little out of Column A, little out of Column B for mine.
I'm sorry but any way you dice it, it is a MAJOR slap in the face of the AFL. The anti-doping bodies have effectively declared they have no confidence in the AFL system to achieve a fair result. They would not be going as far as to suggest corruption, but there is no other way to read what their actions mean other than a complete lack of confidence, and have no doubt there is no doubt that is how the AFL would have interpreted it.
That is one of two major reasons the option of leaving WADA will be firmly on the commission table as of now, the other being the fact that WADA clearly do not care how much effect their processes have on the AFL, keeping in mind their local branch has already spent over two long years even getting it to this point, any EFC-caused delays aside.
Now, if I were a betting man I'd put my money on the AFL staying within the WADA system, but that is far from a foregone conclusion now.
The words and actions of both McDevitt and Howman would have the AFL quitely seething, to use an appropriate phrase, have no doubt about that at all. It's a major, major slap in their face and they'd be fuming about it.