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Essendon = Entitlement
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I think Mahoney is a pretty good appt. Unfortunately for him he’s going to a club that are pretty dysfunctional off the field.
They seemed to be prosecuted to an international standard re: illicit substances in sport.
I'm sure the AFL stage managed the whole thing. I think that is your suspicion and where you are coming from.
However, I don't believe for a second any club in the AFL ran anything like what was seen at Essendon or Cronulla. Remember ASADA had to fight for credibility and relevance at this time. Their investigators were often criticised and seized across the country. Do you really think they would bury something to help the AFL at the time?
I too think Essendon got off lightly. Basically they let someone come in and attempt to cheat then said "we know nothing, but someone here was naughty". If this was a Russian or Chinese swim team, the whole country would be saying throw them out of every meet for 4 years. Life ban their coaches.
But we're Australian. We hate cheating athletes, and we can't bare the thought that our own might be party to it, let alone a professional club. So we've minimised the charges, and tried to avoid punishments. Thank God someone at ASADA was dogmatic enough to keep pursuing it.
But no one knows what Dank was pushing into them, that's part of the problem. So I don't think your argument holds water.
My personal opinion, is that Essendon and the AFL know what was being injected and it helped create a better narrative to show the players as guinea pigs, than part of a well orchestrated attempt to cheat.
If they disclosed what had really happened, my belief is ASADA would have had to prosecute the club and ban it, much like wantaway cycling teams have been. That's something completely unpalatable to the AFL, as losing a big four club, the negative publicity generated, the exit of sponsors and impact to Broadcast contracts would have put the league back about 20 years.
I do believe however, if there was a problem with players at various clubs, it would have managed it by clubs announcing long term injuries (includingmental health), retirements, delistings and the like. "We won't out you as a cheat, but you go quietly and keep your reputation intact".
I tend to agree and we shouldn't forget that the AFL twice tried to bury this. They came up with a similar "punishment" as Cronulla with David Evans but the rest of the Bombers were too dumb to take this.
The AFL them created a Kangaroo court to prosecute the players which because they couldn't "prove" what happened as they wanted to see official documents which they knew didn't exist. It was only when the AFL / ASADA investigation ended and WADA got involved that the players got suspended when this went to CAS.
The AFL tried their best to protect Essendon and hide the impacts of this, but WADA wouldn't let them do it.
Maybe from a pure legal/code perspective it doesn't, and I understand you keep hanging on that bit. But take a step back and look at the scale of what Essendon were doping compared to the other clubs, you can see why:
1) They were targeted
2) When ASADA succumbed to AFL/Political pressure, WADA steeped in, brought it to CAS and Essendon players got done
3) There is no way in hell Essendon can be considered "Hard done by"
Essendon were not particularly hard done by - if they had said "OK fair cop", shutup, and took their medicine like Cronulla they would have been out of the mess within 6 months. The Essendon Pres/CEO/Coach/Board chose to fight it and they are still paying the price today.
I don't buy that the AFL knew everything including all the drugs/supplements taken and covered it up for the above reason. Sure, the AFL tries to minimise PR damage but they failed - see above. There was no cover-up, just a major clusterfeck.
I don't buy that the AFL knew everything including all the drugs/supplements taken and covered it up for the above reason. Sure, the AFL tries to minimise PR damage but they failed - see above. There was no cover-up, just a major clusterfeck.
'I wanted to be honest': Draft prospect tells AFL clubs he wants to stay in Victoria
Archie Perkins has informed non-Victorian clubs of his preference not to be drafted interstate. "I hope they take that on board," he said.
This has got the scent of Essendon all over it.
Didn't the Dons try and scare clubs away from Dyson Heppell by spreading misinformation?
NB: This kid could be in a bit of trouble.
It was Essendrugs, of course it was legit.
Should of got whacked harder for being a bunch of self centered arsepicks. Hirdy n Bomber gunna bring Essendrugs back to the promised land at the top of the ladder n the fanbois were in raptures.
Laugh like *smile* if he got drafted to #lolnorf n earned himself a great collection of wooden spoons.
'I wanted to be honest': Draft prospect tells AFL clubs he wants to stay in Victoria
Archie Perkins has informed non-Victorian clubs of his preference not to be drafted interstate. "I hope they take that on board," he said.www.theage.com.au
This has got the scent of Essendon all over it.
Didn't the Dons try and scare clubs away from Dyson Heppell by spreading misinformation?
NB: This kid could be in a bit of trouble.
TBR - you say that 12 other clubs have "enormous" issues with their own supplement programs. In a previous post you even likened this to the police charging the EFC with murder but not the others despite their being 12 "dead bodies". You're implying that the weight of evidence against the other 12 clubs is similarly strong as that against the EFC which comes across as disingenuous and sanctimonious.
Produce the body - otherwise there is no case to answer. A single article in The Age with vague implications that other clubs did similar things isn't a dead body.
There was one body though, and it was found riddled with jab marks at the EFC's secret offsite injecting facility.
Produce the body - otherwise there is no case to answer. A single article in The Age with vague implications that other clubs did similar things isn't a dead body.
There was one body though, and it was found riddled with jab marks at the EFC's secret offsite injecting facility.
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What do they hope to achieve, he's nominated Richmond? Hope tells them to *smile* off.
The point of difference here is you're claiming what Essendon did is on the same level as a player taking a sports drink that's banned on match day.
I am not. What Essendon did was a club mandated programme on the majority of their players and then when pulled up on it destroyed all records so that now the players have NFI what was injected.
If the RFC did what the EFC did I'd be shattered, but I wouldn't try to claim we are hard done by.
