News Geelong's position in Essendon investigation and ACC report

[meto]

Robinson mentioned that the worst mistake he made was leaving Geelong, "they're a great football club" he said, and what he said he meant!

 

[bulletproof]

Really painful interview.
Can understand how broken and cheated DR feels, possibly wrongful dismissal elements,in his mind, but Essendon's legally fragranced reply suggests he is responding to being past history, and feeling aggrieved that though he has erred, the same punishment does not apply to Hirdy. I recall late 2012, all Essendon's soft tissue injuries were blamed on THE WEAPON. Bizarre it has turned into this.
How did we feel when Geelong sacked( Loris Bertolacci- ? spelling) several years ago, and he wanted to take legal action? Totally different scenario, but the point being, there are the multiple sides to every dispute. Seems this is going to drag on for some time yet.
At least until the end of rd 23?

Yeh I felt a bit sad for Dean Robinson, obviously biased because he contributed to Geelong. To be quite frank he deserved to be sacked because he was being highly paid for a job he was probably not cut out for. He is/was a weights trainer.

My view on this, is that it really is a Stephen Dank story. This guy has all the hallmarks of a classic con man. He is selling glorified placebos so it really is a confidence trick and he just pulled one over Essendon.

Hird was a great target for him, because Hird thinks he is the smartest man in the room, but is really just a very good footballer who did a few internships at JB Were.....

It seems increasingly clear that Hird put his trust in this guy and disregarded due process.

Essendon's biggest mistake was not making the tough call on Hird 3 months ago. That would have taken the heat out of the situation because the media would have had their pound of flesh. The President would still be there then, and the AFL would be more likely to look favorably when they deliver their punishment. Hird has been bigger than the club, when does that ever work for any institution?

Their crisis management process has been a disaster.

Hird will have to leave, it is only a matter of time. I don't necessarily think he is a cheat but he was connned and exposed his players to risk. That is enough to be sacked when you occupy a lofty position.

 

[winty]

100% correct. With Bomber and Robinson at Essendon, Hird, Dank and co would have a total breakdown of everything we did. The fact Hird never mentioned us in any of his texts says, to me, that whatever our training or supplement regimes were when Robinson was at the club are a complete non-story.

Don't forget Brendan McCarthy and Matty Egan were also at Essendon when all this stuff started too. If anything untoward was happening at Geelong, James Hird would definitely have known about it with four former Geelong personnel sitting around him in the coaching box.

 

[vinum coupe]

I had to turn the panel off last night.
Why was McVeigh sitting on a higher chair than everyone else?

 

[Sttew]

I had to turn the panel off last night.
Why was McVeigh sitting on a higher chair than everyone else?

For credibility. Didn't work, though.

I reckon he might have been an afterthought, that Essendon / Hird insisted on having "representation" on the panel.

 

[dubber]

I posted this on our board about the soap opera

- Feel sorry for Robinson's family more than anyone in this case. To sell their family home to fund litigation is co cruel.
- So, did Essendon take any banned substances? Weapon didn't seem to think so? I am confused.
- Hird has double personalities going by what the weapon said. I find that very strange as Hird comes across as very clean cut, mr nice guy.
- The whole injecting themselves for vanity reasons I find even more bizarre than the AOD scandal. Why the hell would James Hird want to lose weight when he doesn't have any? Vanity?
- Mark McVeigh has been given lessons on what to say about the whole thing. He has zero credibility as far as I am concerned.
- My respect for Leigh Matthews, Cameron Ling & the Geelong footy club has reached new heights.
- Both AFL & EFC have handled this case like a bunch of amateurs.
- There is one important person we need to hear from & that is Kyle Reimers as he made the allegations back at the start of the year, which were refuted initially by Mark McVeigh.

I am over this.

 

[Pivo]

lied every week "on the coach" when asked about coaching essendon.

Personally, I never used to mind Hird.

But when it became obvious that he was lying through his teeth about wanting to coach Essendon I started to question myself.

