Oppo Camp Non Eagles Discussion Thread

[ioppolo]

Adelaide would be pretty filthy, the AFL went in dry with 12 inches and then some on their punishment, whereas the AFL found Essendon not guilty of any wrong doing and probably won't acknowledge it even now. All happened around the same time frame too.

 

[kane249]

The AFL doesn't control the doping side of the sport from what I understand. Thats for ASADA or WADA.

They can punish a team for being found guilty of doping though (ie bringing the game into disrepute).

They won't though, Bombers will likely avoid any further sanctions as they are in a world of hurt already.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Too much bad publicity if he does keep it now in lieu of them being officially banned.

2012 Brownlow will be null and void with no official winner, doesn't feel right to give it to Mitchell or Cotchin either.

Would be happy if they could find a way to give one to Mitchell but not Cotchin haha.

 

[kane249]

Would be happy if they could find a way to give one to Mitchell but not Cotchin haha.

Mitchell to make a jabbing motion in his arm as he receives it would be awesome haha

 

[W.C. Fry]

The AFL knows that Essendon are stuffed.
Gil has already come out and said that the AFL will be doing everything it can to get Essendon back up and being a strong club once again.
The AFL know it killed Carlton for almost a decade with their penalties.
They don't want Essendon to flounder around for that long.
How much money is the AFL going to have to pump into this club now to keep it afloat?
Why should the AFL pump money into this club? Let em rot and die.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Mitchell to make a jabbing motion in his arm as he receives it would be awesome haha

Haha completely forgot about the jab. I say get Watson to hand the medal to Mitchell in front of the crowd at the Hawks Bombers match next year...then for security to escort Jobe out of the ground.

 

[Keys]

For the most part I think the penalties essendon got for "governance" issues is sufficient but I don't like the possibility they can receive high draft picks from a season where players have been banned

Ideally I'd like to see essendons picks for 2016 allocated to the end of each round regardless of ladder position

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Has given me a reason to inject Strijk, Stevenson and Hams into the Bombers team on my AFL Live game at least. Miss those guys!

Muzza Newman with 4 first half goals on debut too.

 

[Godfather32]

The AFL doesn't control the doping side of the sport from what I understand. Thats for ASADA or WADA.

I think you're mistaken in the case of punishing the team.

 

[kane249]

Bombers board has been great reading today, so many melts. Some still refuse to blame Hird or the club for what's happened.

Reading that if Watson gets his Brownlow stripped they should also strip Cousins is also amusing. So many don't realise you need a game day positive test for a rec drug to be classified as a PED.

 

[flamingEMBERS]

I don't mind jobe Watson - he seems like a decent person and has carried himself with dignity throughout this saga for the most part

But I can't believe there's even a question as to whether he should lose his brownlow. It's a no brainer - he has just been found guilty of taking a banned substance during the season he won the medal. Of course he loses it, to suggest otherwise is idiocy

He should hand it back before they take it. Would really mount put him atop of the good bloke mountain.

 

[Keys]

He should hand it back before they take it. Would really mount put him atop of the good bloke mountain.

Be a nice gesture from jobe but all it really does is add another example to how spineless the AFL are. They don't want to make the harsh call and I'm sure they're hoping Watson will make the decision for them

As another posted pointed out in the HTB thread it's incredible that the decision to strip the brownlow needs a full meeting of the commission yet they've already decided on no more draft sanctions for essendon

The AFL is a joke of an organisation

 

[Keys]

Will lol if convicted drug cheat Ryan Crowley becomes one of the players essendon recruit as a top up player

 

[Godfather32]

Will lol if convicted drug cheat Ryan Crowley becomes one of the players essendon recruit as a top up player

Would be hilarious, but if I was Woosha I'd be taking the opportunity to have a look at some younger talent. Surely they won't win a game next year even if they bring in a few has-beens, why not bring in some guys from around the country from the state leagues who missed out on being drafted, might strike gold. Knowing the AFL if Essendon did pick up someone good as a top-up player they'd find a way to let them keep him.

 

[MrKK]

The opportunity for Jobe Watson to score brownie points for handing back the Brownlow passed about 3 years ago. He's always known that he can't be 100% certain it was clean but was happy to keep it.

 

[Keys]

The opportunity for Jobe Watson to score brownie points for handing back the Brownlow passed about 3 years ago. He's always known that he can't be 100% certain it was clean but was happy to keep it.

