Essendon

before this saga the only thing i knew players would take needle wise would be ''quarter-zone'' injections, & tablet wise would be salt tablets...yeah i'm still living in the past, way too much, yet i like it that way

I can almost predict what the papers will write about Essendons 2015 season

If Essendon have a great start to the season , they will write how the players were determined to play well after all the negativity around the club leading into this season

If Essendon flop then the press will focus on how the pre season negativity has affected the players

Which will it be ?

*BUMP*

This means Monfries and Ryder are "out" for Port Adelaide for the year.

____________________________________________________________

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has condemned 34 Essendon football players after uphelding a World Anti-Doping Agency against a previous verdict of innocence regarding banned supplements.

The players accused of using banned peptide Thymosin beta-4 have been suspended for 12 months.

In March of last year the AFL anti-doping tribunal found there was insufficient evidence to find the players guilty of doping offences arising from the club's controversial 2012 supplements program.

CAS is based in Lausanne, Switzerland, but hearings were held in Sydney last November and Essendon confirmed on Saturday that the appeal verdict would be handed down on Tuesday morning.

In sanctions handed down in 2013, the AFL banned then-coach James Hird for 12 months, kicked Essendon out of the finals, fined the club $2million and stripped it of draft picks.

The Bombers remain steadfast in their belief that the players won't miss any games whether the appeal is upheld or not.

- See more at: http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2016/01/12/judgement-day-arrives-for-essendon-bombers.html#sthash.a6WyaKlc.dpuf

Huge implications for the 2016 season now. What will the AFL and Essendon do? Withdraw from the season completely? Pilfer top up players from across the country and still field a side that will get flogged by 15 goals every week?

The AFL have got some big decisions to make. They only have themselves to blame though - the only reason this has dragged on and other bodies have stepped in with sanctions is because the AFL didn't hand down enough of a penalty to start with. In retrospect they should have just banned Essendon from participating for 12 months. Short term pain, but it would have been done and dusted.

Of course there will be speculation around Watson's Brownlow now as well. He's been found guilty of doping, surely the AFL have to strip it off him.

here's a question, for those AFL clubs like Port Adelaide who lose Ryder and Monfries, can they also use the top up player system? Will they have to elevate a couple of rookies and will they need to replace those elevated? I don't know how this works.

http://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Arbitral_Award_WADA_ESSENDON.pdf

Entire CAS findings.

firstblood wrote:here's a question, for those AFL clubs like Port Adelaide who lose Ryder and Monfries, can they also use the top up player system? Will they have to elevate a couple of rookies and will they need to replace those elevated?  I don't know how this works.

No one does.

I'd say that would be one of a huge list of things the AFL are talking about right now.

A bigger question is - could this saga actually cost Essendon it's existence? I've thought all along that this could well cause Essendon to fold. No doubt the players would be considering some kind of legal action against the club now. Sponsors would be working out how to exit as we speak. This is huge. While they are one of the 'big' Melbourne clubs, the AFL can't step in and bail them out for this. They could be cooked.

It is massive, firstly for Essendon themselves and secondly the AFL.

All the players, retired, current Essendon or moved on currently on the phone to their lawyers the club is looking at millions, millions of dollars of compensation. It could well be the end of them, who knows?

From the AFL's point of view $1.125b says they need 9 games per week so they'll do almost anything to keep the Bombers a float.

Player wise, obviously Essendon need 14 players for season 2016, Port need to replace two, Bulldogs, St Kilda, Melbourne, they all have one to replace.

This is not the end, my friend.

If Essendon and other clubs are not able to pay these players in terms of current contracts, then I think you will see a class action by the players against the club.

That could happen anyway.

It just shows you the ridiculous nature of all this.

I agree the AFL will probably prop up Essendon if they can't deal with whatever financial flak occurs. They must still be reeling from the past fines and payouts etc.

So the afl just gives them back the $2M fine?

Not the end of the saga by a long way. This could go on for years.

The more I think about it, the more I actually can't see how Essendon can survive this.

How can the AFL step in and prop them up? They are guilty.

Again, they should have ripped the band aid off a couple of seasons ago and just sat them out for a season. It would have hurt the hip pocket massively, in the millions. It will pale in to comparison to the free-for-all that beckons in the wake of this decision, both in cash (possibly hundreds of millions in legal action, lost income, lost sponsorship) and reputation.

To run with the band aid analogy - the AFL chose to ignore the wound and now it's infected, and spreading.

I believe the AFL have said that Essendon will be allowed to top up with replacement players. Why should that be allowed? Why should the AFL be ameliorating the effect of a penalty handed down by the Court of Arbitration in Sport?
What if the CAS fined Essendon $1million - would it be all right for the AFL to help Essendon out by giving them $800,000?

Flag No.10 wrote:I believe the AFL have said that Essendon will be allowed to top up with replacement players. Why should that be allowed? Why should the AFL be ameliorating the effect of a penalty handed down by the Court of Arbitration in Sport?
What if the CAS fined Essendon $1million - would it be all right for the AFL to help Essendon out by giving them $800,000?

Exactly.

Essendon should sit out the season IMO.

The AFL may want to come up with some sort of compensation package to avoid player legal action as well.

