Bulldogs look set to pounce on Brent Prismall

[Mofra]

After talking with a few people around Bendigo I want Duscher out of the players vying for a spot. Everyone who has followed the Gold/Bombers rates him pretty highly.

Our last Bendigo mature ager worked out pretty well

[lemmon]

It is understood if Prismall isn't drafted by the Dogs, he could join them in a coaching/development role.[/I]

2 years for Prismall as part of the coaching staff I can handle. 2 years as a player is lunacy, I'm struggling to find reasons we even bother offering him 1 as a player.
.

Agree with all you said but I'm not even sure of his worth in a coaching role? Yeah he made it to the big time but what else does he offer? 60 odd games and serviceable isn't exactly a recipe for huge amounts of knowledge

[Mofra]

Agree with all you said but I'm not even sure of his worth in a coaching role? Yeah he made it to the big time but what else does he offer? 60 odd games and serviceable isn't exactly a recipe for huge amounts of knowledge

Our head coach didn't play AFL at all.

Over 50% of NFL coaches never made it to the big leagues.

[lemmon]

Our head coach didn't play AFL at all.

Over 50% of NFL coaches never made it to the big leagues.

But they weren't 27 with relatively little football experience. I don't see what he could add as a coach when experience and knowledge wise he is in pretty much the same position as the blokes he would be expected to improve.

[G-Mo77]

Agree with all you said but I'm not even sure of his worth in a coaching role? Yeah he made it to the big time but what else does he offer? 60 odd games and serviceable isn't exactly a recipe for huge amounts of knowledge

Honestly I have no idea it was quoted as a development role so I'd assume he'd have a playing role at Willy while working with our kids on the field.

I'd prefer that than a spot clogged on our list for 2 seasons.

[The Underdog]

But they weren't 27 with relatively little football experience. I don't see what he could add as a coach when experience and knowledge wise he is in pretty much the same position as the blokes he would be expected to improve.

He's spent nearly 10 years in a professional football environment, plenty of that watching on from the sidelines possibly from the coaches box. If he's smart he has probably picked up a few things. Not saying it's a good idea but not discounting it as a bad one automatically.

[LostDoggy]

But they weren't 27 with relatively little football experience. I don't see what he could add as a coach when experience and knowledge wise he is in pretty much the same position as the blokes he would be expected to improve.

It says in a coaching/development role. That's pretty broad in terms of responsibilities and experience required. Everybody has to start their coaching career somewhere, and I'd be happy for that place to be the Whitten Oval.

[lemmon]

It says in a coaching/development role. That's pretty broad in terms of responsibilities and experience required. Everybody has to start their coaching career somewhere, and I'd be happy for that place to be the Whitten Oval.

Definitely a fair point and the extra money going into the footy department can only be a good thing. My concern is just that we would be paying the guy a wage and I'd expect him to contribute equitably...Our own Macca did his time down at Ocean Grove before making the big time.

And I have never met the bloke so who knows, may be the next coming of Norm Smith

[jeemak]

Definitely a fair point and the extra money going into the footy department can only be a good thing. My concern is just that we would be paying the guy a wage and I'd expect him to contribute equitably...Our own Macca did his time down at Ocean Grove before making the big time.

And I have never met the bloke so who knows, may be the next coming of Norm Smith

You might argue that our man Macca got his opportunity on the back of senior coaching at the lower grades, in lieu of not having a senior AFL playing career under his belt that spanned nine years.

Going into a development role after a nine year career isn't that much of a stretch.

[BornInDroopSt'54]

But they weren't 27 with relatively little football experience. I don't see what he could add as a coach when experience and knowledge wise he is in pretty much the same position as the blokes he would be expected to improve.

I suspect you're playing the devil's advocate somewhat with this one. Natural teachers and coaches, even young ones at 27 can and do have different insights and ability to instruct and influence to others.
They walk amongst us.
It must be that Prismal is one of them.
I know that you could argue that Jesus Christ hadn't done much by the time he was 27 but I would counter that there are reasonable politicians this age and John Keats was dead by this age.
The parallels with Prismal are obvious.:-|

[azabob]

ABC Grandstand (Gerard Whatley) has sat down for a feature interview with Brent Primal.

Its on now, I assume it will also be on the ABC Grandstand website later today.

[bornadog]

ABC Grandstand (Gerard Whatley) has sat down for a feature interview with Brent Primal.

Its on now, I assume it will also be on the ABC Grandstand website later today.

I only heard half of it but a very good interview. Some details in next post.

[GVGjr]

It's online now

[bornadog]

Ex-Essendon player Brent Prismall facing reality of being regarded as a 'drug cheat'

By Gerard Whateley

Former Essendon player Brent Prismall says he believes the banned drug Thymosin Beta 4 (TB4) was indeed part of the disgraced supplements program that has left him and 33 teammates serving doping bans.


