Should we really feel sorry for the players?

[hawkman]

It’s understood Channel 7 will look strongly at recruiting Essendon captain Jobe Watson, whose father Tim is a key member of the network’s AFL commentary team.

“The impact of the news from yesterday’s verdict is only just beginning to sink in,” a Channel 7 spokesman said.

“It’s way too early for any decisions to be made.”

Asked about the prospect of Watson joining Fox Footy, a Fox Sports spokesman said: “It’s something that we haven’t ruled out but would need to put some more thought into.”

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/a...o/news-story/69f4b470a62579550fcfb731270007c5

What a joke if his allowed. He would be earning for being suspended, and commentating on a game that his banned from for cheating

Is he even allowed into the ground this year

For what it's worth, athlete's were/are only required to report anything they had taken in the previous seven days.

To say they all were duplicitous isn't necessary entirely accurate.

It is also very unlikely that none of the players got any injections in the 7 days prior to a drug test

 

[The Prosecutor]

It is also very unlikely they none of the players got any injections in the 7 days prior to a drug test

Of course.

 

[compact72]

Is he even allowed into the ground this year


It is also very unlikely that none of the players got any injections in the 7 days prior to a drug test

He isn't allowed on the clubs ground. His allowed into the MCG etc

 

[NathanMX]

For what it's worth, athlete's were/are only required to report anything they had taken in the previous seven days.

To say they all were duplicitous isn't necessary entirely accurate.

so ASADAs timing was so poor on the random tests hence the players had no reason to state the injections they were getting, ergo it is ASADA's fault not your clubs or players

 

[LordLucifer]

It's been a common theme throughout this saga that "we must feel sorry for the players"?

Does this answer your question :

BANNED Essendon players are threatening to sue the AFL and Essendon unless they are paid up to $50 million compensation, as Bombers captain Jobe Watson says the players would explore all avenues.

 

[The Prosecutor]

so ASADAs timing was so poor on the random tests hence the players had no reason to state the injections they were getting, ergo it is ASADA's fault not your clubs or players

Of course not, but to say they all did when realistically it could only be a handful is extorting the reality.

 

[NathanMX]

Of course not, but to say they all did when realistically it could only be a handful is extorting the reality.

Even one lie is one too many though surely? Though perhaps if the club had the intelligence to have kept documented records they could have lined up injection dates with random test times and known conclusively who was lying and who was not and then just suspended the liars. Shame they didn't keep records, burnt them, shredded them, trusted them to Stephen Dank on his laptop sans antivirus even

 

[The_Reaper]

Of course not, but to say they all did when realistically it could only be a handful is extorting the reality.

30 times in a year.

Based on probability it's more than a handful.

 

[RUNVS]

Does this answer your question :

Jobe, go **** yourself. No way to the players deserve that, especially since 33 of them kept claiming for years that they did not take anything illegal.

 

[The Prosecutor]

30 times in a year.

Based on probability it's more than a handful.

The entire playing list that is. So, from that, let's say that roughly 23 were for players in the 34.

Considering the program went for roughly six months during 2012, let's reduce that to 11-12 tests of the 34 players within the programs schedule.

From there, it's a matter of individual players' regime but the final number being 5-6 players isn't absurd.

 

[The Prosecutor]

Jobe, go **** yourself. No way to the players deserve that, especially since 33 of them kept claiming for years that they did not take anything illegal.

If you read the article, you would know that those comments aren't from Jobe or any of the players.

 

[beta_condition]

PR suicide if they hire Jabba, do they honestly think the general public feel sorry for the Essendon players?

 

[Chameleon75]

The entire playing list that is. So, from that, let's say that roughly 23 were for players in the 34.

Considering the program went for roughly six months during 2012, let's reduce that to 11-12 tests of the 34 players within the programs schedule.

From there, it's a matter of individual players' regime but the final number being 5-6 players isn't absurd.

it was the cornerstone of the program, its there in danks correspondence

 

[The Prosecutor]

it was the cornerstone of the program, its there in danks correspondence

I know, but I'm referring to the frequency to which individual players received injections and how that relates to ASADA's seven-day window.

 

[shambles23]

Yeah, I think we're all feeling a bit of outrage fatigue on this issue but the facts deserve to be put in perspective. An international tribunal today found 34 Essendon players guilty of doping, and further found that the players were entirely at fault. They were not duped, they were not lied to. They failed to contact asada, they failed to contact the team doctor and they even failed to perform cursory internet searches. When they were asked about what they were taking they, as a united group, kept up a lie of omission before a federal body charged with keeping the sport clean. It amounts - without hyperbole - to the biggest doping scandal this nation has ever seen, and perhaps the biggest doping scandals ever seen in team sports globally cycling excepted).

Does the punishment hurt? Are the players feeling terrible right now? Yes, of course. But that's the entire ******* point of having strong punishments for doping offences. I hope the fun of beating up on clean athletes for 10 weeks in 2012 was worth it. No sympathy for drug cheats.

Well said. For once .. they cheated .. blamed it on everything else but their own stupidity.. JUSTICE was served and the population was happy that rules apply to everyone and the cheats that break the rules get found guilty and punished. Lets be honest any Essendon players who feels hard done by. You deserve it. Your parents taught you to be honest and tell the truth you didn't do that. You lied your ass off so when CAS said "can i trust there persons word" they thought no bloody way.

