f*** off..c***

[j-mac31]

Rita Panahi. Another dopey f*** who talks through her mangled arse.

Who thought it was a good idea to have this idiot on the radio, have you ever heard a more annoying voice?

Andrew "Boofhead" Maher. Easily.

[auditor]

Rita Panahi. Another dopey f*** who talks through her mangled arse.

Who thought it was a good idea to have this idiot on the radio, have you ever heard a more annoying voice?

Andrew "Boofhead" Maher. Easily.

Just another lame Journo c*** who believes that just because SCN's were handed down then everybody that received one is guilty.

She forgets to mention that Saad tested positive not once but twice.

She forgets to mention that not all of the Cronulla players accepted ASADA's deal.

Just another lame slag journo!

[npskinner]

Not sure if this has been posted - a brilliant article on hird and the saga.

http://m.thenewdaily.com.au/sport/2014/ ... amberlain/

James Hird has fallen from champion footballer to AFL pariah. But Tom Ryan asks, does the former Essendon champ deserve all the criticism?


He’s been likened to James Brown, “who used to preach about the evils of drugs then ended up taking loads of them himself”.

He’s been accused of vanity, arrogance and “blind pride”, of failing in his duty of care to the players in his charge at Essendon and selfishly putting his own interests ahead of the team’s.

He was suspended from coaching for a year by the AFL for “bringing the game into disrepute”. Over and over again, pundits have pontificated that he “must step down” or “be moved on”.

His rejection of their verdict and his protestations of innocence were then seen to mean that he’s “in denial” about his crimes. To top it all off, he’s shown that he’s unable to keep his lawyer wife “on the leash”.

What is it about James Hird that annoys so many people?

He’s always seemed such a clean-living, upstanding fellow. And as a footballer, he was indisputably a champion. A classical fairest and best type.

I remember the first time I ever saw him play. He had his back to me, simply watching as a pack built around the ball, waiting for his moment. And when it came, I’ll swear he was in slow motion as he burrowed his way into the scrimmage, everyone else frozen in the fray. Seconds later, he emerged with the ball and hand-passed it off to a teammate yards away, in the open. It was like a superbly choreographed dance. He knew exactly what he was going to do and he did it.

Hird had that indefinable quality shared by all the great players of Australian Rules: Baldock, Jesaulenko, Matthews, Buckley, Jack Clarke, Voss, Flower and, I’m assured, many others I never saw in action. They knew how to read the play, I mean really read the play, and Hird did too.

Yet supporters from opposing clubs often took a disliking to him. Perhaps it was simply that he always made it hard for their players, the ball so often finishing up in his hands rather than theirs. Perhaps it was the blond hair that might get a bit tousled during the game but always made him stand out. The “coif”, as a sports-lawyer-columnist-wannabe recently hissed.

Perhaps it was Hird’s feminine quality that annoyed some football people, men and women alike: this blond was never interested in being brawny, in being a tough guy. Yes, he stood up to be counted when it mattered, but you’d never see him delivering a carefully-calibrated shirtfront, or niggling someone behind the play, or mouthing off at them about their mother last night. He’s always seemed above all that, and fair-dinkum Aussie folks sometimes reckon blokes like that are being condescending. Gentleman blonds aren’t always preferred.

I don’t know him or what he’s like in his private life, but I’ve always believed that you can tell what a person is really like by the way he or she competes at sport. If that’s true, Hird is both a team player and an individual capable of rising above the pack.


James Hird plies his trade in 2004. Photo: Getty
A corollary of that has been that there’ll be those who want him brought down, or who’ll try to bring him down. I recall, long before the current scandal, a journalist colleague – female, a St Kilda supporter – confiding in me that she really hated James Hird. She meant it in a footy-fan kind of way; it was nothing really personal. When I asked her why, I recall her exact words: “He’s too perfect.” To which, I replied: “Have you not seen his ears?”

