AFL delays decision on Watson's Brownlow

I am so sick and tired of this Essendon Saga. I blame the captain and coach for this fiasco, they should have been presiding over what was given to the players. The captain admitted he took the injections, where was his duty of care when it came to the other players? Wouldn't you be questioning why there had to be a secret location and signed consent forms? I would also like to know why some of the players refused the injections? Give the Brownlow back Jobe you and the golden boy were once revered at Essendon but now you are responsible for bringing the club to its knees. I think the Brownlow should only be for the best player as the relevance was lost in 2015 in giving it to Nat Fyfe - best player maybe fairest debatable.

It's true, he admitted to taking AOD which John Fahey, as then WADA CEO, had publicly stated was banned and had always been banned. ASADA never considered taking any action on it. Part of the reason could be that right up to the start of their investigation, a search of AOD yielded the result that it was not prohibited. Interestingly, it's possible that through much of 2012, a search of TB4 on the ASADA site would have yielded the same result. Both substances are covered by different sections of WADA's Prohibited List, but they are not specifically named, they are covered in so far as they meet the definitions of two separate catch-all clauses. In the case of TB4, the AFL Anti-doping Tribunal accepted that TB4 fell under the definition contained in S2. In the case of AOD, I'm not sure if there is any case out there which has ever relied on the relatively newer S0 clause. So in the case of Jobe, we can say that he took a substance which might have fallen under the definition of the S0 clause, if ASADA had wanted to pursue the matter. But they did not pursue it.

On this I agree - I would assume that the AFL as per normal sticks to what they can defend within the Australian jurisdiction and within that the AFL Tribunal probably found the most defendable position. The AFL actually do prefer to avoid going to court - and that can mean 'negotiated outcomes' but that's not entirely a bad thing. For Watson and the Brownlow we know it's been 'tainted' - however - a knee jerk response isn't called for. I'd suggest that the AFL is stalling still indicates an acknowledgement of water still to flow under the bridge. However - on this issue - the AFL don't want publicity about this - it does no one any good.

Its best and fairest, not just best, a lot of people would have liked to see Grant win that medal he wasn't fair and missed out, year in year out healthy discussions surround the Brownlow..a mids medal how about a forward winning it or the big ruckman and alls well and good as long as that player is the best and fairest not an eye gouging head butting drug cheating footballer and if he is then it belongs to the next in line, Sammy and Cotchin

You’re on your high horse about what Essendon/Jobe did or didn’t take and how effective it was, I’m not commenting on that as I don’t really care. I’m looking at stats alongside a well documented timeline. The stats don’t “prove” anything, and I have not presumed causal links, simply noted the correlation. There’s nothing disingenuous about that. Are you James Hird’s legal advisor perchance?

I don't think the Brownlow medal if taken from Watson should be handed to Cotchin or Mitchell why would they want it? Watson should hand the medal back but if he keeps it it will be worthless, as it will always be remembered as the tainted brownlow medal given to a good player, who was NOT the best and fairest of the year2012. Like the year 1997 when Chris Grant polled the the most votes to win the Brownlow, but could not accept it, it was given to second place Robert Harvey - I will always think of 1997 as the year that an excellent player who in my eyes and the eyes of most AFL supporters was the best and fairest. Ask Robert Harvey how he feels about getting the medal in default?

Jeeze, if this was a boxing match the ref would have stopped the fight 4 comments ago. RedB, the statistics clearly show that Jobe Watson was in the best form of his career during the 12 weeks he was being injected. The ladder also points to Essendon being the form team in the competition during the injection regime. The statistics also point to a massive drop in form for Jobe and the rest of the club as soon as the injection regimen was discontinued Again, the statistics don't PROVE anything, but they sure make for interesting reading.

your previous comments about ASADA, WADA, etc, finding it interesting is a cheap shot. It is disingenuous to suggest alleged performance enhancing drugs impacted his whole season, in which he polled throughout. Especially when the 'facts' suggested this was an early season issue. CAS did not prove Jobe Watson took banned drugs - they bunched them all in together. No doubt this will be appealed. Both 2011 and 2013 were impacted by injury - there are games when you are coming back from injury where you wont be at the top of your game. your averages are meaningless stats.

Again Redb read the comment and at least comprehend the words before making nonsensical comments about "selective stats" - I've listed the number of games he played in each season. Hardly selective. His averages are taken from the games he played. Here it is again: In season 2011, Jobe polled Brownlow votes in 7 matches from a possible 16, averaging .93 votes per match for the season. In season 2013, he polled in 7 matches from a possible 19, averaging .89 votes per match for the season. In season 2012, he polled in 14 matches from a possible 22, averaging .64 votes per match for the season.

Again selective with your stats. 2011 - Watson missed 6 weeks through injury 2012 - played all 22 games. 2013 - Missed 3 weeks, but also this was the year of the ASADA investigation.

What about Sammy and Cotchin who after Watson were best and fairest So called experts who have said they wouldn't take it under these circumstances if Jobe has to part with the medal ,why wouldn't they, they play their guts out for there club every year,Jobe admitted to taking ban substance on fox footy (on the couch) Essendon players came out in 2012 looking like hulk clones, the AFL desperately clinging to the romantic side of the game will try everything that would see Jobe keep his medal he's a son of a gun,it would kill the family the Watsons have given so much to our game blah blah, how about being fair to the actual game ..AFL clubs and players that play by the rules fans that want to see a clean sport exciting games hope our fav players we love win the Brownlow by being Fairest and Best

Watson was the ONLY player who won the Brownlow that year, and given the topic of this article, I looked at HIS figures in relation to the Brownlow, and also looked at his 2011 and 2013 votes. http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/brownlow_medal?year=2012&s=V Your question about substances being performance enhancing - no idea, never taken them, but there's been a plethora of articles on that topic of late, I'm sure you'll find something. A team cannot win a premiership in June (or Essendon would have won one), but an individual can have a Brownlow won in June ............. and this is what happened with Jobe in 2012 - which part of this fact can you not comprehend??? Watson's performance in the Brownlow count was excellent for the first half of the year only, coinciding with the "supplement" program, when the team was on fire at the top of the ladder. It all came tumbling down after that for the team, but Jobe had accrued enough points by that stage to have the medal won. That's what I find interesting. ASADA, WADA, AFL, CAS also find this interesting.

I'll type even slower. Watson is not the only player on Essendon's list caught up in this saga, I believe the number is 34 players and most were in the best 22 in 2012. If these substances were truly that would good for performance why did the team not even make the finals? Watson's 2011 was also a very good year, 2012 was the breakout year - his performance far exceeded that of the team's. This is just a cheap shot that belies Watson's ability.

AFL are stalling to put as much time as possible between the CAS decision and their own decision to allow Jobe to keep his Brownlow, to minimize the public backlash. I suspect a hidden component negotiated by Paul Little in the "Essendon* deal" in which Hird was sent to France for a year was an agreement Jab would be allowed to keep the medal.

The full process was completed in 2012!

Watson should make the decision, oh wait, Tim wouldn't like that one bit.

yep, pretty spot on

Quite obviously, the AFL must defer its decision until the full process is completed. I'm not really sure why anyone would view that as the least bit controversial.

It's not evidence, just numbers that I found interesting given the discussion around Jobe's Brownlow and whether he should keep or lose it. There may or may not be a correlation between the 2 sets of data.