Watson has always maintained he and the rest of the players were innocent and never took any banned substance. It's why he never accepted any of the deals offered to them as he wouldn't plead guilty to something he didn't do

Now I believe the players never set out to cheat and trusted the club/dank when they told them everything was legit. They didn't think they were cheating

Truth is at least one of the cocktail of supplements they were given was banned. At no point has he publicly acknowledged the possibility that they were duped or that he failed in his own duty to inform himself from an independent source of the legitimacy of what they were taking

The AFL commission should have already discussed what should happen if the players were found guilty and made the decision that Watson should be ruled ineligible for the brownlow as a result

 

[MrKK]

He could've offered to hand back the medal until he was cleared after the investigation. It wouldn't have been an admission of guilt, just that there was a shadow over his win, "out of respect for the medal etc".

 

[MrKK]

And I agree that the decision of what to do with his medal if he was found guilty should've been made before the verdict.

 

[Lyyynnnchy]

Be a nice gesture from jobe but all it really does is add another example to how spineless the AFL are. They don't want to make the harsh call and I'm sure they're hoping Watson will make the decision for them

As another posted pointed out in the HTB thread it's incredible that the decision to strip the brownlow needs a full meeting of the commission yet they've already decided on no more draft sanctions for essendon

The AFL is a joke of an organisation

If they were to strip Essendon of more draft picks it would be a repeat of Carlton all over again, languishing near the bottom of the ladder for decades, affecting viewership, gate receipts and more.

That's not good for anyone. The penalties they've already received plus the attention they've had from the media and the abuse they've copped from a lot of their own supporters is enough of a deterrent for other clubs imp which is good enough for me.

A weak Essendon is bad for the game. A lesser AFL impacts my love for the game. Something I'm not wanting to happen.

 

[swannies]

Will lol if convicted drug cheat Ryan Crowley becomes one of the players essendon recruit as a top up player

I'm hoping they take Crowley and Riggio.

 

[ziad]

He should hand it back before they take it. Would really mount put him atop of the good bloke mountain.

yep the leader who stood by and said nothing while 4000 injections were administered and lied to the WADA/ASADA, what a pathetic argument. Stip the cheat in public as a warning to others!

 

[sydney eagle]

I expect that Essendon will be raiding the WAFL, SANFL and Tasmania for top up players.

 

[iLikeIt]

Now I believe the players never set out to cheat and trusted the club/dank when they told them everything was legit. They didn't think they were cheating

Even if you just skim this report, I think you'd feel differently about the innocence of the players:
http://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Arbitral_Award_WADA_ESSENDON.pdf

"...no Player tested during the 2012 season revealed on his doping control form that he was in receipt of Thymosin injections" - 161. on page 39.

Their excuses for the non-disclosures were pathetic, like "you list the things that you feel you need to list"..."it was just something I didn't think to list". I am sorry but on what planet does anyone think sticking a needle in your arm as not something you should probably put down on your doping control form?

".. no Player made any enquiry of the nature or properties of the substance with which he was being injected" - 160. on page 39.

I'm not a professional athlete and I at least check out what I am taking even with pills, let alone injections. Especially when they know the consequences of even accidentally taking something they shouldn't. In isolation maybe you give them the benefit of the doubt that they just fully trusted the club's support staff, and I am sure this is true. But when you combine it with them not disclosing it when being tested, I find it very hard to believe they are completely innocent in all this.

"I don't recall who gave it to me, it was probably just sitting in a pile and I picked it up with the majority of other blokes" - Prismall

Seriously? This is common culture in professional sport? There is just a big pile of drugs, like a lolly jar, in the corner that players grab when they feel like it?

ASADA/WADA and the Court of Arbitration were spot on with their finding that if players didn't know they were doing the wrong thing then why did none of them indicate the injections on their control forms?

There is no doubt the culture at Essendon was the main cause and the instigator of the players making the poor choice to cheat. But just like falling in with the wrong crowd when you are younger and ending up involved in crime. You should still go to jail because you have to take responsibility for your own actions. Justice was done, the players should have learnt their lesson, and hopefully it should be a warning for other clubs and players that doping might give you short term benefits but more than likely bring you a world of long term pain.

 

[Defacto]

I expect that Essendon will be raiding the WAFL, SANFL and Tasmania for top up players.

Good luck to them. Its been picked bare

 

[WCE_phil]

This could easily cost the bombers 10-20 million once all court cases are done and dusted. The only thing keeping them in the AFL is the fact the administration is a victorian boys club and the afl are contracted for 9 games a season through the TV rights deals.