In recent times, though, dating back to just before he was appointed coach at Essendon, the hostility has become very personal. It began when the rumours started to fly that he was positioning himself for the posting. He refused to confirm the reports, but his subsequent signature on the dotted line was tantamount to turning himself into a target.

Since then, the kitchen has become increasingly hot and Hird has, characteristically, refused to leave it. The supplements saga at Essendon has taken its toll. A nightmare lasting more than 18 months, so far, it has kept the headlines coming but provided little insight into what anybody allegedly did to anybody else; or what anybody knew about what they were doing, if and when they did it; or should have known.

ASADA’s “show-cause” notices last week don’t appear to have clarified anything and the only solid evidence we’ve seen (via the recent Federal Court testimonies) has to do with how the investigation of Essendon was conducted by ASADA and what the AFL was prepared to do to protect its “brand”.

There’s been lots of surmising, lots of accusations directed at Essendon and Hird, lots of news breaks (several subsequently shown to be false), lots of misrepresentations of news events, lots of editorialising, lots of angry readers’ letters. Most offer opinions that are as worthless as they are righteous because they’re based on an assumption of a guilt that remains to be proven.

There is no question that Hird has been singled out in all of this, by the AFL, by the media and by the court of popular opinion (all inextricably and dismayingly linked). His reply has been to play tough and refuse to be bullied.

He testified in the Federal Court that he allowed himself to be persuaded to compromise his beliefs during the early part of the so-called supplements saga, making choices that led Julian Burnside, one of his lawyers, to describe him as “heroic”.

Like the recruit playing his first season, he took time to adjust to the pace at which the game was being conducted and to learn how to read the play. That’s no longer the case.

His critics may eventually have to eat their words and some sizeable slices of humble pie. Or they may not. My view is that, at this stage, it’s them who are in denial. They’ve smelled some smoke in the wind, but, until they or others are able to attach it to some fire, maybe a little caution might be prudent.

I can’t recall anyone in Australia ever being as savagely vilified by the media and its consumers as Hird has been, aside perhaps from Lindy Chamberlain.

And we all know how that story turned out.

Tom Ryan is the editor of ‘Baz Luhrmann’, a book of interviews with the filmmaker to be published by the University Press of Mississippi next month.

[Flip]

"His critics may eventually have to eat their words and some sizeable slices of humble pie"

And hopefully huge amounts of cash on the backs of Libel actions when the matter is over.

Even Vinegar Tits you will note has been lately been evermore vociferous in its attacks on Doc Reid, whom even the AFLSSR didn't dare take on.

I am totally 100% for the Essendon Footy Club and that the individual is secondary.

However, what Jim and his family has had to put up with is beyond the pale.....without a Hearing to confirm guilt or otherwise....and I believe he is only "guilty" of naivety and trusting the wrong people (inexperience).

Even a murderer wouldn't have to put up with what Jim and his family has had to put up with in our "wonderful" media, as it would be considered contempt of court. It is a disgrace.

[BenDoolan]

Huge applause for Tom Ryan. Thanks for some sanity in the press. We'll done.

[Gimps]

I'm hearing on the grapevine that ASADA has added a few pieces of fluff in their 350 pages, on top of what they'd already presented to the players.

They've. Got. Nothing.

[robrulz5]

Brilliant article.

[BenDoolan]

I'm hearing on the grapevine that ASADA has added a few pieces of fluff in their 350 pages, on top of what they'd already presented to the players.

They've. Got. Nothing.

They added a bit of mayo?

[tonysoprano]

I'm hearing on the grapevine that ASADA has added a few pieces of fluff in their 350 pages, on top of what they'd already presented to the players.

They've. Got. Nothing.

Reading Bruce Francis - there are so many holes in the ASADA case it is ridiculous it has come this far.

[auditor]

"His critics may eventually have to eat their words and some sizeable slices of humble pie"

And hopefully huge amounts of cash on the backs of Libel actions when the matter is over.

