The ABC not letting Warnerâs book go unnoticed.
Article by Russell Jackson, who IIRC has done some well received articles from interviews with the likes of Robbie Muir and Rod Owen
Got the last copy of Mickâs book today from the local ABC/Collins bookshop. Counter staff said it has been one of their fastest selling books
You will need a large bottle of âsomethingâ with you when you start reading the book.
Going to hold off for a while - today like Spring, pre pandemic ambience down the street, except for the masks and check ins.
Everyone happy, only concerned with protection from what Jereon calls the flying embers.
And someone to talk to.
Thereâs very little reaction anywhere about this book.
Seems someone is calling in all debts or making threats coz thereâs very little apparent interest.
I donât know if many younger people will read it. My son wanted me to hurry up and finish it as he was busting to read it.
Read the first couple of chapters and said, to many characters to try and remember all especially as he is to young to know any of them. (most are from before he was born.)
Told him to keep reading it he will get to the parts where he will know most of the characters. Will be interested in his take when he finishes it.
We should never forget
Fitzpatrick,Demetriou,McLaughlin,McGuire,Evans,
Gordon,
Lukin,Clothier,McDevitt,Wilson,Bartlett,Smith etc etc
All arseholes.
Nor forgive
After reading Warnerâs book, Iâve been thinking about the saga all over again, from a less detailed, more broad brush perspective.
You know, it seems to me just about the biggest culprit (and there are many starters in that field) is Lukin.
Someone, very early in the piece, came up with the plan to scapegoat the club (ref the meeting notes of Andruska in Feb13) and some officials, in return for exonerating the players. And we all know that the former happened and the latter didnât, mainly due to McDevittâs determination not to be dictated to by the AFL.
Whoever came up with that strategy did so based on the ACC âsuspicionsâ which were never substantiated by fact or even credible evidence. They did so very early and without even looking at the facts, or the evidence, or lack thereof.
Had the AFL not jumped to the conclusion they did, and immediately implemented the strategy that led to the whole excruciating evolution of the saga, we might well have had no more than an investigation that found no real evidence of use of banned substances.
Who came up with the AFL strategy?
Almost certainly, to my mind, it would have been Lukin, who at the time, was the AFL kingpin of spinning and manipulating things to achieve an AFL best outcome.
So, to me, she just about vaults to the top of the list, closely followed of course by Belhoff, who IMO could not possibly have achieved the status in the legal profession that he did and still be stupid enough to come up with the judgement his panel did. More likely it was a commitment to a preconceived outcome that he couldnât find a credible way to justify, rather than stupidity, that was at work.
The likes of Fitzpatrick, Demetriou, McLachlan, Clothier, Wilson and co., make up a formidable team of also rans.
And youâll still find people saying she did a good job.
Her infamous advice to Hobson, that Hird was shoved front and centre to the press conference when it was very obviously an administrative issueâŚ
Yeah, she was working for the enemy.
Didnât get a mention in the book, but donât forget that someone leaked that info to Roy Masters who wrote about what had been concocted by the AFL (article caused a stir).
I would like to know who leaked that info to Masters,
Masters was or maybe stil is married to Elaine Verreker Canty , a former Melbourne journo and whom I think was an AFL Commissioner - she is well connected in AFL circles
And Chris Masters (connected to 4 Corners) is Royâs brother, so there was no way a pro Essendon show would occur on ABC 4 Corners. But, they were happy to sink the boots into Essendon and make the AFaiL look bad in the eyes SYD/CBR people.
And letâs not forget the Roy Masters Rugby connections lead all the way to John Coates and others in power at WADA, IOC.
The primary plan was to give ASADA Essendonâs head on a plate in exchange for them not looking at any other clubs. The AFL were petrified about what they might find at other clubs (eg recent premiers). Once the decision was made to scapegoat Essendon, the secondary plan was to blame club staff in return for getting the players off. The public would demand a big name - none bigger than Hird at Essendon - so he was the âchosen oneâ from day 1.
Something also about a Coates Fahey and that Oz CAS judge connection with the Rabbitohs ?
The difference was that Cronulla players were persuaded to plead guilty and roll over for 3 months, when Essendon players would not
- Paul Gallenâs book, it still hurts
The sad thing about the whole saga is that it never needed to be about Essendon at all. It was the result of the AFL panicking about what they probably suspected was going on at multiple clubs that triggered the whole focus on the AFL, then Essendon, then Hird.
Remember back to the very first press conference given by the Ministers Lundy and Claire, and the Australian Crime Commission. Key things they said "âwhat we have found will shock youâ, âacross multiple sports across Australiaâ. They didnât name sports and they certainly didnât name clubs.
At that time the Gillard govt was really struggling. I think the press conference was on the Monday. Later that week Eddie Obeid (ex ALP NSW Minister, subsequently jailed for corruption) was scheduled to appear before the NSW Corruption Commission. I suspect the Gillard Govt was absolutely desperate to get ALP corruption stories off the front page (albeit main impact in NSW). What better way than a huge bombshell about (at that stage undefined) corruption in sports across Australia.
In the end we went from ââwhat we have found will shock youââ ââin multiple sports across Australiaââ to the saga being mainly about the Essendon players, and the contortions the CAS had to go through to contrive a conviction in the absence of ANY positive tests for ANY banned substances.