They need to confront this issue now, and resolve it once and for all no matter how much $$$ it takes.

most players would take the opportunity to (one), get back in ''the system'' or (two), young blokes overlooked, will be chasing a dream, i'm not sure how many SANFL players ''topped up'' last time, i know Patrenko was one & that was for the pre season, yet that would have stuffed up wwt plans to some degree, what would happen if a ''top up player'' got seriously injured in an AFL match ?

(A)nother
(F)arce
(L)ooming

It will be interesting to see the reaction from the other AFL Clubs now.

There would be massive concerns across the league now for the integrity of the competition, and the game as a whole.

press conference on ch 9 right now

So the AFL, appalled at this egregious breach, has given Essendon its own exclusive 10-man national draft. We understand why, but it doesn't feel right.

I have mixed feelings over this, allowing them to recruit additional players appears to lessen their punishment somewhat as they should have to take them from their own allocated reserves side.

Perhaps another overriding thought is that Demitriou should have had this done and dusted before leaving his position at the AFL with this not having been effectively dealt with. It would appear that by leaving the matter the punishment has been made far greater than previous 'deals' that were offered that would have seen a far lesser suspension taken.

I feel a lot for Jobe Watson and his father, they lose everything with this deal and its suggested that if he does not 'surrender' the Brownlow medal then it may be stripped from him. That must be a pretty horrible feeling right there.

Plenty more I could say, yet suffice to say that the AFL have been well and truly shown up here and its not a good look for the competition or anyone else. It is past time that they learnt to lift their game in the way that they deal with both the clubs and the administration of the game.

Yes irrespective of Essendon's guilt at whatever it is they did or didn't do, the AFL has handled the whole thing appallingly.

I agree with Rebecca Wilson's comments that they have displayed an "astonishing level of arrogance". And Rebecca doesn't usually comment on AFL much.

The AFL's desire for world domination of football, has shown it to be very uneven (and even arbitrary) in how they apply their version of justice for clubs.

From the distributions made to clubs, to salary cap concessions, to penalties for all sorts of random infractions of their moral codes, to TV programming and even rule/tribunal decisions.

And that is just within the AFL. How they treat the greater football world with such disdain only confirms Rebecca's statement in my opinion.

They sau this issue will not define Essendon or the players, but it has certainly defined the AFL.

Two excelent posts in my opinion.

Chambo Off To Work We Go wrote:Yes irrespective of Essendon's guilt at whatever it is they did or didn't do, the AFL has handled the whole thing appallingly.

I agree with Rebecca Wilson's comments that they have displayed an "astonishing level of arrogance". And Rebecca doesn't usually comment on AFL much.

The AFL's desire for world domination of football, has shown it to be very uneven (and even arbitrary) in how they apply their version of justice for clubs.

From the distributions made to clubs, to salary cap concessions, to penalties for all sorts of random infractions of their moral codes, to TV programming and even rule/tribunal decisions.

And that is just within the AFL. How they treat the greater football world with such disdain only confirms Rebecca's statement in my opinion.

They sau this issue will not define Essendon or the players, but it has certainly defined the AFL.

Bang on the money Chambo. The AFL have consistently sacrificed the integrity of the game itself in the pursuit of $$$ and domination.

It has come back to bite them on the backside big time.

I'm still of the view that Essendon should not be participating in the 2016 season now. The Club should pay the price for what they have done, through lost earnings and sponsorship dollars.

By the AFL stepping in and offering them a way to still participate, they have in effect left the players to cop the full brunt of the penalties, which is grossly unfair IMO.

If Essendon was any sort of Club, they should withdraw for the 2016 now and accept the penalty with the players. They can still participate in the VFL to ensure the rest of the squad still develops and is ready for 2017.

The AFL should then cover home match takings for income lost to other Clubs, and cop their whack in lost broadcasting cash as penalty for the **** poor way they've handled this.

Both the AFL and Essendon are still taking the cowards way out by trying to 'limit the damage'. Newsflash - the damage is done. Time for both organisations to 'man up' and cop their fair whack whatever the cost.

The AFL simply can't exclude the Bombers from this season.

Fox/7 pay for 9 games per week, fans pay for X games per season on season ticketing, venues book the time slot to ensure no other event is held, logistically impossible at this point in the year.

Spot on booney

Booney wrote:The AFL simply can't exclude the Bombers from this season.

Fox/7 pay for 9 games per week, fans pay for X games per season on season ticketing, venues book the time slot to ensure no other event is held, logistically impossible at this point in the year.

Why not? They just need to compensate Fox/7, fans and venues. Would cost a shitload of dough I'll grant you that - but would it bankrupt them? I doubt it.

Would it bankrupt Essendon? Potentially - but tough ****. If this happened in the real world any company that oversaw this sort of program would be wiped off the face of the earth.

I'm with you GN. Ultimately it's a contest between money and integrity, and it's just easier if money wins.

I look at it this way, keep your friends close and your enemies even closer.

The AFL can cause Essendon more long term destruction by making them play a sub standard side in 2016 and lose members, sponsors etc.

No, it wouldn't bankrupt the AFL, but why should the competition suffer long term to penalize one club? If the AFL throw away good money after bad it comes from somewhere, grassroots programs, womens game development etc.