Certified Legendary Thread Sympathy for *essendon - congratulations on '16 Wooden Spoon (RIP The Scales)

[Harris 10]

By Arjen's logic, if your missus goes out trying to hook up behind your back, trying her best to get it on with every bloke in town but has no luck, it's ok because she wasn't successful.

This should put an end to the last couple of pages of crap.
Great post.

 

[TooUglyForFugly]

This should put an end to the last couple of pages of crap.
Great post.

It didn't.

 

[giantroo]

I probably shouldn't have posted that tweet.

 

[SMaturin]

This should put an end to the last couple of pages of crap.
Great post.

Without crap I am nothing.

 

[Jay-Z]

Not a lot, no. Personally I'd rather he keep his trap shut, it's not like it changes anything.

I did find it most amusing that the tagline on HS's facebook page was "James Hird breaks his silence", I don't recall him staying silent on this for very long at any point during the last 3 years

 

[TooUglyForFugly]

I probably shouldn't have posted that tweet.

Only one person has twisted it so I wouldn't worry.

 

[Doss]

Does the verdict make you feel like there is or will be closure or that this is just never ending?

Hard to know. Really depends on how ugly and protracted any legal action gets. I do suspect, at least, that we've finally hit ground zero though.

Obviously we'll be belted in most games this year so that's going to be an acid test, but most seem to be saying (as any fan who isn't pissweak should) that we don't have any choice but to just tough this year out and look forward to 2017. You'd think it's very unlikely all 12 of the current players will stay, but once we tough out this year and the ones that do stay return to the park, things can only improve.

Closure is hard to define. Footy will never quite feel the same to me, because regardless of your views on what's happened, it's been a very chastening experience as a fan and inevitably, it does mean that you've lost the innocence of footy being, for want of a better way to put it, 'just a game'- an escape from the banality of every day life. And having seen North in mortal danger as you guys did less than a decade ago, I'm sure you can associate with the stress of that.

But as I'm sure you will also attest to, it's made any subsequent success you've had much sweeter and if there's anything keeping me going in a fan sense now, it's the faith that this is probably ultimately what Essendon, perversely enough, needed. To make us wake the **** up. To make us realise that 'We Are Essendon' doesn't ensure success, nor impress anyone. That right now, to the contrary, all it inspires is derision and disdain, and that the club has to do things right to start the climb back.

Think of it being in a bushfire context- eventually the regrowth happens. Now, we're still far too close to the time of the big fire for there to be regrowth yet, and other fires still threaten us. But we're finally at the point where there's no choice but to rebuild from scratch.

It'll be a long and hard journey, but in a bizarre way, the pressure is off as a fan this year. We're every chance to not win a game, although Sod's Law dictates we'll probably sneak a win over a Cartlon or Melbourne or Brisbane at some point, and given our list, I can't realistically EXPECT a single win this year. I'll go along and just watch the kids, and the top ups, and Goddard pointing, and be happy if they at least try.

I can't say I'm looking forward to all of it, but it'll be a journey nonetheless. A true fan sticks fat in the tough times.

 

[Only Forwards]

Hard to know. Really depends on how ugly and protracted any legal action gets. I do suspect, at least, that we've finally hit ground zero though.

Obviously we'll be belted in most games this year so that's going to be an acid test, but most seem to be saying (as any fan who isn't pissweak should) that we don't have any choice but to just tough this year out and look forward to 2017. You'd think it's very unlikely all 12 of the current players will stay, but once we tough out this year and the ones that do stay return to the park, things can only improve.

Closure is hard to define. Footy will never quite feel the same to me, because regardless of your views on what's happened, it's been a very chastening experience as a fan and inevitably, it does mean that you've lost the innocence of footy being, for want of a better way to put it, 'just a game'- an escape from the banality of every day life. And having seen North in mortal danger as you guys did less than a decade ago, I'm sure you can associate with the stress of that.

But as I'm sure you will also attest to, it's made any subsequent success you've had much sweeter and if there's anything keeping me going in a fan sense now, it's the faith that this is probably ultimately what Essendon, perversely enough, needed. To make us wake the **** up. To make us realise that 'We Are Essendon' doesn't ensure success, nor impress anyone. That right now, to the contrary, all it inspires is derision and disdain, and that the club has to do things right to start the climb back.

Think of it being in a bushfire context- eventually the regrowth happens. Now, we're still far too close to the time of the big fire for there to be regrowth yet, and other fires still threaten us. But we're finally at the point where there's no choice but to rebuild from scratch.

