Talking Footy

SOME Essendon players were prescribed weekly injections of the banned anti-obesity drug AOD-9604 for all of last season.
They were regularly injected with thymosin, another substance banned by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority.

News Limited has seen documents handed to ASADA that reveal Essendon's drugs program.

The dossier shows some players were prescribed weekly injections of the banned anti-obesity drug AOD-9604 for the duration of the 2012 season.

There are variants of Thymosin - some permitted for use - and Essendon is hopeful, but uncertain, of the version its players were administered by sacked sports scientist Stephen Dank.

More:Dons furious at Dank drug letter


Thymosin Beta 4, which is commonly used for horses, is the banned drug allegedly administered to Cronulla Sharks NRL players in 2011.

Thymosin was mentioned in leaked text messages between Dank and Bombers coach James Hird.

Documents handed to ASADA reveal some Bombers players were given one Thymosin injection a week for six weeks and then one injection a month for the remainder of the AFL season.

Other supplements prescribed to Essendon players and detailed in consent forms signed by players and club officials include colostrum and Tribulus Forte. Colostrum and Tribulus, which are not injected, help with building strength and recovery but are not banned under the anti-doping code.

"The players were effectively being used as human guinea pigs," one figure close to the investigation said last night.

A central concern of the ASADA-AFL investigation is the lack of independent analysis of the supplements administered to the Essendon players.

More:Lawyer sets out a defence for Dons

It means ASADA cannot verify what the players were given.

Essendon has not been able to provide an independent assessment of the long-term health effects of some of the substances, some of which are not approved for human consumption.

It emerged yesterday the Bombers have engaged a public relations expert, Elizabeth Lukin of Essential Media Communications, to help manage the crisis at Windy Hill.

James Hird's own legal team is also being advised by leading spin doctor Ian Hanke.

"I run Media and Political Counsel and I have been advising Mr Hird's legal advisers, Ashurst, on media and communications strategy over the past weeks," Hanke said yesterday.

Lukin has been linked to Essendon since the drugs scandal erupted in February, helping shape the messages coming out of the stricken club.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/AFL/teams/d ... 6632641488

The Mole ‏@RLW_Mole
Moley getting mail about betting on an AFL game about to be suspended. #fishyfishy

All very interesting

The betting thing might be due to a leak that AFL players will be suspended. The NRL should have really picked up on Dank. He was in the system for a lot longer then he was in the AFL.

Rabbit wrote:

The Mole ‏@RLW_Mole
Moley getting mail about betting on an AFL game about to be suspended. #fishyfishy

Has this guy ever been right on anything?

Essendon v GWS betting suspended I've heard, but hasn't betting on top teams v Gold Coast Suns and GWS been suspended in the past anyway?

Drac wrote:

Rabbit wrote:

The Mole ‏@RLW_Mole
Moley getting mail about betting on an AFL game about to be suspended. #fishyfishy

Has this guy ever been right on anything?

Very rarely

Rabbit wrote:

Drac wrote:

Rabbit wrote:

The Mole ‏@RLW_Mole
Moley getting mail about betting on an AFL game about to be suspended. #fishyfishy

Has this guy ever been right on anything?

Very rarely

So he's still more reliable than you and your alias then?

Kick em out.

http://m.media.theage.com.au/sport/AFL- ... 49425.html

Wow. . . What a culture to despise. Essendon really are fukked. And I'm sorry but this pathetic sob story excuse of an apology doesn't cut it. Heads should roll for such a shameful affair. Will they?

It is so obviously clear numerous club staff knew it was dodgy and that it shouldn't have been so.

A real blight on Australian sport. And.... Unfortunately I have good knowledge that essendon weren't the only AFL club to be acting like this.

For shame. For shame.

Lack of accountability now haunts the AFL

I picked myself up off the floor and read it again trying to hold back the laughter.

The Ziggy Switkowski report stated that the Essendon AFL club doctor, Bruce Reid had detailed in a letter to the Essendon board serious concerns about the drug supplement program run by Dean Robinson and Stephen Dank, but the Essendon club management and its chairman David Evans have never seen any letter and have no idea where that letter ended up.

There were other letters and emails and they didn’t get to the board either.

Why didn’t the doctor just arrange a meeting with the chairman or other members of the board and tell them in person what was going on?

