After three days of finger pointing, note taking, laborious submissions, men in wigs chuckling at jokes we mere mortals don’t understand, and plenty of sage head nodding, what are we left with?
We know that the coffers of several legal firms would have swelled, and no doubt they’ll be licking their lips with the guarantee of far greater bounties to look forward to in the future.
After all this really was just the entrée before the main meal is served.
Was it really any surprise we discovered that politicians like to throw a hand grenade then retreat hastily while others pick up the pieces? What else was ever going to happen after the cringe worthy ‘darkest day in Australian sport’ press conference?
Or that ASADA, a bureaucratic government entity was hopelessly underfunded and under resourced? That wouldn’t be a first.
Not to mention the AFL, a corporate entity that makes decisions, actually had an agenda. How dare they!
Nope, all we were really left with was the certainty that more of this mind numbingly tedious and destructive pantomime will carry on.
Perhaps the most ludicrous revelation was ASADA finally declaring that even if they were to lose this particular battle, they can simply reload their guns and reissue the evidence and show cause notices. Of course, that course of action would once again be disputed in court and off we go again, like the hamster wheel.
Having recently been through a lengthy and expensive court battle, I learnt a few inescapable truths. Firstly, it is not in the interest of any lawyer to find a solution; their existence is based upon continually finding more legal issues to fight. They want this strung out for years.
Secondly, a legal fight is a negative and damaging exercise, it slowly eats away at you from the inside. It consumes your thought process, you take it to work and then take it home, and it permeates in to every aspect of your life. There is nothing good in it. It is caustic.
It is therefore simply impossible for the Essendon hierarchy to function normally. Winning an AFL premiership is incredibly difficult, and the primary role of the administration is to create an environment in which the playing group has every chance of being successful. Clearly this is not the case when the focus of the Essendon board is on a legal fight.
Even the media circus following this debacle is turning in to a fight that belongs in a playground. Of course many journalists take sides, depending on whom their sources of information are, that’s how we get different perspectives of the news. But the mud slinging, ‘he said, she said’ between senior journalists has now deteriorated to such an extent that the real story has been lost.
There has been a distinct lack of impartial, objective debate on this topic. But perhaps even the good journalists are now getting fed up with the whole thing and simply can’t be bothered anymore.
The central question, and the only one that really matters in this whole sorry mess, has long been forgotten. There have now been so many smoke screens, contradictions, denials, about turns and innuendo that we will probably never know if any players were injected with banned substances.
Justice is likely not to prevail, and that is a truly sad reflection on every party that has played a role.
In the meantime, we’ll wait for another four to ten weeks for the judgment to be handed down. Before then, there’ll be more claims of righteousness, victory, new courses of action to be taken, and more leaked information. Then we’ll have the inevitable threats of appeal, justification, staged press conferences and more schoolyard antics.
I’m thankful it’s not my club, it would sadden me greatly to watch them self-destruct like this. And I truly feel for those Essendon supporters who just want to watch their footy team, this wasn’t their doing and they don’t deserve it.
So a simple message to everyone involved in this nonsense: sort it out quickly, stop the bickering, and quit lining the pockets of the lawyers.
We all just want our footy back.
Pete from Sydney
Guest
one essendon fan eh? that's the basis for your assumption, well done on your clinical assessment ..
Mick Ash
Roar Rookie
It was ludicrous - because it merely reaffirmed that the whole 3 days was in effect a pointless exercise.
Mark
Guest
The only way to truly have records of what was administered it to have an independent person get all samples administered, and place half of the samples into a separate test tube. The other half is then administered with the independent person watching. This happens for all major horse racing events. What you put on paper is irrelevant. It is obvious that Dank would not put "Administed illegal substance 26/7". Bottom line is that paper trails are useless. All that matters are positive swabs or identical samples from the source that can be re-tested.
Sancho
Guest
Awesome article > retarted Comments. Tell Michael Jackson to take his popcorn elsewhere.
Sancho
Guest
Seriously. Should take his own advice and get some real world education.