Key points:

• Prismall does not know what he was injected with during the Essendon supplements program

• Says it was possible TB4 was in Stephen Dank's possession at the club
• Calls for Essendon to provide more support to banned player

In a raw and revealing interview with Grandstand AFL's The Saturday Agenda, Prismall:

faced the reality of being regarded as a drug cheat;concluded TB4 was in Stephen Dank's possession at the club;
gave a first-hand account of how the defence collapsed before the Court of Arbitration for Sport;
and lamented the lack of support from Essendon for those who were no longer employed by the club

The 29-year-old is serving a season-long doping suspension that has left him unemployed and deeply affected. He consulted with numerous other banned players before speaking to the ABC.


"I got taught from a young age not to be a cheat from my parents," Prismall said.

"It's hard to deal with. Just the way it's all played out. I find it hard not to be embarrassed by it. It's hard to take when you are called a drug cheat and I've been called that. It's not ideal, but facts are facts. I'm not working, I'm not playing footy this year and that's the reason why."

Prismall does not know what he was injected with during his participation in the Essendon supplements program, which began for him late in 2011 while recovering from injury.

"No I don't, no. My biggest stress is the fact you can't give any clarity on what you've been given," he said.

"That's for my wife as well. She's clearly curious about it. My parents as well. They scratch their heads and wonder 'How do you not know what you've been given?' I don't know what I've been given. There's not a day that goes by that I don't actually think about it in some way shape or form."

What he was told by Essendon's sports science staff at the time, he now knows not to be true.

"Whether I was administered TB4, I'm serving a ban for it so the powers above think that I have," he said.

Q: Is it possible that you were?
Prismall: It's possible, yeah. I don't think I did, but it is possible.
Q: Are you now of the understanding that Dank had Thymosin Beta 4 at Essendon?
Prismall: From what I know, yes, he quite possibly would have had it. I'm serving a ban for taking it. I've lost my job because of it. I've lost my footy career because of it. Lost a whole heap of other things, possibly some respect within footy circles. It does trouble me, yes.
'We were guinea pigs in all this'

Prismall has followed his cases and his fate in forensic detail.

He has read with horror the emails between Stephen Dank and Dean Robinson agreeing to disguise the true nature of the supplements being administered by referring to them as "vitamin injections and amino acids".

"I think there's a massive level of deception by those people," Prismall concluded.

"It certainly feels like we were guinea pigs in all this. Every time I got an injection I asked what it was. I'm not sure what more there is for me to do in that situation."

Prismall was in his fourth year with the Bombers, having previously played with Geelong. He was battling injury, scratching and clawing to keep his place on the list. He did not play a senior game in 2012 and was then delisted.

He was one of the players called in November to give evidence at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) hearing.

He recalled it as a stressful day in an intimidating atmosphere. As he sat in the Sydney hearing, WADA detailed its case for a guilty finding and reality hit Prismall hard.

"I thought the case was in trouble. It highlighted to me the fact that it was real and that it was a possibility that I could be missing some football," he said.

'I wasn't trying to hide anything at all'

With an unmistakable sense that he was on trial, Prismall took the stand.

"I was shown my Doping Control Form from a drug test I did in December 2011. I didn't have Thymosin on there," he said.

"I was asked why I didn't. And I couldn't answer it. I said: 'I'm not sure why.' I'm still not sure why. I wasn't trying to hide anything at all. I just didn't write it down. I'm clearly serving a ban and that's part of the reason why."

This was common across each player called and the CAS judges used it as a central thread in the guilty verdict.

The Doping Control Forms of each player featured more than one set of handwriting, but none declared the substance Thymosin.
Asked if the players knew enough not to reveal its use in the program, Prismall denied a conspiracy of silence.

"I'm smart enough to know that it looks like that. But I know there were no players that were concealing that information because we were trying to hide it," he said.

'My boots are still sitting in my locker'

Despite the public pledges from Essendon to support the banned 34, Prismall spoke for those no longer in the club's employ who feel a sense of abandonment.

"I think we're in this position because of the football club. I understand that Essendon's priorities are with the players that they still employ, but given the circumstances I think they could have done more along the way," he said.

"I get a phone call off someone from time to time, but it's a pretty vague sort of phone call, it's of no substance."

I don't feel defeated, but I certainly feel deflated from it. At a point in time I'll be able to move on. That's not right now.
Brent Prismall
When he and Stewart Crameri sought outside legal representation, Essendon refused to continue to cover their costs.

The issue of compensation is particularly acute for the father-of-two, who currently has no income and is looking for work.

There is an abandoned pair of footy boots in a locker at the Western Bulldogs VFL club rooms which speaks to the abruptness of Prismall's circumstance.

He was to have spent the season playing alongside the young Dogs at Footscray, while working as a welfare officer within the AFL club.

"The finding came down on the Tuesday. I had training that night. Obviously I didn't go. I haven't had a chance to speak to any of my VFL teammates face to face. My boots are still sitting in my locker. Things like that are quite raw," Prismall said.

"I don't feel defeated, but I certainly feel deflated from it. At a point in time I'll be able to move on. That's not right now."

AUDIO HERE