The desperation for people to manipulate logic to create an uber afl/efc conspiracy is baffling. First they apparently corrupted two former judges of good reputation, and a barrister. Now we are afraid that foreign panel members just being in australia will be corrupted by them, AND a former high court judge is corrupt because he barracks for the Dons.
This is serious tin foil hat territory
I agree with many things, but not all of what you say. Judging the motives of people is difficult territory, however you have to often make a generalisation to start a discussion. And we should be open to have our opinions changed by good arguement.
What I see is the AFL is now obsessed with making deals to have problems go away. This is a McLachlan specialty, and in this instance it has backfired. He wants this "drug" issue to go away. As an side I think we may have seen something very different if Adrian Anderson was still on board. And he wouldn't have allowed the two recently sprung collingwood gamblers problems to disappear.
Many people think (media, forums) that the latest AFL organised judgment was setup from the very beggining to make a not-guilty verdict. They do it in their terms on the inquiry. Lets face it, everything (except on field) about the AFL is contrived (think of draft concessions, draw, academies etc). The AFL carries on like they are a world superpower & independent sporting force, when in fact it is a small, niche, limited competition (but followed passionately) domestic Australian sport. (If it wasn't for the tigers, I'd have lost interest in it). No matter what barbage is spouted by ex-Essendon media hacks and cronies, and those on the afl teat, too scared to offer an honest opinion (in fear of reprisals), the average sporting followers are no fools, we know unfairness, and cheats when we see it.
No amount of obsfucation and word trickery is going to cut it with WADA. And it shouldn't have done so with AFL/ASADA.
Essendon players are going to need all the luck they can get with this now.