And the way that saga played out is seriously influencing the way I view his comments around this matter.

I don't want jump to conclusions but it is getting pretty hard not to the longer this goes on.

 

[card20]

What in hell did Spike mean when he said Iknow what i took but i will wait till its proven?

 

[vealesy]

They took banned drugs that they believe were legal.

They know it. They just dont want to take responsibility for it.

Spike is an idiot.

 

[Liger]

On SEN they reckon Robinson got paid $120,000 for the interview.....could that be right

Probably right, imagine how much Channel 7 pulled from ratings and ads thou.
Although that sounds like a lot of money, if Robinson was making things up and flat out lying like the Bombers PR machine have said this morning - a $120,000 wouldn't even clean the suits of the laywers he'd need to defend himself.
That makes me believe Robinson didn't say anything wrong at all and Essendon know it.
The big Essendon circus of threating to sue Robinson for lying and slander seems more like a warning shot to anyone else in the know that plans to go public.
There's no way they'll sue him because then EVERYTHING will come out, they are just throwing out threats to keep the water boy who over heard things from making some money in the newspapers with his story!
Robinson said Hird told him and Dank his house was raided, very specific details like ceral boxes being gone through - Hird comes out this morning and says that's a lie and he's never been raided. That's black or it's white, either / or. One of them is lying and the other is telling the truth.
Why would Robinson make that up? If he made that up on his own then he's just inviting an ass pounding from Essendons lawyers so it makes no sense for the lie to be on Robinsons shoulders - yet only the AFP could confirm or deny if that took place and they are unlikely to say anything, maybe Hird knows that - or maybe Hird made it up in the first place and that allows him to deny it now.
This is a deep rabbit hole Alice.

 

[card20]

They took banned drugs that they believe were legal.

They know it. They just dont want to take responsibility for it.

Spike is an idiot.

He surely is.Couldnt work out if that comment was a addmission of some sort of guilt.

 

[Senatorguesty]

All I've gathered from it is spike is a bigger douchebag wan.ker than I originally thought.
And I thought he was a massive one previously.

 

[donbooger]

Darcy also said that in part of the interview not aired that Bomber had the first misgivings and wanted to pull the pin on the injections after all the soft tissue injuries. Instead Hird reduced training loads and kept up the pricking.

After the interview Bomber certainly appears further away from this controversy then anyone thought and with that Geelong appear cleaner, there was always a big danger that Bomber could have been front and centre after last night.

 

[cats23]

Probably right, imagine how much Channel 7 pulled from ratings and ads thou.
Although that sounds like a lot of money, if Robinson was making things up and flat out lying like the Bombers PR machine have said this morning - a $120,000 wouldn't even clean the suits of the laywers he'd need to defend himself.
That makes me believe Robinson didn't say anything wrong at all and Essendon know it.
The big Essendon circus of threating to sue Robinson for lying and slander seems more like a warning shot to anyone else in the know that plans to go public.
There's no way they'll sue him because then EVERYTHING will come out, they are just throwing out threats to keep the water boy who over heard things from making some money in the newspapers with his story!
Robinson said Hird told him and Dank his house was raided, very specific details like ceral boxes being gone through - Hird comes out this morning and says that's a lie and he's never been raided. That's black or it's white, either / or. One of them is lying and the other is telling the truth.
Why would Robinson make that up? If he made that up on his own then he's just inviting an ass pounding from Essendons lawyers so it makes no sense for the lie to be on Robinsons shoulders - yet only the AFP could confirm or deny if that took place and they are unlikely to say anything, maybe Hird knows that - or maybe Hird made it up in the first place and that allows him to deny it now.
This is a deep rabbit hole Alice.

I like your take on the whole issue Liger, and tend to agree with you

I didn't manage to get through watching the whole interview though, personally would have liked it more if the interviewer was a 'real' journo (well anyone other than Darcy!)