Moral of the story if you lie and deceive no one gives a shit about you. This is what people feel about the Essendon players. We cant trust you!!!

 

[FootyGeek]

The entire playing list that is. So, from that, let's say that roughly 23 were for players in the 34.

Considering the program went for roughly six months during 2012, let's reduce that to 11-12 tests of the 34 players within the programs schedule.

From there, it's a matter of individual players' regime but the final number being 5-6 players isn't absurd.

If there are 23 people in a room there is a 50% chance 2 of them will share a birthday.

Your maths is super wrong.

 

[shambles23]

I still can't believe the stark contrast between how Ahmed Saad was treated and how the Bombers players are being treated. Disgraceful from the media and the AFL

Yes he was upfront and honest and never got paid while he was suspended. The Essendon players get rewarded and paid for not disclosing information to ASADA failing to inform the club doctor of changes in medication, taking peroformance enhencing drugs. FYI Saad hasnt cost the AFL and a club in excess of 10 million dollars for not taking responsibilty for their actions.

This will probably cost more than 15 million doillars

 

[The_Reaper]

The entire playing list that is. So, from that, let's say that roughly 23 were for players in the 34.

Considering the program went for roughly six months during 2012, let's reduce that to 11-12 tests of the 34 players within the programs schedule.

From there, it's a matter of individual players' regime but the final number being 5-6 players isn't absurd.

Those 34 players were tested 30 times between them during the time they were doping. It's in the CAS report.
At no point did they report having those injections though Scott Gumbleton, who did not get tested, claimed that he would have reported them if he had been tested.

So chances are, a majority of the Essendon 34 drug cheats, lied to ASADA to cover up their PED program.

 

[Chameleon75]

I know, but I'm referring to the frequency to which individual players received injections and how that relates to ASADA's seven-day window.

it was on the consent forms, from memory it starts off at weekly injections, then the frequency slows down

 

[shambles23]

This.

The CAS judgment makes it extremely clear that at a minimum, the players knew that they were taking some hush-hush supplements which were right on the edge of what was legal- they kept quiet about that, hid it from ASADA, and did whatever their coaches told them.

Plenty of East German and Chinese athletes have been branded as wilful cheaters for no more than this, in fact I'd venture to suggest that the way essendon players behaved is a fairly typical level of complicity for a drug cheating athlete competing for a club which is organising doping- in that situation a player who suspects something might not be right but goes along with it is a cheat pure and simple. Even if they don't know exactly what they are taking they are complicit because it couldn't happen without their silence and cooperation.

I do feel some sympathy for the fringe players (some young, some not) who would have known that refusing to cooperate and go along with the cult of Hird would probably end their AFL careers, but if anything that makes the established players, and particularly the leadership people far more culpable,because their cooperation put the fringe players in an untenable position.

Jobe Watson in particularly deserves to be utterly pilloried, and similarly Fletcher, McVeigh and the other senior players- they totally failed as leaders and put the kids in an impossible position.

Exactly those fringe players were used and abused. I just hope that when the court cases are leveled at people held accountable they are directed squarely at James Golden Boy she will be right mate Hird and the Essendon football club.

 

[Eagle-Eye]

You would think they would appreciate that CAS put all this information together for them, so they have some idea what was injected into themselves. It's not like any other party tried to do that?

GOLD!

 

[Eagle-Eye]

For what it's worth, athlete's were/are only required to report anything they had taken in the previous seven days.

To say they all were duplicitous isn't necessary entirely accurate.

They were given "recovery" injections a day or so after the game. Well within that time frame. They lied by omission.

 

[shambles23]

1 - "Thymosin' is what was on the form. There are quite a number of types of Thymosin - many of which are banned. If any of the players had so much as googled Thymosin they would have known enough to ask more questions. None did. If they had put it into the ASADA web site they would have seen that various types of Thymosin were banned substances.

2 we dont know if Dr Reid talked to the players about his concerns. Certainly he wrote to the Senior Coach, CEO and Board ... but mysteriously his letter only ever reached the coach ...




In season. The omissions were from a section of their regular Doping Control Form. When you get a urine or blood test, you are required to complete a form giving various details, including listing any medications or supplements you are taking. Out of 30 tests of the Essendon players involved, only 1 listed a supplement - which they listed as Vitamen B. None of them listed Thymosin, AOD or any other peptide.

If i was the club doctor and 34 players didn't ask me about injections they were getting for a very long time. I would feel the playing group don't trust me and resign Or someone told them not to tell the me. Either way some dodgey shit is going on!!!

 

[Farm Boy]

Feel sorry for them, lol. I cannot believe this BS.Take some f*cking ownership FFS. All I am hearing is victims and compensation, what a joke. Have these players learned nothing from yesterday? ANYTHING that enters your system is your responsibility. Why is that so hard to understand?

 

[The Prosecutor]

Feel sorry for them, lol. I cannot believe this BS.Take some f*cking ownership FFS. All I am hearing is victims and compensation, what a joke. Have these players learned nothing from yesterday? ANYTHING that enters your system is your responsibility. Why is that so hard to understand?

Because one issue is an athlete's responsibilities towards the anti-doping code and the other issue is an employers responsibility to its employees.