Essendon [substance] issue

[Greening gold]

I read in The Age the other day that Hird's wife Tanya is a lawyer. He said he had been given "bad advice" during the course of the year and there was also mention of him being about to own up and then changing his mind just before the Fremantle game back in April.
Just wondering which lawyers, including his conflicted wife, gave him what advice and when. I guess the story will eventually come out if a good investigative journalist gets on the trail.

[neil]

Good article
http://www.footyalmanac.com.au/war-and-peace-essendon-vs-the-afl/

[Cam]

She already has the house in her name!

[Boot]

Stand by and hold onto your seat. If rumours are true the football world is going to be turned upside down when a couple of investigative journalist's release information they have uncovered about the ongoing source of Stephen Dank's income, since his dismissal from Essendon,and the source of those payments . The old sluth saying of "follow the money" is about to come home to roost again.

The potential fallout may even cost AFL administration heads since the Australian Crime Commission investigation of Dank is continuing and the much publisized "Essendon tip-off" by Demetriou that lead to their so-called self reporting may raise its ugly head again.

Once Dank's is forced to front the the ASADA commission and the public outrage at the soon to be released biggest story in the history of Australian Sport , Essendon's current punishments will look very tame to what they are going to be facing. I'm thinking that their banning from the competition will be back on the list of options being considered on top of at least 5 of their top players being issued sanctions for the use of WADA banned drugs.

[Stupied]

I find your ideas intriguing and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

[Troppo]

Port Adelaide's David Koch says banned Essendon coach James Hird would not have a job at his club

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-31/hird-would-not-have-a-job-at-port-adelaide-koch/4926756

'A footy organisation has a real responsibility to the wider community to set a standard in leadership and integrity.'

'Suffice it to say it would not have happened at Port Adelaide. If we were in that position I would have stood down at the very beginning and the coach would never coach at Port Adelaide again.'

Fair comments. Wonder what the other clubs may say? Wonder whether Eddie will voice his/Collingwood's views in the matter?

[selkevh]

This may have been mentioned before but ...

with Essendon finishing "9th" will they get the same easier draw next year for a team that has "missed" the finals?

[Hm]

[Cam]

more than 5 years i think

[partypie]

[Greening gold]

Great piece about Hird's delusion, and when you think about it the delusion must have been supported by those close to him, by Anson Cameron in today's Age:

Superb player, an ugly truth - by Anson Cameron

Date: eptember 1, 2013


"Say it ain't so, Jimmy."

"It ain't so."

"Oh … cool."

The Hird dichotomy: saint or sinner? Delusional egotist or Dreyfus? On the barest reading he is the football coach who has presided over the most catastrophic stuff-up.

And by the time the smoke has settled here he might lose more of his side. Hird will be used for years to come as the strongest argument against a favourite son being invited back to become The Great Helmsman.

Since he's been head coach his team has finished eighth, to be smacked in a final, then 11th, and ended this year with a DQ alongside it. Put that on your CV and see how you go getting a head coaching job anywhere but … Essendon, where he has just signed a two-year contract extension.

Essendon people can't afford to be wrong about their love for him. Those that idolise him have invested their pride and hearts in it, and to stop believing in Hird is to stop believing in the part of themselves they have given. It means trashing years of worship and rewriting it as folly, and that's a mighty big rip-up of self.

So the whole episode has been instructive to the point of hilarious in how the head can be owned by the heart. Similar to the way the Right largely won't believe in anthropogenic global warming because it's a slight on their god Capitalism, while the Left, who don't worship that god so devoutly, are able to believe in anthropogenic global warming. Data doesn't dent dogma. Wearing the red sash frees you to believe Caro and Pat and Mr Demetriou got up a mob to bring down a demigod.

Julian Burnside QC, has been on radio saying Hird is heroic, that he took one for the team, and that he would have won in the Supreme Court. Yeah, so would Roman Polanski and Chris Skase. But they never went there either. Heroic? Good God. But tell that crap to Ian Robson or David Evans. Or to the players who might yet be indicted and have their careers and health ruined. Not backed into a corner. Heroic. OK, Julian has just penned the first chapter of the historical rewrite. It's apparently going to be a work in the Big Lie oeuvre. And don't bet it won't be a bestseller out Windy Hill way.