It'll be a long and hard journey, but in a bizarre way, the pressure is off as a fan this year. We're every chance to not win a game, although Sod's Law dictates we'll probably sneak a win over a Cartlon or Melbourne or Brisbane at some point, and given our list, I can't realistically EXPECT a single win this year. I'll go along and just watch the kids, and the top ups, and Goddard pointing, and be happy if they at least try.

I can't say I'm looking forward to all of it, but it'll be a journey nonetheless. A true fan sticks the fat in the tough times.

Quality response, thank you.

 

[Grogg]

Respect to you Doss.

Although I may despise your club, I can also have a grudging admiration for your loyalty and tenacity as a supporter.

 

[the big lebowski]

Hard to know. Really depends on how ugly and protracted any legal action gets. I do suspect, at least, that we've finally hit ground zero though.

Obviously we'll be belted in most games this year so that's going to be an acid test, but most seem to be saying (as any fan who isn't pissweak should) that we don't have any choice but to just tough this year out and look forward to 2017. You'd think it's very unlikely all 12 of the current players will stay, but once we tough out this year and the ones that do stay return to the park, things can only improve.

Closure is hard to define. Footy will never quite feel the same to me, because regardless of your views on what's happened, it's been a very chastening experience as a fan and inevitably, it does mean that you've lost the innocence of footy being, for want of a better way to put it, 'just a game'- an escape from the banality of every day life. And having seen North in mortal danger as you guys did less than a decade ago, I'm sure you can associate with the stress of that.

But as I'm sure you will also attest to, it's made any subsequent success you've had much sweeter and if there's anything keeping me going in a fan sense now, it's the faith that this is probably ultimately what Essendon, perversely enough, needed. To make us wake the **** up. To make us realise that 'We Are Essendon' doesn't ensure success, nor impress anyone. That right now, to the contrary, all it inspires is derision and disdain, and that the club has to do things right to start the climb back.

Think of it being in a bushfire context- eventually the regrowth happens. Now, we're still far too close to the time of the big fire for there to be regrowth yet, and other fires still threaten us. But we're finally at the point where there's no choice but to rebuild from scratch.

It'll be a long and hard journey, but in a bizarre way, the pressure is off as a fan this year. We're every chance to not win a game, although Sod's Law dictates we'll probably sneak a win over a Cartlon or Melbourne or Brisbane at some point, and given our list, I can't realistically EXPECT a single win this year. I'll go along and just watch the kids, and the top ups, and Goddard pointing, and be happy if they at least try.

I can't say I'm looking forward to all of it, but it'll be a journey nonetheless. A true fan sticks the fat in the tough times.

My sympathies to you

 

[Doss]

Respect to you Doss.

Although I may despise your club, I can also have a grudging admiration for your loyalty.

Loyalty to the club. To the jumper. Not to the people who've mismanaged it and landed us where we are today.

Hird remains one of my favourite players (I was more a Mercuri and Lloyd and Fletcher man though). And that's where it ends.

 

[Grogg]

Loyalty to the club. Not to the people who've mismanaged it and landed us where we are today.

Hird remains one of my favourite players. And that's where it ends.

I hear you.

One of Norths favourite sons holds a similar dubious honour of being complicit in the near downfall of our football club and is looked upon with a mixture of loathing and sadness.

It changes the way you look at football.

 

[TooUglyForFugly]

I hear you.

One of Norths favourite sons holds a similar dubious honour of being complicit in the near downfall of our football club and is looked upon with a mixture of loathing and sadness.

It changes the way you look at football.

Although we got rid of him and he hasn't really been welcomed back in a great capacity.

 

[giantroo]

The parents of former Essendon player Hal Hunter are "appalled" that the AFL and Essendon are pursuing court costs against their son after he took legal action arising from the disastrous 2012 injection program.

James Hunter and Dr Melita Stevens say that the AFL and Essendon's "combative" approach to their son's situation contradicts the statements this week from AFL chairman Mike Fitzpatrick and Essendon's new chairman Lindsay Tanner about the importance of player welfare in the Essendon scandal.

Hunter and Dr Stevens are "deeply disappointed and upset" that the AFL and the club "chose to resist Hal's efforts to find out what he was injected with" in 2012 after 15 months of requests. The parents of the player — who has taken court action in an attempt to discover what he was injected with — say the situation has taken a toll on their son and that they have "real concerns for his ongoing physical and mental well-being" not only because of what happened in his time at Essendon, but due to the obstructive stance the AFL and the club have taken in his case more recently.


