Don't award the soulless Brownlow

Paul75sommers - have you really followed this saga properly? Because it sounds like you have only taken notice of snippets of information that you think supports the narrative you want to believe. Please provide the links to your claims so we can verify their veracity.

BTW on page 16 ASADA says clear vials were used - Alavi wasn't producing clear vials by then - just ASADA guessing and making things up.- again. The best bit though was ASADA investigators offering potential employment to witnesses in return for testimony, that was a cracker. They offered a convicted drug smuggler employment working at the NRL talking to players about drugs - you know like his target market - ( rolls eyes)

Over the course of that year ASADA only tested 15 players - 15, - less than half the players suspended. Many of those tests were outside the time frame for Danks program, Watsons were, so Watson did not lie and filled the form out correctly. It is pretty simple and straight forward, not sure why you cant understand it.

No they weren't, the substances were listed on a form they all signed that said they were all WADA compliant, that's what they thought they were getting.

Dank has been Essendon's fall guy. This guy was supposed to have all the answers and all the missing documentation, yet Essendon not one single time has ever attempted to get Dank to testify and provide the documents. This despite the fact that as an EFC employee at the time any paperwork created would be work product and therefore legally the property of the Essendon Football Club. Why didn't EFC ever sue Dank for their intellectual property? I suspect they either knew it no longer existed (was shredded when AD tipped them off) or didn't actually want it to ever see the light of day because it wouldn't do them any good.

Ever heard of "sins of omission?"Sure, they lied. Blank forms. Nothing about all those injections. You care to read the actual transcript of the ASADA hearing ? Be my guest: http://media.heraldsun.com.au/multimedia/2015/aug/project/index4.html Go to day 16, pages about 1209 and on. Then tell me that they were declaring everything they took and that nothing was wrong.

Nicely said. Also, if the Brownlow had an asterisk next to it for 2012, it would be a permanent reminder for generations to come about a cloud over the game that I, for one, would like to see disappear over the horizon and be forgotten over time (aside from the lessons learned).

Just a small qualifier to some of the stuff I've said above: I think the penalty Watson and the Bombers players have received is out of proportion to their offence, as it is with most doping offences. And the last time Watson went further than he absolutely had to on this subject - when he admitting to being injected with AOD9604 - he was booed mercilessly and repugnantly by the Perth crowd, and in subsequent games. So perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that he feels himself to be a victim, or that he's reluctant to be forthright. But that doesn't change the fact that there is an opportunity to learn from these mistakes, and stubbornly refusing to accept responsibility is wasting that opportunity.

I wish you could follow. They did not lie on their forms ASADA lied and CAS LIED

There have been 26 dead heats in the Summer Olympics and 7 in the Winter Olympics. It happens.

Yes, they did lie on their forms. They left their forms blank, but most of them described getting injections on a regular basis when questioned by ASADA, sometimes even weekly. Not to mention all the other stuff they were taking. They were required to list everything they'd taken in the preceding week, not just TB4. And they didn't.

Because when they were tested the injections were not within the 7 days, can you at least follow. So therefore they were not lying, the forms state within the last 7 days, not 10 days or one year. They did not lie

the AFL could not have done any more to keep Essendon and its players off the hook - fortunately other entities forced it to be accountable.

You are refusing to acknowledge that CAS and ASADA shouted from the rooftops that the players lied on their forms, the absolute cornerstone of their finding of guilt. But how can they have not lied on the 'what drugs have i been injected with in the last 7 days' form when they don't know what they have been injected with? Ignorance is no defense - so they lied.

IMHO it's interesting that bomber fans sheet blame to Dank (among others) but the club, banned players, and former coaching team have noticeably played dead on pursuing him in any jurisdiction which can only mean they would rather he not be cornered lest he really spill the beans.

Because they were taking a cocktail of drugs, many of them not approved for human use, none of them the subject of long term safety trials? I'd be worried too. Especially if I didn't have a clue what I'd actually taken because I didn't do my due diligence to find out, or to check with the team doctor that everything was kosher, as I should have done.

What? I'm not letting Dank off the hook at all. Crazy thing to say. Guilt isn't a pie that you can slice up and distribute among all the parties involved. Everyone is responsible for their own actions and inactions, regardless of whether another person has done the wrong thing in their own role.. The last thing Essendon should do is forget this affair, Remembering it as an 'injustice' suffered by the players would be a stupid mistake though. They should remember what they did wrong, and what they can do better. And it's up to the likes of Watson to show the way. He is not doing that.

I don't have an issue with Cotchin and Mitchell accepting the Brownlow. Its the rules, if a player is suspended the next line get the medal.

Hird was the AFL's fall guy. But you don't want to hear that.

Tom, The problem with you and so many other posters is you keep letting Stephen Dank off the hook - he is the 95% culprit get it? Essendon fans will never forget the injustices these players have suffered - it will make us stronger as a club. Jobe Watson is an outstanding individual.