

 

[MrsEddieBetts]

Yep.
Tim Watson was shocked this morning when Nathan Lovett Murrays manager said that he'd been injected 20 times in one day.

Aye. Word I've heard is that some players were receiving up to 40 jabs a week.
Nothing to see here, move on, haha, if your future health or that of your unborn children suffers, pls direct your outrage to Dank.

 

[HBF]

Aye. Word I've heard is that some players were receiving up to 40 jabs a week.
Nothing to see here, move on, haha, if your future health or that of your unborn children suffers, pls direct your outrage to Dank.

Pretty standard from Essendon.
A lady called into SEN this morning now that the players have been found not guilty, can the club go the AFL for compensation on beeing booted out of the finals. FMD.