The captain of a football team is the face of the club, and is the overarching leader of all people involved within the organisation.
Gillon McLachlan assumed the role of captain at the head of the AFL in 2014 but along with his leadership group, in this case the AFL commission, has recently lacked conviction to make decisions without consultation from outside parties.
Firstly, when the Court of Arbitration for Sport handed down their findings of guilt last month for the Essendon 34, a suspension for all players involved was attached.
Then questions started being asked regarding the Brownlow Medal that Jobe Watson received for being the fairest and best player in the league in 2012; the year the supplement program was in effect.
Will the AFL force him to give it back? The current answer is no.
Instead, the AFL commission have invited Watson to attend a meeting later this month to address the issue, and state his point of view on why he should or shouldn’t get to keep the medal.
Right now the 2012 Brownlow medallist is a convicted drug cheat, which is in contradiction with the idea of being the best and fairest player. Yet the AFL are still affording Watson the chance to put forward a case to keep it.
Only last week, the AFL decided that the Western Bulldogs, Port Adelaide, St Kilda and Melbourne won’t get any top up players following the suspensions of players on their list.
But surprise, surprise, it was only after consultation with the other clubs that they made the decision.
Of course the 13 other clubs were going to be bullish on allowing their competitors the option to bring additional player(s) into their squads after knowing the risk when they traded for the players in question.
Both times, the AFL will have consulted with other people who have clear conflicts of interest. Watson with his own medal and the other clubs preventing a competitive advantage to teams losing players through suspension.
It’s time the AFL and the commission develop enough conviction in their thoughts to back themselves to make the right decisions without weight added from people on the outside.
And if the AFL commission allow Watson to keep his medal, they will surely be the only sporting organisation in the world to allow a drug cheat to keep any awards won while under the influence of performance-enhancing drugs.
Wayno
Guest
Tainted premiership medals ... Hahaha
Don Freo
Guest
You can always try talking about sport. The try hard lawyers are like cartoon characters.
Crap article. If you're going to judge the commission, do so after their decision, which will likely come after an appeal. The comments are even worse, to many supporters/haters pushing repetitive agendas re Jobe and his Brownlow.
Samantha
Roar Rookie
Before I joined this site, my friend told me to disregard anything said by 'Don Freo'. Looking at some of your recent 'contributions' (and I use that term very, very lightly) to this site, I could quite easily give you a healthy dose of your own rudeness right back. But why stoop to your levels. It's pretty obvious the exceeding low opinion the vast majority of this sites users already have of you.
The_Wookie
Roar Guru
Dont have to be intentional to be a drug cheat. You just have to be ignorant or deceptive or naive.
BigAl
Guest
What a crude and uncalled for response(s) Don and Dok - joined at the hip - one head between them. ps So Dok, to give an opinion in this forum about AFL you have to have played in the AFL ? Roar editors can you please clarify this for me and Dok
Aransan
Guest
The law is not immune from "trivial or foolish speech or writing; nonsense".
Aransan
Guest
Fortunately we no longer have capital punishment, the convicted murderer is hanged and then subsequently found innocent. I remember a film once where someone was saved from the gallows at the last minute, the hangman was told "you nearly hanged an innocent man". The response was "it wouldn't be the first time!"
Don Freo
Guest
On the evidence of your contributions to this sporting website, Samantha, I suspect no one will be quoting you in the near future, either. Done the TAFE course, have we?
Samantha
Roar Rookie
Quite simple. Yes. Is a convicted murder still a convicted murder even if s/he has appeals to run yet? Is a convicted burglar still a convicted burglar until his/her appeals run out? Yep. That is the way it works in every court in the world. You are convicted until and unless it is over-turned.
Aransan
Guest
And if the CAS decision is overturned then he becomes unconvicted? Stop this legalistic twaddle!
Samantha
Roar Rookie
QUERY: Does Watson currently have a doping strike recorded against him? FACT: Yes he does. FACT: This makes him a convicted drug cheat. End of story.
Samantha
Roar Rookie
No one is going around quoting me as a source. There are however people going around on this site quoting Bruce Francis. See the difference? Everyone can have an opinion, and Bruce Francis is free to have his OPINION, but some people need to stop using that OPINION like it is factual or carries more weight because he played in some other sport a few decades back.
Paul D
Roar Guru
Nonsense - they have explained their reasoning, you just don't like it, so you're having a whinge.
Josh
Expert
From the article on the AFL website: "An exception has been made for Essendon only because of the sheer number of suspended players it has on its list, and on the basis that they must be able to field a side that that can compete at a basic level each week. "If Essendon were not granted list concessions, there may be legitimate health and safety concerns for young and inexperienced players forced to play senior football over a full 22-week season." Not sure what you're complaining about.
Samantha
Roar Rookie
Okay fine, I should have said players rather than EFC. The players had every opportunity to present whatever witnesses they wanted to. Why did they make absolutely zero attempts to do so? Since you continuously like to compare this to a legal trial (which, btw, is a highly inaccurate comparison), prosecution is not required to call any witnesses they do not trust. First rule of being or being a lawyer is 'Never ask a question you do not already know the answer to.' Why would ASADA/WADA ever call Dank? If Dank was called and said, 'Yes, I gave them TB-4, I thought it was legal at the time.' You would be the first one shouting down from the top of the roofs that this guy is untrustworthy, a rogue, was sacked for a reason and can't be believed. The point is, who in thier right mind is going to believe a word this guy says at this point? EFC stated early on that the 'missing' records must have been taken by Dank. Dank recently said he left them all with EFC admin when he left. So is Essendon lying? Or is Dank lying? Again, why would any sane legal mind EVER call Dank to the stand when he is such an easily impeached and discredited witness? Doing so would only harm the case of whomever was silly enough to call him. THAT is the reason why neither side ever made any serious attempt to get Dank to testify. Neither side knows what he would say. Neither side trusts he would say the truth and both sides could easily discredit him.
mattyb
Guest
A tainted Brownlow to go with the tainted premiership medals would be a nice fit for that Mitchell. And the irony after he brought the game into disrepute with his childish jab mime directed towards members of his same industry. A more classless fellow you will never find.
Wilson
Roar Guru
I was trying to give him benefit of the doubt but you are most likely correct
Redb
Roar Guru
Just as wonderful as the bile coming from opposition supporters suggesting Watson is an intentional drug cheat. The CAS ruling utilising strict liability does not need to establishe intent - yet you all are happy to label Watson a drug cheat asserting that he had intent to take performance enhancing drugs. Not even ASADA boss McDevitt thinks that.
AR
Guest
History says its unlikely that Mitchell would win a Brownlow in the coming seasons. He'll just have to settle for all those premiership medals.