Even Vinegar Tits you will note has been lately been evermore vociferous in its attacks on Doc Reid, whom even the AFLSSR didn't dare take on.

I am totally 100% for the Essendon Footy Club and that the individual is secondary.

However, what Jim and his family has had to put up with is beyond the pale.....without a Hearing to confirm guilt or otherwise....and I believe he is only "guilty" of naivety and trusting the wrong people (inexperience).

Even a murderer wouldn't have to put up with what Jim and his family has had to put up with in our "wonderful" media, as it would be considered contempt of court. It is a disgrace.

Michelangelo Rucci from the Adelaide Advertiser was compared last week to Caro by a caller to a radio station.
He answered by saying that he had never stated that a coach was sacked when he wasn't.
He then stated that he had been speaking with the slag at the Journo awards where he asked her what was more important...Going with a story that wasn't factual or waiting until such times that the facts were available before releasing a story. Her answer "go hard go early because you can always correct yourself". Says it all!

[rockhole]

I wonder if those who hand out Walkley Awards would be comforted by the admission of a recent winner that her professional approach to journalism was:

"Go hard go early because you can always correct yourself".

Wonderful indictment of the recipient and her industry.

[Flip]

I'm hearing on the grapevine that ASADA has added a few pieces of fluff in their 350 pages, on top of what they'd already presented to the players.

They've. Got. Nothing.

And still refuse to SCN Dank. Why? Because if they did and he got them into a Court of LAW, he would under oath be able to say he did not administer Thy B, and that they have no case.

The E Grade Public Servants trying to make a name for themselves, would then be shown for the incompetent softcocks they are.

[gringo]

I'm hearing on the grapevine that ASADA has added a few pieces of fluff in their 350 pages, on top of what they'd already presented to the players.

They've. Got. Nothing.

And still refuse to SCN Dank. Why? Because if they did and he got them into a Court of LAW, he would under oath be able to say he did not administer Thy B, and that they have no case.

The E Grade Public Servants trying to make a name for themselves, would then be shown for the incompetent softcocks they are.

Presumably the "E Grade Public Servants" would be acting in accordance with legal advice they have obtained on the merits of their case against the Essendon players?

[Flip]

Gringo a good Lawyer can argue that black is white and make a case for it.

If a Lawyer is working in the PS I am not sure he would be a Rhodes Scholar. And in any event, ASADA is so far down the food chain of great PS's like in Treasury, Health etc they would only have the dregs there. Look at McDevitt.

He would say to his Legal Dept in the basement to give him legal argument to back up his flawed case...and they would supply it.

[little_ripper]

Dank got a SCN. He ignored it. Asada have him on their record of record of adverse findings. The Afl have done nothing about it cos they are awaiting the outcome of theplayers response.

[tonysoprano]

HIRD SACKED!!!!!




Sorry, just haven't heard it for a few days.

[MH_Bomber]

Oh please TS !!

[robbie67]

Gringo a good Lawyer can argue that black is white and make a case for it.

If a Lawyer is working in the PS I am not sure he would be a Rhodes Scholar. And in any event, ASADA is so far down the food chain of great PS's like in Treasury, Health etc they would only have the dregs there. Look at McDevitt.

He would say to his Legal Dept in the basement to give him legal argument to back up his flawed case...and they would supply it.

It has been the Attorney General Department's lawyers who have been working on it you stupid f***-wit.

[Crazyman]

HIRD SACKED!!!!!




Sorry, just haven't heard it for a few days.

A self imposed BT ban for cruelty there tony…

[little_ripper]

These are the two articles which sum up ASADAs case I think.
Both by Nick McKenzie who interviewed Dank.(the second is the interview)

And it is the text in bold which I think suggests that he put Dank under the pump and indicates that Dank was truthful about using Thymodulin.(adds credence to his Danks tale)
McKenzie puts it to Dank that Tb4 was used. Dank starts off thinking he is referring to the stuff thats good for the immune system.
(which is Thymodulin: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2657249) and he continues down that track. He does not mention the benefits of TB4(healing bones, muscle regeneration which make it performance enhancing)

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/d ... zs7ea.html

Australia’s most infamous sports scientist paused for a moment before erupting. ''That’s just mind-blowing.''

