"The game has never been better"

[rodgerfox]

Anyone still believe that?

[SainterK]

Yep

(My fingers are in my ears, and I'm going la la la...)

[mr six o'clock]

that's why you take a six week olympic holiday mid-season !


If asada find anything positive , I wonder what this years bonus will be !

[suss]

Yep

(My fingers are in my ears, and I'm going la la la...)

Andy can't stick his fingers in his ears coz his head is in the sand.

No tanking...apparently. No drug issue...apparently. Betting under control...apparently.

I actually think he is a reasonable operator - particularly compared to a spud like Gallop - and has done some good things for the game. But I he must resign if this turns out to be as bad as it looks. You can't get something so horrendously wrong and expect to remain in the position.

[Enrico_Misso]

Adrian Anderson has left.

[saintspremiers]

Adrian Anderson has left.

I would love to know if he insisted on an indemnity form to be signed by the AFL upon his departure to discharge his liability after he left.

I have seen this done to protect someone after they've left an organisation.

[SainterK]

To be fair, Andy has been seen to compliment him in recent days still.

I'm surprised, I thought they may of dumped the blame in that direction.

If AD is accountable, and fronts up to all of this, well...I wouldn't be able to fault that.

[Cairnsman]

It's in great shape and will only get stronger. This is what makes AFL so great. The fans love a great scandal. What gets me though is why we go to great lengths to stamp out drugs in sport yet I can go to any night spot I like on a weekend and purchase a smorgasbord of drugs with ease.

[howlinwolf]

It's in great shape and will only get stronger. This is what makes AFL so great. The fans love a great scandal. What gets me though is why we go to great lengths to stamp out drugs in sport yet I can go to any night spot I like on a weekend and purchase a smorgasbord of drugs with ease.

I'm not so sure.
I will not continue to be a member if we have broken drug codes.
Really, why bother following a code that is rife with it ?
We all follow our club in the hope of winning the holy grail. I can't see it being valued much if it was like a Tour de France win.
I'm betting there will be lots of members of other clubs that feel the same. That's why there's a distinct waver of fear in Andy D's voice at the moment.

[saint3d]

It's in great shape and will only get stronger. This is what makes AFL so great. The fans love a great scandal. What gets me though is why we go to great lengths to stamp out drugs in sport yet I can go to any night spot I like on a weekend and purchase a smorgasbord of drugs with ease.

I'm not so sure.
I will not continue to be a member if we have broken drug codes.
Really, why bother following a code that is rife with it ?
We all follow our club in the hope of winning the holy grail. I can't see it being valued much if it was like a Tour de France win.
I'm betting there will be lots of members of other clubs that feel the same. That's why there's a distinct waver of fear in Andy D's voice at the moment.

I agree 100%. The only question is whether I'd bother asking for a refund.

[gringo]

It will really freakin' hurt if we have missed two recent GFs from drug cheat teams. I will always support the Saints- just want the people responsible for any kind of doping expelled from the club and from the AFL.

[SENsei]

What happens to Essendon memberships if they have no team to field this year??

[saint75]

What happens to Essendon memberships if they have no team to field this year??

Who cares? LOL

Seriously though, Essendon won't have a lot of money left over to refund if they are found to be guilty. There will be a mountain of law suits laid against the club. Refunding memberships won't be high on their priority list.

[markp]

What happens to Essendon memberships if they have no team to field this year??

They could still use their cards to chop out lines.

[SainterK]

What happens to Essendon memberships if they have no team to field this year??

I don't think it will come to that...

They will have a good amount of kids at the club that have arrived after this guys sacking.

Worse case, I reckon they will get special permission to elevate bendigo bombers players and play for no points?

Certainly won't draw a crowd though.

I'm still thinking it's the other code that's in big trouble and Essendon are suitably freaked given the former employee link.

[saint75]

What happens to Essendon memberships if they have no team to field this year??

I don't think it will come to that...

They will have a good amount of kids at the club that have arrived after this guys sacking.

Worse case, I reckon they will get special permission to elevate bendigo bombers players and play for no points?

Certainly won't draw a crowd though.

I'm still thinking it's the other code that's in big trouble and Essendon are suitably freaked given the former employee link.

I agree that the other code is in trouble. However, I think a lot of us are underestimating (or perhaps hoping) the trouble that our code is in. Football, across all codes, is in for a very rough couple of years.

[matrix]

essendon will field a team this year

you think its all going to come out in the wash in the next month???
this will take ages

might see a few players come forward from any team before november when the law changes to 4 years ban

but essendon will line up for the nab on the 15th and will line up against the crows come round 1

[gringo]

What happens to Essendon memberships if they have no team to field this year??

I don't think it will come to that...

They will have a good amount of kids at the club that have arrived after this guys sacking.

