Whether you like them or love them, hate them or loathe them, you have to admire the Essendon players.
With eight games remaining, and four of those against clubs entrenched in the top eight, who knows if the Dons can climb one step higher on the AFL ladder by September, and move from ninth into a finals berth.
Whether they do or not – and it will be a toss of the coin – the players truly should be applauded for their efforts in 2014.
I’ve intentionally stayed away from the Essendon saga this season. Instead of saying what should happen or give my thoughts on the way the situation has played out, I’ve decided to wait until it’s all done and dusted before putting my two cents’ in.
But that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have a comment on the actual football the Dons are playing in 2014, and the character of their players.
Their form has been up and down, and considering what has transpired off-field in the past few weeks, that’s hardly surprising. But you can’t really fault their attitude and character over the past three weeks since ASADA brought the show cause notices out. Again it was shown last Friday against Geelong.
These players, many still kids, suddenly don’t know what their future holds, and face the possibility of being forced to spend a lengthy period on the sidelines. But somehow they can still manage to focus on football and give their all, despite the uncertainty of the future, and the memory of giving their all twelve months ago only to be booted out of their spot in the finals.
Essendon coach Mark Thompson, who has done a remarkable job to keep this group together, said after the loss he was disappointed in his team’s habit of only switching on once it had given away large leads. It’s not surprising a coach is disappointed, and it’s true what he says, but you have to also acknowledge their performance to fight back in those situations.
Surely it would be so easy at the moment for the Essendon players to toss in the towel in those instances.
Thompson added that to be a good team you have to be ready to play when the siren starts. His team doesn’t do that, but the fact they are still competing against the top teams is impressive in itself.
Apart from their faithful supporters, I don’t think anyone would honestly think Essendon are contenders in 2014, and they probably won’t be, but they are just one out of the eight. And not only have they done it over the past three weeks under the duress of not knowing what their futures hold, but also without their best player and leader Jobe Watson.
Admittedly nobody would want to throw away a lead away and lose to Melbourne by a point, but it did come at the end of that tumultuous week of the ASADA announcement, and while not a force, the Demons are certainly not the easybeats they have been in previous seasons.
What stands out more to me is the way they bounced back a week later and beat Adelaide.
Last season I wrote that I felt for the Essendon supporters who would go each week and cheer for their team, not knowing if they would be allowed to compete in the finals if they made it. I was shot down by many.
I was told the whole situation would only serve to make the club, its players and all its supporters even stronger.
A year on, and I can only agree.
westie
Guest
Good comeback david, that says it all. Whatever it Takes!
Aransan
Guest
How do you know 10 players have already admitted to ASADA that they were injected with TB4? A leak from Hird? Happy trolling!
Bosk
Guest
Precisely. It is the other 17 clubs that have my sympathy, not Essendon. I think its pretty obvious now why the Thymosin Bombers were leading the competition half way through 2012 - they had an illegal advantage.
Bosk
Guest
They ARE guilty. 10 players already admitted to ASADA in interviews that they were injected with TB4 which is and was a banned substance. Why do you think Paul Little and his army of suits are challenging the legality of ASADA's investigation in the first place? If the players were innocent they'd simply fight the charges knowing they took nothing illegal. Attempting to get off on a technicality is simply the last recourse available to them.
Bosk
Guest
Not sure that a chap like Jobe Watson deserves our sympathy when he happily took advantage of the illegal cocktail of drugs in his system to win the 2012 Brownlow, something he is yet to hand back or to apologize to Sam Mitchell & Trent Cotchin for defeating, since they were the best and FAIREST winners of that year.
Bosk
Guest
James Hird "kept counsel to himself"? Uh, rightyo. I guess he must've been doing that in between the constant outpouring of leaks from Camp Hird. Oh, and the AFL has since officially banned AOD so let's not pretend Essendon were injecting something innocent as vitamins as Spike MyVein would have us believe. Many of the substances injected into the players were morally questionable, not yet tested on humans, if not outright illegal.
Bosk
Guest
"Was the catchall s0 category just introduced for Essendon" Once again we see the delusion of Essenjection supporters coming to the fore, along with their arrogance. It's pitiful how many of them seem to genuinely believe that Essendon is bigger than the code itself and that this should excuse for the club for being caught cheating.
Mark
Guest
Actovegin is banned in the US. Why has WADA noty banned it please. Is it to protect the ASADA backed Manly Sea Eagles?
Rob
Guest
Nah - as soon as you pull on an essendon jumper you choose to not be respected. I offer their players the same amount of respect as their fans offer anything not essendon. None.
Penster
Guest
LOL Franko!
Tim
Roar Rookie
Knoxy, Dank gave sworn evidence to ACC saying he gave the essendon players Thymomodulin (which is the legal version). There was also an email sent where injections of 'Thymomodulin' were listed, not the illegal TB4 variant. So yes there were records. The source is an article in the Australian by Chip Le Grand Part of the reason why Dank isn't talking to ASADA is because they are a bunch of muppets, which has been shown many times throughout this sad saga. Of course you don't really hear about this stuff in the bigger papers because it won't sell as well as the old 'essendon are drug cheats' thing they have going on. I hope I cleared this up for you Knoxy.
Sam
Guest
Not at all. Everyone at Essendon believes they know exactly what the players were given and this has been passed on to ASADA. Of all substances everything has been agreed upon bar one which is being argued as a variant despite all evidence to the contrary - including what Dank stated to the ACC.
40degreesSouth
Guest
+10
Mark
Guest
Stephen, so can we use the soft tissue repair Activogen, as long as we inject them in the arm and not administer introveneously. Is this real?
david
Guest
I would like to take this chance to thank all the haters for getting us to 60,000 members and beyond. Go Bombers!
Knoxy
Guest
Mark, did he hand over records of what the players were injected with? Or did he just expect ASADA to take his word for it?
Mark
Guest
They were told what they were given, ie the consent form. .
Mark
Guest
He did say what he gave the players. Problem is that it wasn't the answer ASADA wanted so got ignored.
Mark
Guest
100% legal at the time.. TB4 was legal at the time in 2012 as well. Unless you apply the catchall. Was the catchall S0 category just introduced for Essendon?
Mark
Guest
Performance enhancing, just like Essendon. Right?