Unbelievably, we also learned that there is a ”lack of clarity” about who actually ran the football department and who is accountable for the rapid diversification into exotic supplements, the increased number of injections, use of off-site injection rooms, the emergence of unfamiliar drug suppliers and the marginalisation and loss of control by the Bombers medical staff.

Could this all be bizarrely true or is this just another attempt at a cover up by an AFL club?

The AFL press has always written that the game of AFL is doing very well. If you say it often enough you soon believe it.

The AFL of course has their own AFL Media Department, with more journalists than Fairfax media.

Whenever there is a crisis in AFL, the Media Department circles its wagons and reassures all that everything is well and there is nothing to worry about.

Is this protectionism leading to a management culture in AFL where they believe they are invincible and have little need to be accountable for their actions?

David Evans was always going to fall on his sword, but what is Andrew Demetriou’s role in all this and what is his level of accountability.

Evans says the buck stops with him, but as its likely that Essendon is not the only AFL club being investigated for performance enhancing drug abuse, should Demetriou have to face the music?

What exactly was Demetriou aware of?

As he says, did he really have no knowledge that AFL clubs under his control were abusing their responsibilities as an AFL club and lacked accountability for their actions to themselves, their club and its players and fans.

In one sense, that’s why Andrew Demetriou has such tight control of the AFL and its media department. Not only to protect the game, but to protect himself.

Where others see mountainous challenges and labyrinthine complexities and keep falling off their chairs, Demetriou remains seated. He keeps it simple, lifts confidence and has a proven ability for building successful AFL clubs of what where once rubbish suburban VFL teams.

No, so far as Andrew’s concerned, it’s more complex than we mortals could ever imagine and that’s why he needs to be in control.

Just as the AFL was once the answer to the VFL, the AFL Media Department is the answer to the AFL.

It’s brilliant stuff if you believe anything is possible, which Andrew obviously does.

Will this cause any significant damage to the Essendon AFL club, Demetriou or the AFL itself? I doubt it.

Although the numbers are down on their best years, the fans are still out there in lemming-like droves baying for blood to be spilt on the hallowed MCG turf, screaming as loud as they can through their serpentine striped woollen scarfs and turban like beanies, that not only keep out the cold, but also let people know who they are and what they stand for.

No, Andrew will continue to be revered as “the greatest sports administrator this country has ever seen”.

As soon as it all blows over, the AFL Media department will be back to shipping out more AFL feel good stories than the Australian media can handle.

So here we are again, just like the last time and the time before that, smoke pouring out the back of the AFL world-domination machine, pretending there’s nothing to worry about. Just keep the juggernaut going at all costs.

On the surface it all sounds like terribly serious investigative sports journalism.

It’s not.



Lettuce leaf Inc.............

Pretty ironic that this has all come out of the NRL, with guys like Dank being in your system for 6+ years and then he is caught out after one year in the AFL system. What does that say about the NRL? Its looking bad for Essendon, how bad must it be in Sydney.
Personally I think Hird should go, however he is loved so much at Essendon that despite what happened I think he will stay. The Essendon players involved also need to be taken out of the system for at least until the end of the year as well in my opinion, otherwise any sort of success that the obtain will be tainted. This is the same for the Sharks players.

Pies there's every chance dank wasnt given the free license he was given at essendon. I mean they cleared out their medical staff and basically purpose built drug injection rooms for the guy. Sorry, there's no irony until we got the facts. At the moment we know essendon are one dirty cheating football club.

Meanwhile I'm sorry to announce the likely reason xman is awol of late...The poor bastard has been [-o< [-o< [-o< and [-o< [-o< [-o< [-o< [-o< [-o< [-o< these last weeks and it looks all to no avail. Like many who find out that everything they've ever been faithful to is made up of shite and lies, bullpoop and crooks, cheats and drug takers, he's likely gone then then :-+ He's prob completely lost his marbles the poor bastard. We should think of him in this horrible time for him and his family.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/video/vic/watc ... rugs-saga/

Well of course they're likely to get the lettuce leaf out and give the Chair, Hirdy and all the others involved a good slapping Xman.

I just wanna know how you're doing? You ok? Following such a tarnished cheating integrityless drug using criminal run footy club? You ok with that matey?

Pm me matey, I'm happy to hear and talk about the feelings inside. You must be an absolute mess ya poor thing