Ryan Crowley - Found guilty, banned for 12 months, backdated to September 25 2014

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How? Saad took a stimulant with performance enhancing effects. Painkillers are banned under the code because of addiction risks, not because they confer any performance enhancement.

Saad's stimulant is also legal every other day, whereas Crowley's substance is not.

The rules and penalties are arbitrary and can't really be defended.
 
WADA doesn't care about addictive, if that was all it was, it wouldn't be on their list.
The AFL is the one with the illegal/recreational drugs policy.
How many times does this have to be said? Saad took a stimulant, which is considered performance enhancing. Crowley took an opiate / narcotic, which is a specified substance and not considered in the same class as genuinely performance enhancing drugs.

WADA only cares about appearances - players getting addicted to opiates to mask pain from competing is not a good look, and that is why they're banned.

Cannabis is not performance enhancing either but categorised as a specified substance.
 

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How? Opiates negatively impact athletic performance.

The reason why opiates are banned is because of their addictive affects.

Because he deliberately as a mature player went behind the back of his club to get treatment for an ailment.

Saad unwittingly had an energy drink that included a banned drug. Players don't get their food and beverages ritually checked by their doctors (they might subsequently) - medication on the other hand - every professional athlete knows to get it checked
 
With hindsight would the Bombers have been happy with 12 months running through season 2013, thus avoiding three (or more) years of turmoil, the potential for future bans still a possibility, millions of dollars wasted and still having Albert as coach?

I think it would have been 6 months, and for an established player the answer is certainly yes. Taking the ban is risky for a fringe player, though.

But somewhere along the lines those poor naive bastards were convinced that Essendon's best interests were their best interests, and for Essendon any suspension would have been crippling.
 
Surely the AFL Anti Doping Tribunal are just taking the piss with ASADA now, almost daring them to appeal their findings. Will be interesting to see their reasoning for the 50% discount


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Because he deliberately as a mature player went behind the back of his club to get treatment for an ailment.

Saad unwittingly had an energy drink that included a banned drug. Players don't get their food and beverages ritually checked by their doctors (they might subsequently) - medication on the other hand - every professional athlete knows to get it checked
So?

Saad took something for the purpose of performance enhancement that has prohibited performance enhancing effects. That he didn't know the performance enhancing effects were prohibited means nothing.

Narcotics are banned for very different reasons to stimulants.
 
So?

Saad took something for the purpose of performance enhancement that has prohibited performance enhancing effects. That he didn't know the performance enhancing effects were prohibited means nothing.

Narcotics are banned for very different reasons to stimulants.
Does the code level different penalties for the 2 categories of substance?
 
Well, not sure what to say. I wouldn't have complained if he'd got two years.

I also don't know what this says about consistency in charges for drug offences as the Essendon, Saad and Crowley cases are all quite different.
 
With hindsight would the Bombers have been happy with 12 months running through season 2013, thus avoiding three (or more) years of turmoil, the potential for future bans still a possibility, millions of dollars wasted and still having Albert as coach?
Of course they would.... and you would think the same about the 2 week offer that ASADA was trying to also put on the table. Except for the fact that they are innocent and have been prepared to say so the whole way though. The easy option would have been to roll over like the NRL boys, except again that would mean admitting quilt which the players clearly are not prepared to do....

yet here everyone is slamming the players and the club when in fact they are simply prepared to challenge and not roll over. The club and players continue to pay the price to prove their innocence which clearly is valued!
 

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A whole year out for taking a pain killer. Seriously ridiculous.

When you put it like that it does sound harsh.

Really though - It's not that hard to check the medication you are taking and then follow the rules.

I imagine Crowley is on a pretty decent salary. Surely enough to justify following a simple compliance measure such as checking medication on a website? I'm sure he has a smartphone, probably could have done it while still in the doctors office.
 
Surely the AFL Anti Doping Tribunal are just taking the piss with ASADA now, almost daring them to appeal their findings. Will be interesting to see their reasoning for the 50% discount


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Particularly when the new penalties came into effect on January 1st which would see the base penalty be four years. When were the positive tests again? So we agree to the WADA code only until it means we have to ban players, then we just do our own thing. The AFL are an absolute joke.
 
Surely the AFL Anti Doping Tribunal are just taking the piss with ASADA now, almost daring them to appeal their findings. Will be interesting to see their reasoning for the 50% discount


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I think they're going the path of the 'provisional suspension', i.e. he's served his time out of the game since he last played in last year's semi. Though that would have been earlier than the 25th of September...
 
ASADA's suspensions are harder to predict than the MRP's.
Yep. But makes sense as well, since not all information is open to the public while MRP offenses happen on field watched by millions.

Still would be really interesting to know how this would work out with an Ablett, Franklin or Fyfe...

PS But what I really don't get is this backdating and provisional suspension thing. It free to play until convicted then serve full suspension fort me. Especially in Crowley case it could gotten close costing him his career even when he would have been cleared.
 
Because he deliberately as a mature player went behind the back of his club to get treatment for an ailment.

Saad unwittingly had an energy drink that included a banned drug. Players don't get their food and beverages ritually checked by their doctors (they might subsequently) - medication on the other hand - every professional athlete knows to get it checked
You mean he unwittingly took it that one day he was tested?
 

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