Hope not.....

[sharp9]

""According to sources close to the investigation, players were tricked into taking so called "supplements", only to be later told that they had in fact taken banned substances.

The players were then later called upon and threatened with being "outed" as drug cheats unless they agreed to fix matches or pay money. According to sources, several players had fallen victim to the bribery racket and were mostly confined to the NRL and not other codes.""

Here is a little bit of better news this morning from the NewsLtd website. In a situation like this, any little bit of better news is welcome isn't it ?

Where did you get this from JAB?? Interested.

[Frog]

Where did you get this from JAB?? Interested.

Probably the same place I read it - So here is my link ... http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/n...-1226574541473

[sharp9]

Found article here....for all those "innuendo" people here is the Chief Executive of the Australian Crime Commision

"I am very confident in the report's findings. This is no beat-up. We have sworn testimonies. We have corroborated evidence.

"We have quite a significant amount of intelligence. We are very confident in the findings."

"I understand that people want the Australian Crime Commission to name names. And they have - they have given names to the police and the anti-doping authority,"

Justice Minister Jason Clare said the commission had also given the names of individuals to NSW and Victorian police.

So there

Cookies must be enabled. | The Australian

[justabaraker]

There's an interesting twist to all this..... footy players get sucked into what seems like innocent and undetectable acts, then find they are up to their elbows in @@@@@ and compromise.
It's the same with this ICAC thing in NSW.....politicians accept an innocent and friendly weekend at a ski-lodge, then, down the track find they have been compromised. And they have to make embarrassing explanations to dig themselves out. And they wish they hadn't accepted the friendly offer in the first place.

[sharp9]

This. Where there's smoke there is fire. Essendon are in it deep. Watson will lose his Brownlow. Perhaps a dozen players will be suspended for a long time. The worms are everywhere. Either that or a collossal cover-up is in the planning stages.

Even if doping is proved its actually far from definite that players would be suspended.....SEN had major lawyer on and he said that if a club lies to the player and the player can prove it....then it is (to quote the lawyer) "A Total Defence"

Of course Sayonara Charlie....but players might still be able to play.

[sharp9]

There's an interesting twist to all this..... footy players get sucked into what seems like innocent and undetectable acts, then find they are up to their elbows in @@@@@ and compromise.
It's the same with this ICAC thing in NSW.....politicians accept an innocent and friendly weekend at a ski-lodge, then, down the track find they have been compromised. And they have to make embarrassing explanations to dig themselves out. And they wish they hadn't accepted the friendly offer in the first place.

Except that politicians are told in no uncertain terms the exact parameters of "gifts" and that they should never accept a "friendly weekend at a ski-lodge" without giving full disclosure to parliamentary oversight.

[justabaraker]

Except that politicians are told in no uncertain terms the exact parameters of "gifts" and that they should never accept a "friendly weekend at a ski-lodge" without giving full disclosure to parliamentary oversight.

Fair enough Sharpy. Either way, it shows how easy it is for someone well-known to end up in someone else's pocket.
Better to be a nobody I reckon !

[Wardy]

oh well - its taking the attention away from what will be 9 months of our lives we will never get back - ie the Federal Election Campaign. (although why I cant put my postal vote in now and be done with it is anyones guess???);-)

Lets just wait and see what transpires before we all get our knickers in a twist! Yes it will hit some Codes & clubs, but I dont beleive that its across all sport like the CC are implying. I mean honestly can you see the folk at the Hunters Hill Croquet Club doing it - or at the Penrith Ping Pong centre?

[Primmy]

Looks like broad pot shots at all of the afl players, clubs, sports scientists, doctors, physios and club management can be boiled down to one poor club and one other person.

Does anyone else think that a certain amount of unnecessary hints and allegations have been aimed at the AFL for reasons unknown (but suspected, but I am not one to cast aspersions (much)).

[Meg]

I mean honestly can you see the folk at the Hunters Hill Croquet Club doing it - or at the Penrith Ping Pong centre?

Wardy, one of the things the ACC report says is that growth hormone-releasing peptides have become increasingly popular as an anti-ageing product and that anti-ageing clinics have become major distributors of peptides around Australia. So in fact the folk at the Hunters Hill Croquet Club might be typical of the markets of concern.

[31 hard at it]

Latest report says that in the AFL one player at a club (un-named) and the Essendon Football Club are the only AFL instances being investigated.

So far no other instances of AFL clubs using Performance enhancing Drugs.

Lets hope this is all resolved quickly.

[aardvark]

I mean honestly can you see the folk at the Hunters Hill Croquet Club doing it

I hope they don't put it on YouTube......

[ShockOfHair]

I don't think there's an anti-AFL agenda - I think Essendon are deservedly the eye of the storm.

According to this story in the Sunday Tele, the federal govt was planning to release the ACC report in March but the AFL jumped early with the Essendon news (raising interesting questions about what the AFL knew and when). It also says the ACC focus is on the NRL, with six clubs under the gun.

I do wonder about the ACC though. Have they ever actually cracked a big case?

[Meg]

Lets hope this is all resolved quickly.

The only way this would be 'resolved quickly' is if a couple of cases were named and penalised and then the issue was swept under the carpet. I for one certainly hope that this won't happen. As a sports lover, I find the ACC report quite disturbing and a wake-up call for those governing sport at all levels. One of the report's findings is that peptides and hormones are being used at the sub-elite level in a number of sporting codes, so the problem is already more widespread than just in a couple of top teams. If this report does not provoke a reconsideration of the 'whatever it takes' mentality, then it will get worse and the joy of watching sport will always be tainted with question marks.

[Meg]

I do wonder about the ACC though. Have they ever actually cracked a big case?

This is not the ACC's role. Their mandate is to provide specialist intelligence and support to law enforcement agencies. The ACC is not itself a law enforcement body and cannot itself lay charges. In this case the ACC has said that ''Very detailed information, the names of the clubs, the names of all the persons, the details of how, when and why and where, based on the intelligence, the persons suspected, has been provided to the anti-doping agency ASADA and to the police. Particularly the NSW and Victorian police,'' Read more: Top crime fighter hits back at critics