I actually think the AFL would throw the book at Clarko if it came down to that or admitting there’s a wider more complex league wide issue.
This won’t be swept under the rug.
It definitely wasn’t going to be announced prior to Australia Day.
It’ll probably be announced on a heavy sports media day like SuperBowl Monday.
They’ll probably try and time it so that it is announced a day before the pre-season fixture so that some other AFL news can soften talk around this issue.
It will come out something like:
Clakko and Fages are good blokes.
In hindsight they could have been a bit more sensitive about these issues, but had the best interests of their players at heart
They are both greatly admired and loved by their players, so they are good blokes
Counselling offered to the players and partners
$5000 fine donated to a First Nations charity and a half day cultural awareness workshop
Excuse my cynicism.
20 Likes
There’s a lot of justified cynicism about the AFL’s ability and desire to control the situation and sweep it all under the rug.
There’s been far less focus on the determination of some of the players & their families to force institutional change. I don’t think this can be discounted. The AFL investigation might just be the first step.
5 Likes
Er why not?
It wouldn’t surprise me if this is the exact outcome.
1 Like
Including the effectiveness of the AFLPA indigenous programs as a voice in institutional change
This isn’t going to come out with the result Indigenous people (and most of us) want. The punishments will be so watered down, that they don’t want this to become something people could protest about, or bring more spotlight to it that’ll potentially get the Feds being in a position to have to step in and do something about it because of the spotlight.
Better off to keep Australia Day to the usually talking topics (reconciliation) as well as ‘the voice’.
Aboriginal issues always get highlighted more around Australia Day and the AFL don’t want any part in it.
The Aboriginal topics are usually forgotten about a few days after Australia Day.
Will also be a presser with an awkward looking indigenous person shoehorned into the conversation.
And end with
‘I won’t be taking anymore questions, please respect my privacy’
That was the plan all along
i literally said at the start of this absolutely zero would come from this because there was 0% chance of anything jeopardising clarko weeks into his new job
. no one has heard a peep or mention for weeks. i only remembered because of this thread being bumped
2 Likes
Some people are not respecters of the juggernaut.
It’s a dangerous game to assume everyone’s just going to play along.
I don’t think too many are saying that. I think most are saying that Clarko will not even receive a rap over the knuckles and that he will cop no punishment whatsoever.
Someone in clubland will take the fall and hopefully it leads to a overhaul of clubs but I just don’t see Clarko being punished at all
2 Likes
The media have had a nibble and they only need a fraction of evidence to go for blood, they can fill the rest of their columns with opinion pieces and “my sources”.
We know only too well how influential the media and the court of public opinion can be.
If true, I want to see Hawthorn, Clarko, Fagan and anyone else involved burn.
5 Likes
They didn’t bring the game into disrepute under AFL definitions, rather themselves, the club and the AFL.
1 Like
Just remember our saga story broke in the first week of February. A lot of footy journos are on holidays until after the tennis. I still think something will happen.
2 Likes
Nathan Bock case: ASADA says former AFL player did not have a case to answer (theage.com.au)
Asada decided to not do anything…surely that was outside AFL control …or tin foil hat…they had already done a deal with Asada offering Essendon on a plate, as long as all other clubs got off.
“Anti-doping body ASADA has maintained that former AFL player Nathan Bock did not have a case to answer over doping allegations amid claims from Stephen Dank that he supplied him with a banned peptide.”
2 Likes
Was hilarious*. Unlike at EFC, everyone involved agreed that Bock doped: Bock, Dank, and Robinson. The Tribunal then decided that as there was no lab testing of what was injected, it was probably not what everyone claimed it was. ASADA and then WADA presumably agreed with that.
Madness (or corruption) is holding multiple incompatible thoughts in your head at the same time.
20 Likes
ha - the one time that the thing that looks, walks and quacks like a duck was deemed not to be a duck.
7 Likes