Gutless Essendon board fail to back Hird

Mike - strangely enough the players are monitored how much Orange Juice they drink and how many Tim Tams they eat. So it's remarkable that somehow they were unable to keep accurate records of exactly what the players were injected with - especially given the acknowledgement by everyone (including Hird) that the programme was at the "cutting edge" There are only two reasonable conclusions one can draw - the people running the programme were incompetent or they set out to cheat. If it was incompetence then that increases exponentially the possibility that illegal substances were used.

What would he need to defend against? An outbreak of malicious innuendo perhaps?

Please also add: "The heart, soul & trust of a number of players"...

Add to that Commies Under The Bed and The Yellow Peril in the backyard and you have a full suite of conspiracy theories... We cross-referenced your insinuations with the positive drugs tests that were found and came with an empty orange juice bottle & two stale TimTams... Best you secure the Expose Interviews with Dank & Robinson pronto, they will be worth $Millions...? Now back to all those positive drugs tests you were insinuating? How much does Sherlock Holmes cost per hour...?

Well said Mike.

Mike you said "If the whole lot of them had just agreed to plead guilty (what is with these egoists who are not ready to plead guilty to protect the AFL brand, even when not guilty????)" And there MIke is the conundrum for the players as they still don't know what they were injected with. So they really can't be absolutely certain that they weren't injected with anything illegal. So while they may be found innocent in the legal sense, there is always going to be strong doubts/suspicion about what went on at the EFC. But most reasonable people have sympathy for the predicament the players were in so they won't be branded as cheats - regardless of the WADA verdict. Let me ask you this - do you think any reasonable person thinks the Cronulla players are more guilty of cheating than the EFC players because they pleaded guilty? I think they are viewed the same and always will be - regardless of the WADA verdict. The lack of records kept by the EFC has ensured that.

Just about sums up the reality of the current status and developments to date, and what EssendonFC can expect in the next 12-24 months. History will not be kind, as it should not be, to the EssendonFC management & board, or the AFL. The AFL could not distance itself fast enough from all these bothersome image & brand risk objects, such as players, coach, middle management etc. Under the bus with them all as fast as possible. Point the finger south as you run north as fast as their AFL PR advised legs could carry them... All the while bleating that they have the player welfare as first priority... (well, after PR, image, brand, market perception, broadcast rights negotiations, performance bonuses & avoiding accountability were all taken care of...) If the whole lot of them had just agreed to plead guilty (what is with these egoists who are not ready to plead guilty to protect the AFL brand, even when not guilty????) then this whole saga would have gone away and the players could have returned after their bans and just get used to be called drug cheats forever more... Naive players? Troublesome Hird - More part of the problem & and not the solution? Best solution now: wait for the whole WADA process to finish, then replace the whole board and upper management at EssendonFC. NEVER count & publicise the internal costs involved. Just cut the cord, get new management, all accomplished EssendonFC identities and far fewer corporate managers. The club needs SOUL, not process managers...

As someone with only a passing interest in AFL I can only say what a collective waste. If Hirds good name and willingness to contribute to the game are gone forever then the AFL has shot itself in the foot. His deeds for the good of the game should be weighed against the weasels who mounted the "blackest day in Australian sport" media "event" and then spent every day and effort since to cover their overreach and backsides. Less effort was expended on the investigation into the Melbourne Storm financial Rorts and they won the competition those years. Where did Essendon and Cronulla RLC come in the years of performance enhancing drugs?

Everything that has happened to Essendon has been of their own doing, not the AFL's, not ASADA's, not WADA's , not the media's but Essendon's. Surely they knew if/when they got caught with this program there'd be questions to be answered...yet they haven't answered one of them. No records kept, players unable t say what they were injected with etc, now if you've got nothing to hide why would you go to such lengths to cover everything up? Essendond and Hird have acted the victim the whole way through without a leg to stand on.

Good comment. And this is the main point. Hird had to go and this had to be a major issue to prevent clubs and coaches doing it again.

Why are you more supportive of Hird than of your club? Seems to be the same attitude that Hird had (i.e. self protection rather than doing the best by the club) which has contributed to this mess. Surely Hird had a major say in the club and the players not taking the deal offered by Asada. If they had done so, like Cronulla, this whole thing would be over now.

