Essendon Chairman Paul Little stands up for players, a rare highlight in a bad, ugly situation
THE good, the bad and ugly are upon the football world. The ugly is obvious. The Essendon scandal will impose itself on the 2014 competition.
THE good, the bad and ugly are upon the football world.
The ugly is obvious. The Essendon supplements scandal will impose itself on the 2014 competition.
It messed up the 2013 season, as front page after front page hijacked footy news.
At times last year, Essendon dominated the news cycle from Monday to Friday, leaving the sport the two days at the weekend to flourish.
We had great games of football and wonderful, cherished moments, but they would be lost as accusations, claims, counterclaims revealed themselves.
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Fans feel Essendon hijacked their season last year and the immediate response after Paul Little’s press conference yesterday was that they were doing it again. The fan reaction appeared to be largely against the Bombers.
Club chairman Little tried to paint a united picture, but clearly he wasn’t talking about the fans in the outer.
It means the support he spoke of had to come from opposition presidents, which is a little mystifying, because those same presidents turned on Little at a meeting in August last year, urging him to lay down his cannons.
Little also said AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan “understood” the club’s need to take legal action.
Wonder what McLachlan is saying under his breath?
As for McLachlan, who on day six of his new regime just had a grenade dispatched in the AFL lobby, he and former boss Andrew Demetriou could be called to testify.
The bad always is the players. They are preparing for a game of football tomorrow and are being urged by ASADA boss Ben McDevitt to cough up info in a bid to receive reduced penalties.
Little was none too pleased with McDevitt’s reasoning that the players should be pleading guilty.
That isn’t ever going to happen.
The players were the victims at the start, way back when the club introduced a systematic injection program, and remain the victims 16 months later.
“Enough is enough. We will not be bullied and will not allow our players to be hung out to dry any longer,” Little said yesterday. “They have suffered enough.”
Their suffering will continue. Between reviewing edits of their games and their opposition, the players will be required to review and understand their defence with lawyers.
If coach-speak can be convoluted, you’d imagine discussions with a lawyer about processes and testimony would have to be a head-spin.
Anyway, good luck against the Demons.
The players were non-existent yesterday, their only response coming via the AFL Players’ Association, which predictably and rightly offered full support.
It’s difficult to determine how it all would be affecting the players. They rarely speak about it. And when they do, it’s unemotional.
But to see the pain on the face of Tim Watson, the father of Jobe, tells the story.
The players would be disillusioned, confused and perhaps even scared, and their parents would be the same.
This move, if successful, may bring a quicker resolution to this mess, but it may even prompt a second investigation, this time without the AFL’s involvement.
The good yesterday was, finally, Little stood up for the players. He revealed he always disputed the legality of the investigation and that he could not challenge it or criticise because he agreed not to when the club “self-reported’’ in February 2013.
Of interest was Little saying yesterday: “We agreed to self-report’’.
Agreed with who? The board? Dare we say the AFL?
Little yesterday put the players above everything else.
He will feel backlash for the decision, but the players would be comforted by the fact their club said enough was enough.
Hird’s decision to follow the club’s decision means, if this was a poker game, it’s an all-chips-in move by the Bombers.
The person at the centre of the scandal, Stephen Dank, is said to be pleased with yesterday’s outcome.
Whether Dank’s emotional state is of any consequence is debatable. He has not spoken to ASADA or the AFL and says he will test the processes and evidence in court.
It’s exactly what Essendon and Hird are doing. But seriously, if we want anything from Dank, it’s the truth.
Originally published as Essendon Chairman Paul Little stands up for players, a rare highlight in a bad, ugly situation