Worse case, I reckon they will get special permission to elevate bendigo bombers players and play for no points?

Certainly won't draw a crowd though.

I'm still thinking it's the other code that's in big trouble and Essendon are suitably freaked given the former employee link.

Leagues Gold Coast franchise have urine samples stored in the plumbing!! they are more likely to be shocked when they find a clean player.

[SainterK]

What happens to Essendon memberships if they have no team to field this year??

I don't think it will come to that...

They will have a good amount of kids at the club that have arrived after this guys sacking.

Worse case, I reckon they will get special permission to elevate bendigo bombers players and play for no points?

Certainly won't draw a crowd though.

I'm still thinking it's the other code that's in big trouble and Essendon are suitably freaked given the former employee link.

I agree that the other code is in trouble. However, I think a lot of us are underestimating (or perhaps hoping) the trouble that our code is in. Football, across all codes, is in for a very rough couple of years.

I'm no longer delusional about that, I'm just of the belief that the systematic doping on a entire club scale may not be the AFL...but the link to Essendon to this club is strong.

I'm sure it exists in the AFL, there will be ramifications, but I'm not so quick to think this large scale operation has been the Bombers.

[meher baba]

I can't stand the way the AFL is run at the moment in a large number of respects, but I reckon it's pretty unfair to blame Demetriou and Anderson for this situation. They have done the right thing by having their testing regime for performance-enhancing drugs managed by ASADA. (The way they manage their testing for recreational drugs is absolutely ridiculous but, as I don't think they should be testing players for these anyway, I couldn't care less about the fact that they don't do it effectively.)

Of course, there is some evidence that the AFL had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the ASADA regime. But they went there, and that was the right thing to do.

On the basis of the evidence we have seen in the last couple of days, it can't possibly be maintained that the problem in AFL is bigger than in other comparable sports. Unless and until there is evidence to support such a proposition, I can't see any point in blaming the AFL administration. I'm going to judge them now on how they respond. If ASADA decides to come down hard on Essendon and other clubs and players, then I will judge the AFL by the extent to which they try to put in place measures to prevent this from happening again (eg, an accreditation process for sports scientists and "conditioners" and the like who are employed by clubs). On the other hand, if the Bombers and others end up getting off with a tap on the wrist from ASADA on a technicality, then I would want to see the AFL take its own stronger action.

I guess, on the basis of past performance in other respects, one shouldn't have any great optimism that the AFL is going to act appropriately on this occasion. But I'm prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt for now.

[saint75]

I'm no longer delusional about that, I'm just of the belief that the systematic doping on a entire club scale may not be the AFL...but the link to Essendon to this club is strong.

I'm sure it exists in the AFL, there will be ramifications, but I'm not so quick to think this large scale operation has been the Bombers.

I didn't believe that the systematic doping of an entire club was AFL until the Journos on Footy Classified (love them or hate them, they *generally* have information that we don't know about) highlighted paragraphs in the Crime Commission report they had information that related to AFL clubs. The systematic doping of an entire club was one of the highlighted paragraphs. They were asked which clubs and I think they know, but cannot say due to litigation issues. I don't necessarily think it is Essendon. My first thoughts went to the club that has had 12 of their players target tested since 2010. No info on this, just immediate instinct when it was mentioned last night.

Time may *possibly* tell. I can't shake the feeling that results will never be made public on the clubs that have not currently been named and that they will get away relatively scott free as far as the public will know.

[satchmo]

Anyone still believe that?

I'm sure that there will be a lot of positives to come of this.
Hopefully not for the Saints.

[SainterK]

Anyone still believe that?

I'm sure that there will be a lot of positives to come of this.
Hopefully not for the Saints.

Boom-tish

[matrix]

the games f***ed right now imo

imagine if around 30 or 40 are caught
imagine if they are big names like some of the names thrown out there over the last year or two (the 3 strikes thing)

imagine kids who regard these guys as heroes and parents having to tell them that the hero they worshiped is actually a drug cheat
sponsorships
members handing in the cards
gate takings

it could get messy

i think the game will survive but crikey its going to take one massive f****** dent in the ass

[gringo]

the games f***ed right now imo

imagine if around 30 or 40 are caught
imagine if they are big names like some of the names thrown out there over the last year or two (the 3 strikes thing)

imagine kids who regard these guys as heroes and parents having to tell them that the hero they worshiped is actually a drug cheat
sponsorships
members handing in the cards
gate takings

it could get messy

i think the game will survive but crikey its going to take one massive f****** dent in the ass

I still think a lot is circumstantial evidence from association with crims who sell it or distribute it. If they had all these positive tests they would suspend them. A lot will be warned that they are on to them and life will be made hard for them with testing but I think other than the ones that are blatant the penalty hand outs will be smaller in scale than should be.