 

[James1970]

Pure speculation, obviously, but I find the Hird we knew from his playing days - the honest, legendary great footy player and Essendon club man - got lost when he went into the big business and corporate world 100%. On coming back to the game, slowly through the media, then as fulltime coach, he brought with him the mindset and sensibility of the corporate shark. Living in such a corrupt utopia, where laws really only exist to extend and improve the benefits and profits of those in that world, generates it's own belief system that ultimately leads to the delusions of grandeur, which we see in Hird today.

Sadly for Essendon, this 'new' Hird was given complete control of the club, had the backing of the faithfull, and was given a free ride by (most) of the media. Hird believed in his own legend, and believed he could do no wrong - he still believes it. He's still the shark living un Utopia, using his powers to try and destroy anyone who gets in his way. And still Essendon fold to his ways, appointing a new boss this week to lick his boots and put on a shirtfront of 'unity'.

The sooner the Bombers face up to what Hird has done to the club, and continues to do so, and gets rid of him and takes their medicine, the better off they and the comp will be.

 

[sarah.13]

Darcy also said that in part of the interview not aired that Bomber had the first misgivings and wanted to pull the pin on the injections after all the soft tissue injuries. Instead Hird reduced training loads and kept up the pricking.

After the interview Bomber certainly appears further away from this controversy then anyone thought and with that Geelong appear cleaner, there was always a big danger that Bomber could have been front and centre after last night.

Found that quite revealing also, would explain the tiff they had late 202 and as a result Thompson being moved sideways and in charge of player development. Very rarely seen with Hird any longer even on match day!!

 

[Selective Retention]

I heard Tyler Hamilton's book about doping in the TdF was a good read so ordered it online and the postman delivered it just then.

Flick through the first few pages and they have a quote at the start of the book

"If you shut up the truth and bury it under the ground, it will but grow and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it bursts through it will blow up everything in its way" - Emile Zola

The day, it is coming.

 

[witsend]

Interesting hearing Tony Jones on AW this morning doing a hatchet job on Robinson and pumping up EFC/Hird. Is he on the payroll?

 

[romeoh]

Pure speculation, obviously, but I find the Hird we knew from his playing days - the honest, legendary great footy player and Essendon club man - got lost when he went into the big business and corporate world 100%. On coming back to the game, slowly through the media, then as fulltime coach, he brought with him the mindset and sensibility of the corporate shark. Living in such a corrupt utopia, where laws really only exist to extend and improve the benefits and profits of those in that world, generates it's own belief system that ultimately leads to the delusions of grandeur, which we see in Hird today.

Sadly for Essendon, this 'new' Hird was given complete control of the club, had the backing of the faithfull, and was given a free ride by (most) of the media. Hird believed in his own legend, and believed he could do no wrong - he still believes it. He's still the shark living un Utopia, using his powers to try and destroy anyone who gets in his way. And still Essendon fold to his ways, appointing a new boss this week to lick his boots and put on a shirtfront of 'unity'.

The sooner the Bombers face up to what Hird has done to the club, and continues to do so, and gets rid of him and takes their medicine, the better off they and the comp will be.

Hird is ok but I recall a speech he gave as losing captain in a GF a while back. Not a big deal really, but it always struck me at the time as a graceless speech and it put me off him a bit. Born to rule attitude can get you into trouble perhaps.

 

[James1970]

Interesting hearing Tony Jones on AW this morning doing a hatchet job on Robinson and pumping up EFC/Hird. Is he on the payroll?

Jones just doing his job for the Boys - keeping on side to keep the leaks from Hird HQ open.

 

[Farmer2Goggin]

Yeh I felt a bit sad for Dean Robinson, obviously biased because he contributed to Geelong. To be quite frank he deserved to be sacked because he was being highly paid for a job he was probably not cut out for. He is/was a weights trainer.

My view on this, is that it really is a Stephen Dank story. This guy has all the hallmarks of a classic con man. He is selling glorified placebos so it really is a confidence trick and he just pulled one over Essendon.

Hird was a great target for him, because Hird thinks he is the smartest man in the room, but is really just a very good footballer who did a few internships at JB Were.....