Anyone who will take a needle to become less pallid and flabby is not only dangerously attuned to the siren of his own self-image, he has a base belief in potions, lotions, jabs and dabs that might be exploited by a reasonably persuasive medicine man. Stephen Dank is that, and must have scented Hird's gullibility like a shark scents a gaffed snapper. And like any good salesman with a wagonload of snake oil to move he told his mark his enemies were not only on it, it was the root cause of their bulging biceps, rosy cheeks and recent premierships.

He played Hird like a fish. "Hawthorn enhanced? Oh, Jimbob. Let's not be naive. The entire list is spiked fortnightly with the DNA of Lethal Leigh. Imagine facing 18 Lethals. The horror. Your boys gonna have to shoot up like Lou Reed to catch up."

While many of us have spent all year agog at Hird's inability to get a whiff of his own failings, Tim Watson, Wayne Carey and sundry talkback Bombers have all expressed admiration for Hird's grit and self-belief. For the fact he hasn't crumbled. But I think The Duck got it right when he said if you truly believe you're right it's not hard to stand up to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Hird believes he is right and the world is wrong. The question most people are shaking their heads at is … How?

They shouldn't be. This sort of self-delusion is common as muck. Wander into the law courts and you'll see defendants wearing gaudy outrage, convinced, despite CCTV footage and DNA evidence, that the whole thing is a miscarriage of justice, someone else's fault.

It's not a con. It's a coping mechanism, a way of living with yourself. It's a type of psychological carapace readily available to the egotistically overcharged. And it's common enough that if we were all presiding magistrate at our own trials the prisons would be as small as porta-loos. And it is, incidentally, why we need umpires. People like Scott McLaren.

Jack Dempsey said a champion is someone who gets up when he can't. And dogged refusal to accept ugly truth can, sometimes, delay it long enough for it to be overtaken and subsumed by another, happier, truth. The comeback. Think Carlton in the 1970 grand final. But if an easy retreat into fortress-ego, and a refutation of truth are valuable qualities in a warrior, they are dangerous traits in a leader.

Alas, the voice of reason can't be heard by a man with a choir on each shoulder. The devastating moment for the narcissist is when the mask finally slips and they see themselves as the world sees them. Of course, this may not happen. In truth, I don't think it will now, and I've begun to hope it doesn't. That'd be like watching the collapse of the Taj Mahal, another shrine built in the name of love.

Anson Cameron is a Melbourne novelist.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/superb-player-an-ugly-truth-20130831-2sxp1.html#ixzz2dbMuRH1a

[Greening gold]

[BUCKS THE GREATEST]

Taking peptides like the banned CJC-1295 can result in serious damage to the human body and perhaps death.

"You won't make it to 50 if you continue the abuse."

That was the message to people considering using peptides from "John," an Insider who spoke to Triple M on the condition of anonymity.

"John" even made the startling claim the use of peptides as a "competitive advantage" is so widespread it's right across all aspects of sport, far more than is currently being documented in the media.

"John" has worked in bio-molecular chemistry for 17 years, and carried out tests on animals using peptides with devastating results.

Through the course of his work "John" says he came into contact three times with Stephen Dank, the sports scientist at the centre of the doping scandal in Australian sport.

"Stephen approached me with a couple of his colleagues that were very interested in knowing more about the research that I was conducting," "John" told The Grill Team.

When asked what proof he had on why peptides are so bad "John" had this to say.

"Peptides are not certified for human use, they are meant for animal husbandry.

"There was a farm in Western NSW that was using peptides on animal husbandy that had 300,000 stock."

"130,000 of them in nine weeks suffered major coronary artery malfunction and they all died of a heart attack."

"Anyone who took a pepetide over a 90-day period is not only going to suffer a stroke or an anorism but they are going to suffer a major explosion to the vena cava, the major artery to the heart."

"John" says the use of pepetide supplement has increased as they are difficult to detect unlike Anabolic Steroids which stay in the body longer and therefore easier to detect. [/i]

[Stupied]

Well this is interesting:
http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/afl-players-association-says-essendon-players-could-have-the-option-of-walking-out-on-the-club/story-fndv8gad-1226712380873

Players wanting to walk away from the dopers may be able to do so as delisted free agents if the AFLPA get their way. There are some player managers that have made enquiries, so don't be surprised if there are a few walkouts in the near future.

[jack_spain]

^ But who would take them before ASADA finishes?