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WADA's appeal is no surprise

12th May, 2015
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Expert
12th May, 2015
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North Melbourne coach Brad Scott and the besieged Carlton Football Club have every reason to personally thank WADA for appealing the AFL Anti-Doping Tribunal’s verdict to clear the 34 current and past Essendon players of taking a banned substance.

Scott has been accused of being involved in an altercation in Hobart with a security guard after North’s win over Richmond, while the Blues, well, where do we start? They are facing the heat for their horrible start to the season from all angles with coach Mick Malthouse in particular under the pump.

However, the Essendon supplements scandal has sadly sullied the game for more than two years now and after the Bombers and especially coach James Hird seemed to think in a rather naive manner that the matter was done and dusted, there’s still much to play out.

WADA will take it the court of arbitration for sport, but it won’t be happening tomorrow. It could be another three months at least with August tipped as the favoured month at this stage.

At the press conference on Tuesday Hird quite flippantly expressed his surprise that WADA wanted to revisit it, but James remember, they are the World Anti-Doping Agency, the biggest body opposing the use of banned substances in sport.

They usurp ASADA, who didn’t really cover themselves in glory in the way they put together their case against Essendon and their 34 past and current players.

There was enough evidence for the AFL to issue show cause notices against these players that they have been injected with the banned substance, Thymosin Beta-4, but the AFL’s Anti-Doping Tribunal couldn’t prove that evidence to find the players guilty.

The AFL can ill afford this outcome considering what a terrifically tight on-field competition 2015 is turning out to be but this appeal by WADA is completely out of their control.

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What is for sure though is that this will be the last role of the dice according to legal experts. Whatever verdict the Court of Arbitration for Sport comes up with will be the abiding decision.

As mentioned earlier, the decision probably won’t be revealed until August near the end of the home-and-away season and could derail another Essendon campaign like 2013 if suspensions are handed down.

Knowing the Bomber players and the way they have handled this controversy with their on-field performances they will be competitive and in finals contention, although they lack the talent to be a top four and premiership contender.

You can only play under adversity and on sheer emotion with that ‘us against them’ mentality for so long, though, and once again it will dominate the footy world.

However, at the end of the day, as has been constantly highlighted in this sad and sordid story, Essendon under James Hird, Stephen Dank and Dean Robinson were looking for that extra edge to stay ahead of the rest of the competition.

They flew close to the edge and at times even tipped over. What ever happens with the WADA appeal and the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the entire Essendon Football Club only has themselves to blame.

I will let you know when we hit the 1000-day anniversary of this story. It’s not that far away.

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