It seems increasingly clear that Hird put his trust in this guy and disregarded due process.

Essendon's biggest mistake was not making the tough call on Hird 3 months ago. That would have taken the heat out of the situation because the media would have had their pound of flesh. The President would still be there then, and the AFL would be more likely to look favorably when they deliver their punishment. Hird has been bigger than the club, when does that ever work for any institution?

Their crisis management process has been a disaster.

Hird will have to leave, it is only a matter of time. I don't necessarily think he is a cheat but he was connned and exposed his players to risk. That is enough to be sacked when you occupy a lofty position.

Tremendous post Bulletproof

What a shitstorm this is and there will be more to come.

Agree with what you have said about Robinson , looks like a victim of the Peter principle and by recruiting Dank looks like he also became the architect of his own downfall .

He suggests that Hird and Dank were very close to the extent of marginalising Robinson.
Hirds ego and Danks "creativity" are at the very epicentre of this crisis and when you add Charter and a compound Chemist into the mix the whole Supply Chain looks dodgy. Throw in an ineffective system of Governance and you have a perfect storm.

I hope ASADA manage to sort out fact , fiction and the circumstantial from their 14,000 pages of testimony.
The Final Report is going to be fascinating reading.

 

[darren forssman]

Jones just doing his job for the Boys - keeping on side to keep the leaks from Hird HQ open.

finey from sen is another boys club inductee.

 

[_Me_]

Everyone needs to remember Hird's wife is a try hard liar - sorry lawyer.

Heard had conversations with Dank and Robinson that may have been embilished to propagate his ego. When it comes to denying the sories he can deny the claims as they were not true.

Robinson was repeating a conversation. Wat Hird has not done is deny the conversation. Robinson can not ascertain what occured at the Hird house as he was not there, merely relaying information.

What has not been answered is the basis of the relationship of Charters and Hird. Given one was jailed for his actions, and the other had remarkeable recoveries.

Darcy back tracked on his relationship with Charters like he was about to be shot.

Honesty and integrity do not relate to Hird.

Hird and Dank sunk Eseendon.

Hird recruited his pal Corcoran who was part of the previous scandals at Essendon. Evans and Robson were responsible fornot doing their jobs.

 

[CF]

The problem with Deans interview was that probably all of the most telling points were probably cut from it for legal reasons. That left the whole thing to become about Hird/Essendon versus Robinson in terms of personal credibility. It was very easy to look at that interview as just a disgruntled former employee airing his grievances in public. That's why those on the panel after the show could easily dismiss Robinson's claims. So I don't think the interview did Dean any favours or shed any great light on what we already kind of knew.

I agree that Dean has been made a scapegoat for the whole thing by Essendon. I do think Hird has been caught out lying too on numerous occasions so his credibility is also shot in my eyes. I feel sorry for Dean because he has been used and spat out by people he trusted, his career and reputation has been damaged, and he has suffered on many levels as result. This much is obvious.

This saga wont end when the report comes out, or when the AFL hand down any sanctions on players or the club (if indeed any are). I envisage legal challenges going on for the next few years over all of this. However, Dean has been hung out to dry and I wish him all the best because it's very hard to come back from that kind of betrayal.

As for Hird I'll hold my tongue about him until I know more about what went on. It's not illegal for him to be injected with supplements so I have no problem with that, but I don't understand why he lied about it to begin with. All the talk about the idolisation of Hird within the club I can believe. It's still there today.

What the next chapter in this saga will be who knows. It is very intriguing that's for sure.

 

[Jon Douglas]

Please get this over ASAP. I have a deep suspicion that we may not get all the answers we want and there will be some questions that are not answered clearly for us so innuendo will still remain around some parts of this saga.

Cannot help but think that at the very least Hird will be part of a group that bought the game into disrepute and will face sanctions of some sort.

I have no idea about Spike other than he seems committed to Essendon and then says he knows the truth but in the next sentence he reveals it turns out it is what he believes - not necessarily the facts.

So I applaud his loyalty but not so much his logic.