Where there is smoke there is fire...

The allegations are basically that they MAY have used banned substances (there is circumstantial evidence that they did) but because of the poor management and cavalier attitude towards the risky program, they can't say one way or another what the players were injected with.

The Bombers are screwed and Hird is putting his own reputation above the welfare of everyone else. I have lost all respect I once had for him.

Seems the other 17 clubs' CEOs are meeting today.
Most likely will tell Essendon : " You been charged by the AFL for bringing the game into disrepute
so, get just get on with it and answer the charges
at the AFL hearing. "

I know this is big news, but to be honest, one of the things I like (liked) about a basketball forum is that I don't have to read about stuff like this ongoing drama in football.

I am a bit over it really. Been going for far too long and should have been dealt with by now well and truly IMO...

SEN radio is an example, I mean really, footy this and footy that, then it's like, oh and then there is more footy this and footy that etc, etc...

GMABP

It is quite amusing to see the must loyal Essendon supporters desperately try and excuse the club and Hird's behaviour.

He is going the Lance Armstrong route. Deny, deny, attack those who are accusing you, deny some more...then finally he will admit his guilt.

OK you basketball junkies who don't see how this ties in with your sport, try this.....

1. The AFL is a signatury to the WADA,
2. WADA, (not the AFL, the Feds or even ASADA) will have the final say on this
3. If WADA are not satisfied with the penalties handed down by whatever body, then they have the ability to prevent other sporting teams from Australia from competing in international events where other signatories are competing.
Think about that for a minute.
So to spell it out plainly, if WADA don't agree with the penalties handed down, hey are within their rights to stop the Boomers and Opals (and any Junior teams from competing).

If that does not prompt sufficient penalties, then the swimming team, the Wallabies, the cricket team, those athletes who just competed in Moscow etc, etc, etc

There is soooo much more to this issue than most people even have a clue about - certainly including myself.

Nice thought isn't it

Bear, it's correctly noted as Non-Hoops, in the AFL category and clearly marked in terms of topic title. I think if AFL topics were in excess, I'd be more sympathetic, but it's very easy to ignore the occasional topic if you're not interested.

Big Footy, a huge forum setup, has sub-forums for soccer, rugby, basketball, etc. Some people have a little interest in other sports, but not enough to participate in a dedicated forum for that sport. And for those not interested, I'm sure they're smart enough to avoid clearly marked topics.

Even the lowest 1% excess you cite is some way off. AFL posts make up less than half a percent of the 30,000+ topics on Hoops.

Thanks guys, I will get down from my soap box now, fair enough...

Living in a football town, and a football state, it just gets monotonous at times. Sorry for the rant!

My comment on the saga is that I too an disappointed in the way James Hird and the board at the club is now fighting for their own reputations ahead of admitting that they should have put player's health and wellbeing ahead of winning games.

I think there is much much more to come, unfortunately... :)

@ Isaac, mate it's not so much that a thread was started about an off hoops topic mate, just that the footy, footy, footy (and I do love my footy) is getting too much media, this particular footy story is dwarfing everything else out there and has been for too long IMO...

Fair call from Bear though and I think its possibly why a thread hasn't been started earlier. The saga has become monotonous and so in-your-face that it is tiresome and is really just a bunch of stupid people who can kick a football trying to outsmart other stupid people who can't kick a football.

No element of schadenfreude in watching a competing sport take a hit? That's the only reason I'm following it!

Possibly, not for me though. My interest is seeing someone being dishonest come unstuck.

Hird will front a press conference at Windy Hill at 11.30am. There has been speculation he will step down as the supplements scandal engulfing the club has deepened, but that's not expected to happen.

Yes this story has been dragging on all year and has really shadowed other football related stories - such as Fremantle having a ripper season ;) and other sports from getting a fair run in the media especially when its a big moment for them (eg NBL Grand Final week in Perth)

Im still annoyed that back in round 3 or 4 when Essendon came to Perth to play Fremantle on the same night as the Wildcats v Breakers grand final at Perth Arena (the scheduling was unfortunate enough), and the coverage leading up to both games was pretty much all about Essendon's drug story, as thats when it just broke out.

Hardly much time was given to the NBL's big game or even the actual football game itself. That pissed me off, and i was kinda hoping (not expecting of course) that Essendon would apologise to the NBL for killing any momentum that could have been given to them during its biggest week of the season! That never happened of course.

Anyway, just hope this saga winds down - reminds me too much of the Ben Cousins scandal that kept going for about 2 years non stop...

"...and i was kinda hoping (not expecting of course) that Essendon would apologise to the NBL for killing any momentum that could have been given to them"

Yes, that should have been their first priority o.0

yeah Wildcat Fan - that scandal did go non-stop for a long time.

Interstingly, that's one of the effects of amphetamines.

OK maybe not apologise per se, but an acknowledgement that there are 'other things on to report about' might have been good - I did say "hoping" which is in the same line as "it would have been a nice gesture" - Of course I wasn't expecting them to and I know its not their priority. Im sure they would have known about it (NBL GF) if they read the news, as they were in Perth that week.

There was an unusually high amount of AFL news that week because of them and it certainly took all the attention off the NBL's biggest week.

That also shows how long this saga has dragged on and its saturation over all other sports stories - really has ruined an otherwise pretty good year of sports.