Stephen Dank was giving a rare on-the-record interview in April 2013, and his reaction was justified. He’d just had a startling realisation.

I’d told him that the peptide he had, moments before, freely admitted giving Essendon players in 2012 had been added to the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority's list of banned doping agents.

Previously, the peptide Thymosin Beta 4 (TB4) had only been captured under a catch-all World Anti-Doping Agency clause. Dank had previously claimed to be supremely confident of evading this clause by using his self-professed superior scientific wisdom about what could be deemed a performance-enhancing peptide.

But TB4’s arrival on a specific list of prohibited WADA substances made it clear that the anti-doping officials who Dank referred to as ''idiots'' weren’t convinced about Dank’s particular school of science.

ASADA’s probe into him was still in its infancy, but Dank knew why the listing of TB4 was bad news. It signalled that ASADA would be gunning for any players he had treated with the drug.

While still interviewing Dank, I rechecked the ASADA website and told Dank that it listed TB4 as ''prohibited in all routes and out of competition''.

Dank’s usual ebullience was quickly replaced by an unusual hesitation. ''Well, that must have just only come in this year,'' he said. ''I will get someone to speak to ASADA about that.''

But Dank never spoke to the agency’s investigators. In the end, they built their case without him in an inquiry that led them from a Chinese pharmaceutical company to a South Yarra chemist and, finally, to the issuing of show-cause notices to Bombers players this week.

ASADA’s retrospectively pieced-together version of events begins in 2011, with an alleged series of discussions between Dank, the now former Essendon high-performance coach Dean Robinson and the convicted drug trafficker-turned peptide supplier Shane Charter.

In August that year, ASADA alleges that Dank told Robinson via a text message that TB4 would be the ''cornerstone'' of his work at the Bombers because it could accelerate player recovery.

Charter has alleged to ASADA that Dank then asked him to source the peptide. On November 26, 2011, Charter flew to China – home to dozens of pharmaceutical companies willing to deal with anyone with a cheque book.

In Shanghai, Charter alleges a company called Gio Biochem Ltd sold him the raw ingredients to make TB4. Charter has given ASADA the texts he alleges he sent to Dank several weeks after his return to Melbourne, including a message that inquired ''which peptides do you need next?''

The reply listed ''Thymosin Beta 4'' and one other banned peptide. A short time later, Charter sent a text to South Yarra compounding chemist Nima Alavi, stating, ''Hi Mate. Thymosin – 20 x 5ml vials. Steve's request.''

On January 12, 2012, as Essendon ramped up its pre-season training, Charter emailed a longer missive to Dank and Alavi about the use and storage of TB4 for ''research purposes''. Included in this email was the suggestion that TB4 was most effective when administered at the rate of one subcutaneous injection ''per week for 6 consecutive weeks, then 1 vial per month''.
This advice would later form a key piece of the puzzle later assembled by ASADA. This was because it matched the frequency of injections of a drug described only as ''thymosin'' on the consent forms given to Bombers players treated by Dank.
Another piece of the puzzle is an email that allegedly reveals that Dank was told in writing – presumably by ASADA or WADA –- in May 2012, that TB4 may be captured by the catch-all WADA clause prohibiting the use of certain peptides.

It is at this time that Dank allegedly conjured up the proposition that the ''Thymosin'' that some Bombers were given was actually a drug in the Thymosin family called ''Thymomodulin''.

ASADA alleges that Dank later emailed Alavi a document, which the compounding chemist signed and which stated that Thymomodulin had been prepared by Alavi ''in accordance with the WADA code''.
In was seven months later, in February, 2013, that the federal government called a press conference to release the explosive Australian Crime Commission report exposing the use of banned peptides in professional sport.