Dougie, Tom Boyd may well turn out to be worth the contract he has been given and I am confident Buddy Franklin will be worth his contract with Sydney too, mainly because of the point that you make about increasing salary caps and the fact that the payments will not increase with the increasing salary caps. I understand that the Bulldogs players support Tom Boyd's contract because he fills a desperate need but you can't keep doing that. How would one of your players feel if they are on $400k and you recruit an inferior player on $600k? Also note that increasing salary caps mean that market values will increase. Could Bontempelli be worth $1m to another club when his contract expires at the end of 2017? What would Stringer be worth? I am sure you could name a few of your other players who would be very marketable as well. You have a young side but with success the salary cap will become a concern in the coming years.

Players tow the party line. They are trained and told to do so. "we support the coach 100%" means nothing in these situations. To be fair he might believe it, but results and the attitude of the players does not seem to support that

Then Mike Fitzpatrick and the AFL Commission and all executives including Gill need go. At least investigate Colless' allegations please, someone? http://www.smh.com.au/sport/ashamed-of-sport-says-afls-longest-serving-chairman-richard-colless-20150730-gio2xp.html

Most of the players you mention Aransan don't inspire great hope. I'm not being a smart-ar$e, just confirming that the list appears to lack considerable depth and speed. Yes, the trade sanctions and drugs saga have hurt the Bombers ability to recruit and will continue to until WADA case has been finalised. If I was a young bloke in the draft I would be fuming to be forced to go to the Bombers in the past couple of seasons. On the doggies player payments, it's true we're paying Crameri and Boyd too much and got shafted in the Griffen exchange, but we're still paying less than most clubs and still have room to move. I think all of our good and reasonable players have extended their contracts this year, except maybe Bont. But it's much easier to retain blokes if the club is doing well and finals opportunities look imminent and club morale is good. All those aspects are in our favour now. The new tv rights deal suggests that salary caps and club subsidies will increase significantly, meaning that the big salary we've committed to Tom Boyd may not be as bad as you think. I'm rapt with his performance this year and have confidence that he will become the gun we gambled on him being (provided he doesn't have a bad injury along the way).

I don't expect it to be equal but I don't expect it to be so lopsided either. Why does everything have to be so B&W? Why must it be one of the other? Some balance, constistency, honesty and integrity would be nice and that's what I am calling for. Is that really too much to ask? Go to google news and type 'Richard Colless Mike Fitzpatrick' and you will find 17 articles on the allegations. Here are the allegations http://www.smh.com.au/sport/ashamed-of-sport-says-afls-longest-serving-chairman-richard-colless-20150730-gio2xp.html Do you want to try and tell me that the allegations aren't very serious? If you think that they are serious allegations can you give me some good reasons why the media outlets aren't harassing Fitzpatrick and the Commission every hour on the hour and why this isn't front page news every day? Why hasn't there been an investigation? Why hasn't anyone been fired for the constant leaks about the Bombers from AFL House? My questions are very reasonable. Any genuine investigative journalist should be interested in covering these stories in more detail but they never do and I'd like to know why? I'm not here to support Hird or Essendon or comment on whether his sacking was right or wrong, plenty of other people are doing that. I'm pointing out that the AFL and the media have agendas and that some stories get covered up (Fitzpatrick) while others get over-exposed (Bombers). If you can't see the imbalance then look harder. If you haven't studied the history of the media and paid close attention to their actions over many decades you probably won't be able to see the tricks they play on you every day. Most people don't see it either and I understand that i am in the minority but that doesn't mean that I am wrong. It doesn't mean that I am right either but I have studied this subject in great detail over many years and I am so sure that I am right that I would bet last dollar on it. You can see the agenda and biases or you can't. That is B&W.

Did Casper expect Goddard to come out yesterday and say: "I think Hird is a poor coach"..?

Just because James engaged Shane Charter's services throughout his playing career does not mean that Mr Charter was providing him with banned PEDs. I understand that Mr Charter's services were not restricted to only advising on or supplying PEDs - he has an excellent understanding of general nutrition and also provided dietary advice to his clients. ASADA, the AFL and the board have their scalp. Leave the man in peace.

3 year multi million dollar contract for just 19 games. Enough said

Not to mention the Gold Coasts illegal narcotics program Jax.