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Essendon doping saga: Key takeaways from the AFL's press conference

Expert
12th January, 2016
AFL Press Conference
Attending: Gillon McLachlan, Mike Fitzpatrick
Time: 1pm AEDT
AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan speaks. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)
Expert
12th January, 2016
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1255 Reads

Key takeaways:

At this afternoon’s press conference AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan outlined the measures that will be taken to help Essendon field a full team in 2016.

Essendon will be allowed to upgrade all current rookie players to the senior list, and will also be able to sign ten top-up players to support what remains of their list after the CAS bans.

More:
» Essendon players found guilty, will miss 2016 season
» Essendon doping saga: Full list of players to miss 2016 AFL season
» Read CAS’s statement regarding the Essendon finding
» Potential top-up Bombers: Could Kelly, Stokes or Lake return?
» Essendon players guilty: Social media reaction
» Hey WADA, you got the wrong man

While suspended contracts will continue to be included in the salary cap, Essendon will receive an additional salary cap allowance so that they are able to recruit these top-up players.

The AFL having already sanctioned Essendon in 2013 will take no further action against the club.

Other affected clubs – Port Adelaide, St Kilda, Western Bulldogs and Melbourne – will be allowed to promote rookies to replace banned players.

Jobe Watson’s 2012 Brownlow Medal win will be reviewed in February by the AFL comission. Watson will be invited to address the commission.

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There will be no changes to Essendon’s annual ANZAC day fixture with Collingwood.

Press conference preview:

The AFL has scheduled a press conference for 1pm AEDT following the Court for Arbitration of Sport’s decision to ban 34 past and present Essendon players, released this morning. Join The Roar for a live blog of the press conference.

The conference will be attended by AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan, and league chairman Mike Fitzpatrick.

At around 8am this morning news broke that the 34 players, 17 of them still listed with AFL clubs, would miss the entire 2016 season due to bans handed down by the CAS.

Since then an enormous number of questions have arisen over just what will happen in season 2016 in response to these bans.

How Essendon will manage to field a full team, whether or not Jobe Watson will retain his Brownlow, and what support will be given to clubs with former Essendon players banned from their lists are some of the most biggest questions facing the AFL.

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How much light this press conference might shed on those issues is something we don’t know just yet, but we will hopefully hear some solid answers once it gets underway.

In addition to those queries, it must be asked of the AFL also how a finding of its own Anti-Doping Tribunal was so wildly different to that of the CAS.

Whether or not that topic will come up at an event such as this one, however, is very unclear. The more immediate issues are likely to be the ones that are looked at most closely.

Join The Roar for a live blog of the press conference, beginning at 1pm AEDT.

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