Mark
Guest
Mick, the AFL performed an audit across all clubs and found that 12 clubs did not have sufficient process in place to know what their players are being administered. So nobody has records of what the players at the 12 clubs were given (not just Essendon). So it is not just Essendon. Robinson brought Dank to Essendon. Robinson had previously been at Geelong where he had close ties with Shane Charter and Gold Coast where he used Dank. When he arrived at Geelong he stated that he wanted to adapt a more scientific approach to fitness (see Wikipedia). Dank previously used Activogen at Manly Sea Eagles, which happens to be supported by John Fahey and Tony Abbott. Activogen is for all intents and purposes the same as TB4. It is derived from calfs blood for the purpose of soft tissue repair. Activogen is legal and TB4 is not. Why? "The Lions and Geelong frequently got injected with Activogen. Dr Artmann says he knows the Bombers' high performance manager Dean Robinson from Robinson's time working in Queensland. He has also treated players from the Cats and the Lions, who he says first learnt about his practice from the famous and controversial Dr Wohlfahrt. Dr Wohlfahrt, who has helped sprinter Usain Bolt and soccer stars Harry Kewell and Ronaldo, has also treated AFL players, including Cats star Max Rooke. Hird and other Bombers officials had reportedly visited Wohlfahrt as part of a fact-finding tour of Europe in 2001 but at that stage the club's medical staff had not been persuaded of his methods." Manly Sea Eagles had Stephen Dank centre stage when they slammed Melbourne Storm 40-0. http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/calves-blood-saga-was-a-warning-for-manly-20130209-2e55x.html http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/josh-perrys-house-used-to-inject-calves-blood-but-he-denies-being-offered-unauthorised-substance-by-stephen-dank/story-e6frexnr-1226597219958?nk=cd57f88c1041f9e46136fc0a2fe0a26e http://prelive.goldcoast.com.au/article/2013/08/23/456844_gold-coast-news.html "http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/manly-dumped-dank-over-injection-row-20130313-2g0x5.html
andyl12
Guest
Recently I heard an Essendon fan say that keeping the Anzac Day fixture was more important than winning a premiership. Similar to the James Hird attitude- he'd rather make money than see the EFC progress and move along.
Mik
Guest
mate we the fans and members will be paying for essendons costs. I also think there would be a carpet shortage in Melbourne at the moment.....
Casper
Guest
Essendon and Collingwood made Anzac Day what it is, so don't know why you are coughing. Don't tell me that you are one of these types that reckons Anzac Day would be huge no matter who was playing.
andyl12
Guest
The AFL would eventually compensate essendon for the legal costs. Essendon usually get what they ask for from the afl anzacdaycoughcough
Casper
Guest
Christo - you have got no way of knowing whether all clubs document what they inject their players with, or whether what they document is really what was injected.
Bobbo7
Guest
Spot on Christo. Just get rid of Hird. Pathetic
Mark
Guest
I dont think so. It will cost them a fortune in legal costs.
DJW
Guest
As someone mentioned elsewhere Essendon's aim is to draw this out as long as possible so by the time any infraction notices are issued the players affected will be at the end of there careers and it will be irrelevant.
Wayno
Guest
Mark there can be no doubt that professional teams through most codes would be undertaking similar procedures for injury recovery of their players. The question is whether the methods / drugs that are used are legal or not. I'm sure that if ASADA felt it necessary they will or maybe already have spoken to Hawthorn and Brent Guerra in regards to the method used for his recovery during the 2012 finals.
Christo the Daddyo
Guest
Crucial bit of evidence is that all other clubs know what they're injecting their players with. Essendon rather mysteriously, doesn't.
Christo the Daddyo
Guest
Plenty of evidence of lawyers screwing their own clients financially. Not saying they all do it, but like any profession there are bad eggs spoiling the reputation of the whole industry.
andyl12
Guest
"How are players to respond to the SCNs?" By producing evidence that they did not take the relevant drugs. If the EFC had any brains they would've kept such evidence.
andyl12
Guest
Casper- why does it matter if it was a year ago? Does that somehow make it false? If it is false, nothing is stopping the EFC from suing Caro now. The same way EFC have put the 'liar' tag on Patrick Smith, Kyle Reimers, Dean Robinson and Andrew Demetriou. All would've been sued by now if they were liars.
Mark
Guest
It is highly likely that the investigation is illegal. Now its over to ASADA to re-issue the Show Cause Notices. And we go around and around. If the AFL is the one that issues the infraction notices following ASADAs recommendation, they should do so straight away. Why did ASADA even bother with Show Cause notices? Shouldn't they have just opted for immediate infraction notices? If this is because ASADAs evidence is not strong enough, and given they have had 2 years, they should cease this case.