ASADA issues show-cause notices to Essendon players

[The bulldog tragician]

I thought this was a hoax.

The AFL & their Old Boys and Good Blokes Network just don't get it.

Imagine Lance Armstrong being allowed to present the medal to the Tour de France winner.

This is beyond embarrassing

[Doc26]

It smacks of utter arrogance and of the AFL sticking its fingers up at ASADA / WADA for meddling on its turf.

Hey let's glorify the cheats of our game on its biggest stage for the world to see.

It is an incredibly bad look for the AFL and naive in the extreme.

How insular do we look as a code, the sporting world must be asking have the AFL learnt anything from the systematic failure that lead to Australia's worst sports doping event?

[Rocket Science]

Next masterstroke from AFEL House : John 'Sammy' Newman as ambassador for Women's Round.

[Twodogs]

Next masterstroke from AFEL House : John 'Sammy' Newman as ambassador for Women's Round.

Pity Aaron James hasn't got a larger profile.

[boydogs]

Imagine if Paddy Ryder wins the Norm Smith this season, he may just refuse to get up there.

It's a possibility, Ryder and Port are playing well

[jeemak]

Going against the grain on this. The Weapon put together Essendon's doping program, yes Hird and the players were negligent in not monitoring it or asking questions but I'm not convinced they concocted it. They destroyed the evidence and fought tooth and nail against punishment, but I don't think you could call Hird a drug cheat

Installing a drug program, being complicit in its execution and covering it up are all as bad as each other.

The issue with Hird is he rubber stamped all of those aspects.

[Twodogs]

Going against the grain on this. The Weapon put together Essendon's doping program, yes Hird and the players were negligent in not monitoring it or asking questions but I'm not convinced they concocted it. They destroyed the evidence and fought tooth and nail against punishment, but I don't think you could call Hird a drug cheat

From what I've read Hird was much more than a silent partner or unwitting participant. He was in on a lot of the early planning and he let Robinson know exactly what type of footballers he wanted as senior coach.

[jeemak]

As for the players, the only responsibility in this situation was for them to keep a receipt of what was injected into their bodies.

That was all they needed to do and funnily, all of them failed to do that. Why? Probably coercion from the club, but none of their advisers be they family or managers had the sense to pull them up over a significant period of time.

I have no sympathy for any of them.

[hujsh]

They were all told not to be honest about if they were even getting injections IIRC so they all knew something was being done that shouldn't be.

All guilty

[jeemak]

I'm sure somewhere within the last 157 pages we'll find proof we're going over old ground.

[GVGjr]

I thought this was a hoax.

The AFL & their Old Boys and Good Blokes Network just don't get it.

Imagine Lance Armstrong being allowed to present the medal to the Tour de France winner.

This is beyond embarrassing

Excellent point

Hird must have regained his confidence because he might not get a positive reaction from the crowd the AFL could be hoping for.
He was in a very fragile state and you have to wonder what impact it could have on him and his children when the booing no doubt starts.

[Topdog]

Laughable. Apparently this tradition that they can't break is 3 years old. Morons.

[G-Mo77]

Isn't it wonderful for James though. Such a great story.

***vomits***

[jeemak]

He'll be employed by ch7 next year.

[Sedat]

The Essendon doping saga has shown just how insular the AFL community really is. Dopers from international sports are treated as pariahs, and coaches responsible are banished for life. In AFL we roll out the red carpet and give them a big sloppy kiss upon their 'triumphant' return. Embarrassing just how insecure the AFL community is that they feel as though they need to put their arms around people who have shat on the sport.