By now, ASADA’s hastily assembled team of ex-cops and lawyers were, in tandem with the AFL’s integrity unit (in an unprecedented partnership the Bombers believe may have tainted the evidence-gathering process) working overtime to piece together precisely what the man at the centre of the ACC report had done at Windy Hill.
Dank, though, was an elusive target. He refused ASADA and the AFL’s advances, instead choosing to drop tidbits in interviews with journalists.

In early April 2013, Dank not only told me he used TB4 on Essendon players but said he did so because there was ''very good data that supports Thymosin Beta 4''.

When I told him that according to the ASADA website, WADA had specifically banned the drug, he said the move was ''just mind-blowing''.

''I think they’ve only just put that in to back up their case'' against the Bombers, he said.

A day later, when I told Dank that The Age was set to publish his comments about TB4, he asked to clarify his interview. He never meant to refer to Thymosin Beta 4, he told me. The drug he had given the Bombers players was in fact Thymomodulin.

Dank and the Bombers have hung onto this claim ever since.

In contrast, ASADA believes the information supplied to it by Charter, Alavi and others is enough to convince an anti-doping tribunal that a case has been made out.

Still, circumstantial cases can always falter. And if Dank was prepared to testify to ASADA that he sourced TB4 for his private customers only rather than the Bombers, it could potentially bolster the players’ defence. Yet the evidence, circumstantial as it may be, suggests Dank has his own good reasons to stay in the shadows.

Reference interview:

To Danks defence he apparently rang fairfax back saying that he had been mistaken that it was thymodulin. But if he is on record specifically asking for Tb4....

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/t ... 2shhd.html

In April, reporter Nick McKenzie conducted an on-the-record interview with controversial sports scientist Stephen Dank. Much of what Dank was asked about is central to the AFL's case against Essendon and its coach James Hird. Fairfax Media has decided to publish long excerpts from this interview, which revealed Dank's response to many of the key issues, including his dealings and defence with James Hird and the alleged use of Thymosin Beta 4 (TB-4) and anti-obesity drug AOD-9604.

In April, the World Anti-Doping Agency confirmed that TB-4 was banned for use in 2012 under the catch-all section two rule of the WADA code. It also specifically listed TB-4 as banned. Shortly after this interview was conducted, Dank said he had been mistaken when he told Fairfax Media that he had given the players TB-4, a claim he has since made repeatedly. WADA has said that AOD-9604 is banned under section 0 of its code that prohibits athletes using drugs that are not approved for human therapeutic use. Dank has refused to be interviewed by the AFL and the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority.

Nick McKenzie: I have had a doctor tell me that bovine colostrum [which is produced by a cow immediately after giving birth and is not banned by WADA] would not have done anything when given to Essendon players. So why did you use it?

Stephen Dank: It is very high in [proteins]. I think your doctor source could possibly be right but there is some very, very good data supporting it. There is some data not so supportive, to be honest. But at the end of the day, right, if we have to wait for an absolute blueprint piece of scientific literature on everything that is used in exercise we would end up using nothing.

NM: Thymosin Beta 4 – why was that used in Essendon players given there is an opinion from a doctor or researcher and other scientists that its effects are uncertain? (note: The AFL believes it has a strong circumstantial case that TB-4 was used on players.)

SD: That's not totally true Nick because, with all due respect, right, there is good data – very good data – that supports Thymosin Beta 4 in the immune system.

NM: OK, why give it to all Essendon players if only some of them had colds and flu?

SD: Well, the point is that there is a degree of immunosuppression after a game or a hard training week, right. Often times the ability to back up next week is decreased by the hit on the immune system.

NM: Did you see any indications in Essendon players that it actually helped them?

SD: Well apart from the fact they won 11 out of their first 14, right, and we did regular bloods [blood tests] . . . at the end of the day I was very happy with the science, I was very happy after working a long time in football, right, that there are periods of malaise which are possibly related to sub-clinical flus and sub-clinical colds, right, which can affect performance. When we want to be honest, Nick, how much performance data is there out there on Actovegin [calf's blood extract)]

NM: There's a lot, isn't there?

