Hird and Drugs

[kilbluff1985]

key word there is allegedly

plus don't see how they can prove it really clearly drug testing has failed to detect it

[Boomz]

Nothing new there. Has always said that on their site. They just confirmed it coz in the ACC report & on 7:30 they said it isn't banned which confused people. I still have some hope coz Dank has said all along that he ran them all by ASADA so hopefully there is proof of them giving us the go ahead. Either way this is heading to court...

[AFEV]

So WADA is saying that it is not approved for human use...Yet AOD9604 has the GRAS stamp of approval...

?

EDIT: So, that approval was by the FDA, WADA is only concerned about TGA approval. K.

[TeeJay]

Hmm this is not looking good

[kilbluff1985]

Hmm this is not looking good

Nothing has changed

[TeeJay]

Hmm this is not looking good

Nothing has changed

Yes it has. The drug everyone was saying is not illegal for players to take actually is illegal. Gerard wately and mark Robinson were on AFL 360 last night explaining how if this is what they took then they won't be excused as its the players responsibility to know what they take. This is the biggest piece of the puzzle so far

[silloc]

At the end of the day, i don't understand how this wasn't brought to light earlier. It seems rather strange, Dank was fairly sure nothing illegal had been taken by the players, yet he admitted the aod9604 was given. It doesn't seem like it was a secret either, it was clearly stated in the 2012 WADA updated rules, no 2 ways. Ever year has a classification statment of substances, there is no fine print. If essendon does suffer, i wouldn't be surprised if majority does also

and after everything else, clearly there is somthing going on. All the previous bullshower storys being pumped and this one has been pretty quiet, yet its most important so far.

it all seems strange

[DazBurg]

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/afl/essendon-admit-to-drug-investigators-some-of-its-players-took-anti-obesity-drug-aod-9604-last-year/story-e6frephf-1226628993513

now seems like essendon are relying on dank to help them out we are in serious trouble here

though i think more and more teams are going to find themselves in trouble of something not just esendon
and before ppl say they have already looked at other clubs

there is no way they could be done thoroughly checking each club when even essendon's own review process isn't finished

and look at the bottom of that article...3 weeks ago everyone though melbourne weren't involved now uit seems they have taken the exact same thing

either way i am sick of this story swirling round essendon and the afl in general today is anzac day a who gives a crap about this it is kinda inferior yet the media still on a day like today paste it all over the place

lol i love the way the media work the more scandalous the story the better for them yet any repairable damage done tot he afl in general i.e hurting the popularity of the code is bad for them....lol

/end rant

[coolfugitiv0]

On the contrary Daz, I think this situation is a lot better for us than where we were a few months ago.

They said we took illegal peptides. Turns out to be AOD, not specifically illegal, but banned under untested substances.
They said it was the whole playing group. Turns out to "roughly half a dozen" (and media exaggeration, wouldn't surprise me if it was 4-5 players).

If this letter from WADA to Dank is actually legit, then there will be a copy of it somewhere through emails, on a server somewhere, if not at Essendon, then definitely at WADA's end. And the fact that ASADA has been saying that AOD 9604 was legal (they told the ACC investigators several times), can only help our case.

But the thing that gives me the most confidence is Hirdy saying he'll be in a "very good position" once the truth comes out.
They could be sitting on the letter from WADA as backup.
The article says "Essendon does not have the letter, and believes Dank has the only copy." That's been edited, when I first saw the article this morning (1:00am), it said that Essendon could not produce the letter. Remember that Essendon aren't talking about the investigation to any outside sources (eg. media/public etc).

This could mean that they just didn't show the letter to the journo who wrote the article.
eg. Journo: Hey Essendon, let us see the letter from WADA that Dank showed you.
Essendon: No
Journo: Essendon don't have the letter.

Also on the topic that Essendon aren't talking to anyone about the investigation - I thought WADA/ASADA/ACC couldn't talk about the investigation while it's still under way. (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong) But if that's true, then there's a leak somewhere to let this story conveniently break on the eve of the biggest game of the H&A season.

Also don't forget the emails from Hird saying everything must be legal and above board and follow all WADA/ASADA regulations.
The media seems to skip over that part.

[AFEV]

Article.

I feel ill.

[T Dog]

This just can't end well for the bombers.... :-\

[ossie85]

IF TRUE

Dank should go to jail.

Essendon and Melbourne should be fined, and lose premiership points (even though they were duped, they needed better proof than a paper letter from one person that they didn't have a copy of. Atrocious practices).

If Watson was one of them, even though it is horrible, he should lose his Brownlow. Unfair? Maybe, but more unfair on Sam Mitchell and Trent Cotchin.

Should be no invididual bannings or sanctions.

Hird and Neeld should keep jobs

I genuinely feel sympathy for Essendon and Melbourne.

[GCSkiwi]

This is my quick summation of events as I think they stand:

Some bombers players were administered with AOD 9604 and Thymosin beta 4 during last years season. Thymosin is definitely banned. AOD 9604 is a substance in pre-clinical testing, and is banned under an article which blanket-bans any substance not approved for human administration.
Essendon has alleged that they were shown a letter by Dank, purportedly from WADA, which approved the use of at least AOD 9604. Not sure if it also allegedly approved thymosin (I doubt it). Club doc Bruce Reid was allegedly shown this.
Demons also mention a letter about the same thing.
WADA denies having sent any such approval, and the letter itself has not been produced as Dank alledgedly has the only copy.

My (somewhat educated) speculation:
Anyone who took Thymosin is flowered. There's no two ways about that one, it's banned.

The AOD 9604 issue will be interesting, at the very least Essendon will get a huge rap on the knuckles about poor record keeping and auditing practices. I can't believe they wouldn't keep a copy of a letter about something as important as clarifying the use of a performance enhancing substance. That's just stupid. Also there really should be someone else verifying what Dank said, would they have believed a letter on a NASA letterhead claiming the world was indeed flat as once thought?

A lot hinges on this supposed letter. If it does exist and they can prove it, then they'll have a pretty good chance of getting off those players - I think that would absolve a player responsibility if the team doc told players he had seen a letter confirming it was okay for them to use. But unfortunately I think that is a huge "if". Good luck. Because it sounds like exactly the kind of thing you would say if you got caught out in this situation, and like I say the fact they didn't keep a record of it is pretty unbelievable if you ask me.

Still, I think they are in quite a spot of bother. From the WADA perspective, both drugs are banned, and they issued no confirmation approving their use. So the bombers have to prove that they had reason to believe that they DID get confirmation that their use was okay, and players need to prove that they had no reasonable doubt there was anything wrong with what they were taking - and also how they were taking it. This in itself is an issue, as anything injected should raise at least an eyebrow.

Will be intriguing to see how it pans out.

[ossie85]

Well said ^

[DazBurg]

IF TRUE

Dank should go to jail.

Essendon and Melbourne should be fined, and lose premiership points (even though they were duped, they needed better proof than a paper letter from one person that they didn't have a copy of. Atrocious practices).

If Watson was one of them, even though it is horrible, he should lose his Brownlow. Unfair? Maybe, but more unfair on Sam Mitchell and Trent Cotchin.

Should be no invididual bannings or sanctions.

Hird and Neeld should keep jobs

I genuinely feel sympathy for Essendon and Melbourne.

so how come melbourne get off more lightly then us?
LOL
sorry couldn't resist