Hal Hunter playing in the VFL in 2013.Photo: Ken Irwin

Hunter and Dr Stevens noted that their son Hal was the youngest player at Essendon in 2012 — he was 18 when he arrived as a rookie-list player late in 2011. "Hal was part of the injection program from early 2012 and he received injections both at the club and offsite," the parents told Fairfax Media, in a joint statement.

"Since leaving the club at the end of 2013 and after 15 months of requests, Hal still does not know what the injections contained. Melita and I are appalled that not only are the club and AFL now pursuing costs against Hal but that he is having to go back to court again simply to get documents from the AFL." The Supreme Court ordered the AFL to hand Hal Hunter further documents from the supplements program while Essendon's lawyers indicated that the records the club had given Hunter were the only ones available from the injection program.

The lawyers acting for the AFL requested that Hunter pay the AFL's and Essendon's court costs — a stance that Essendon's lawyers have since supported.

Hunter did not receive an infraction notice — likely because he did not sign a consent form for the relevant substance — and thus avoided the year-long suspensions, but he is no longer playing football. 34 current and ex-Essendon players received season bans for doping offences on Tuesday.

His court action was based upon the uncertainty about what he might have been injected with and the repercussions for his health.

Hunter is waiting on the arrival of AFL documents, as ordered by Justice Mukhtar, before considering his next move. Hunter and his parents urged the AFL and the club to meet with them and bring the matter to a conclusion.

Hunter and Dr Stevens said the approach by the club and the AFL was "totally at odds" with Tuesday's statements by Tanner and Fitzpatrick.

"Instead what we have seen from the club and AFL has been a combative stance resisting Hal at every turn. Documents have been released in dribs and drabs and at the very last moment, there have been ongoing delays, argument and of course mounting costs ...

"While we as a family and those close to him have tried to support Hal in this process, it has taken a huge toll on him. We have real concerns for his ongoing physical and mental well-being as a result of not only what happened at the club but the approach the club and AFL have taken to Hal's case since ...

"Hal should be given as much detail as possible in order for him to address the implications of the injection program at the club and, to allow him to get on with his life."

The AFL would not comment on its decision to seek legal costs, but a spokesperson said: "The AFL has done whatever in our power to find out what the players were given in 2012. We have seized documents and hard drives, we have interviewed all relevant people who were willing to cooperate, we have analysed phone messages, and sought assistance from the anti-doping authorities.

"We are in the same position as the players that we are unable to identify many of the substances used in the program in 2012, or determine which player received which substance. We are concerned for the players and are talking with the players' association about welfare and support going forward."

Essendon declined to comment.

 

[TooUglyForFugly]

Of course they did.
Happy to never stop talking when assuming the victim role.

 

[giantroo]

Goes to show you never trust the jokers at AFL house.

 

[Horace]

Hard to know. Really depends on how ugly and protracted any legal action gets. I do suspect, at least, that we've finally hit ground zero though.

Obviously we'll be belted in most games this year so that's going to be an acid test, but most seem to be saying (as any fan who isn't pissweak should) that we don't have any choice but to just tough this year out and look forward to 2017. You'd think it's very unlikely all 12 of the current players will stay, but once we tough out this year and the ones that do stay return to the park, things can only improve.

Closure is hard to define. Footy will never quite feel the same to me, because regardless of your views on what's happened, it's been a very chastening experience as a fan and inevitably, it does mean that you've lost the innocence of footy being, for want of a better way to put it, 'just a game'- an escape from the banality of every day life. And having seen North in mortal danger as you guys did less than a decade ago, I'm sure you can associate with the stress of that.

But as I'm sure you will also attest to, it's made any subsequent success you've had much sweeter and if there's anything keeping me going in a fan sense now, it's the faith that this is probably ultimately what Essendon, perversely enough, needed. To make us wake the **** up. To make us realise that 'We Are Essendon' doesn't ensure success, nor impress anyone. That right now, to the contrary, all it inspires is derision and disdain, and that the club has to do things right to start the climb back.

Think of it being in a bushfire context- eventually the regrowth happens. Now, we're still far too close to the time of the big fire for there to be regrowth yet, and other fires still threaten us. But we're finally at the point where there's no choice but to rebuild from scratch.

It'll be a long and hard journey, but in a bizarre way, the pressure is off as a fan this year. We're every chance to not win a game, although Sod's Law dictates we'll probably sneak a win over a Cartlon or Melbourne or Brisbane at some point, and given our list, I can't realistically EXPECT a single win this year. I'll go along and just watch the kids, and the top ups, and Goddard pointing, and be happy if they at least try.

I can't say I'm looking forward to all of it, but it'll be a journey nonetheless. A true fan sticks the fat in the tough times.

Excellent stuff Doss. And maintaining a sense of humour when most couldn't care less.

 

[Grogg]

Utter filth those guys in GR' s article.

These blokes are bringing more shame on the game and themselves.

Somebody needs to step in with a big stick and even bigger broom.

 

[Passmore]

AFL and the club "chose to resist Hal's efforts to find out what he was injected with"

That is disgraceful.

 

[giantroo]

Utter filth those guys in GR' s article.

These blokes are bringing more shame on the game and themselves.

Somebody needs to step in with a big stick and even bigger broom.

Bunch of hypocrites. They make rules to protect the players heads and so forth and on the other hand, when someone wants information and justice, they want to charge him for it. AFL house is playing with fire.

 

[TooUglyForFugly]

Dare I say, worse than FIFA?

 

[giantroo]

Dare I say, worse than FIFA?

Not to that extent but boy, they are turning out to be very similar.

 

[fool]

Hard to know. Really depends on how ugly and protracted any legal action gets. I do suspect, at least, that we've finally hit ground zero though.

Obviously we'll be belted in most games this year so that's going to be an acid test, but most seem to be saying (as any fan who isn't pissweak should) that we don't have any choice but to just tough this year out and look forward to 2017. You'd think it's very unlikely all 12 of the current players will stay, but once we tough out this year and the ones that do stay return to the park, things can only improve.

Closure is hard to define. Footy will never quite feel the same to me, because regardless of your views on what's happened, it's been a very chastening experience as a fan and inevitably, it does mean that you've lost the innocence of footy being, for want of a better way to put it, 'just a game'- an escape from the banality of every day life. And having seen North in mortal danger as you guys did less than a decade ago, I'm sure you can associate with the stress of that.

But as I'm sure you will also attest to, it's made any subsequent success you've had much sweeter and if there's anything keeping me going in a fan sense now, it's the faith that this is probably ultimately what Essendon, perversely enough, needed. To make us wake the **** up. To make us realise that 'We Are Essendon' doesn't ensure success, nor impress anyone. That right now, to the contrary, all it inspires is derision and disdain, and that the club has to do things right to start the climb back.

Think of it being in a bushfire context- eventually the regrowth happens. Now, we're still far too close to the time of the big fire for there to be regrowth yet, and other fires still threaten us. But we're finally at the point where there's no choice but to rebuild from scratch.

It'll be a long and hard journey, but in a bizarre way, the pressure is off as a fan this year. We're every chance to not win a game, although Sod's Law dictates we'll probably sneak a win over a Cartlon or Melbourne or Brisbane at some point, and given our list, I can't realistically EXPECT a single win this year. I'll go along and just watch the kids, and the top ups, and Goddard pointing, and be happy if they at least try.

I can't say I'm looking forward to all of it, but it'll be a journey nonetheless. A true fan sticks the fat in the tough times.

I had another similar experience as a kid, maybe more relevant due to circumstances than the pain of watching what was happening with north's precarious position.

Growing up i LOVED mark waugh (not exactly sure why i idolised him when i was a fast bowler) and when the "truth" came out about his behind the scenes activities... i felt numb, devoid of feeling, expecting pain and it just hit me so hard that shock wasn't allowing me to even decide how i felt. Eventually that pain dissapeared but i never really respected him again ( probably because now im not as young i can see him for the ****wit he really is, very talented batsmen nonetheless )

I doubt the next few years are going to be easy, but like the true north fans who stuck around during our troubles, and those troubles aren't exactly "over" for us, but the feeling now is that of seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I expect your mob will follow a similar path as far as the fans side of thing is concerned.

 

[Grogg]

Bunch of hypocrites. They make rules to protect the players heads and so forth and on the other hand, when someone wants information and justice, they want to charge him for it. AFL house is playing with fire.

What sort of scumbag seeks costs in that situation where it will not only destroy that kids mental state even further, not to mention the long term financial duress on somebody just starting his adult life.

Scum and only scum do that sort of thing.

 

[TooUglyForFugly]

What sort of scumbag seeks costs in that situation where it will not only destroy that kids mental state even further, not to mention the long term financial duress on somebody just starting his adult life.

Scrum and only scrum do that sort of thing.

Scum is too good a word nowadays.

Smegma.