SD: No there's not! So, you know, you've got to extrapolate from the science.

NM: How often were Essendon players taking Thymosin Beta 4?

SD: [Explains the dosage level but asks that this be not published].

NM: ASADA has just released on its website that Thymosin Beta 4 is prohibited in all routes and out of competition.

SD: Well, that must have just only come in this year and I will get someone to speak to ASADA about that. That's just mind-blowing.

NM: Thymosin Beta 4, they must have just banned that.

SD: I think they've only just put that in to back up their case.

NM: On AOD-9604, let me ask you a specific question. It was not until this year, February, that researchers released the first positive data about its cartilage injury repair possibilities. But you were using it to treat injuries [at Essendon] before that. So how could you be sure?

SD: Well, first of all I had a very, very long discussion with the investor/founder of AOD, Professor Frank Ng, who was very excited about the possibility of AOD in injuries, coupled with the fact that we had seen definitive changes in bone density among the obese patients in the previous clinical trials. It comes back to things being used off label.

NM: Why are you sure supplements were not captured by WADA section S0 [which bans the use of supplements not approved for human therapeutic use]?

SD: Because they were compounded. (note: people can legally access and use drugs not approved for human therapeutic use, including AOD-9604, if they are sourced from a compounding chemist. In some cases, a prescription is needed.)

NM: Did James Hird know the names and properties of what his players were using?

SD: Yes.

NM: Did James Hird know he was taking [WADA-banned drug] Hexarelin or is it possible that he was just told that he was taking amino acids?

SD: He was told it was Hexarelin. It was discussed with him at length. He asked me if players could use it and I said no. Mind you, he wasn't the only coach who was a regular user of it. [The AFL has alleged that James Hird was injected with "amino acids" by Dank. "Amino acids" is a generic term for proteins. The AFL has said Hird “made no inquiries" about what the amino acids he was injected with were or whether “the substance he was to be injected with” were banned by WADA or the AFL.]

NM: Who else was using it?

SD: [Coaching staff] Simon Goodwin and James Byrne.

NM: Why were Hird, Goodwin and Byrne using Hexarelin in the first place?

SD: Because at the end of the day, they are in very, very stressful jobs, they are getting a little bit older in life, so like a good many thousands of other people around the country . . . they were using something to give them a little bit of a lift, to confront the stresses of their job, and something that they were well entitled to use. Whatever I think of James Hird as a bloke, and you can appreciate it is at an all-time low at the moment, in no circumstances did James Hird do or take anything he wasn't entitled to do.

NM: Wasn't that setting a bad example, that you were giving the coach of a footy club a peptide the rest of the footy club couldn't use?

SD: Not at all. In no way, shape or form does it set a bad example. How many coaches in their 40s in any country in any code of sport are using testosterone? So how is it a bad example?

NM: Everything you used at Essendon and Cronulla, did you get permission, when they were in the grey area, from ASADA or WADA to use them?

SD: Yes. (Note: Dank also explained he had witnesses who could corroborate his dealings with ASADA. ASADA has denied it gave Dank formal advice to use AOD-9604, TB-4 or other banned drugs).

NM: I have interviewed someone familiar with ASADA. They said that if you got assurances from ASADA, then that is a get-out-of-jail card, but you need to prove you got those assurances and one of the ways to prove it is if you got an ASADA receipt [which is usually given when a person makes an inquiry with ASADA and is given advice].

SD: You only get a receipt number when you ring up or online. I was straight inside the bowels of ASADA.

NM: Why don't you think some of the drugs you used breached section S2 of the WADA code [which bans certain drugs that stimulate the body's production of human growth hormones].

SD: Because there is no biological relationship either in terms of mode or structure [between the drugs used and the banned drugs] . . . The only similarity is the end point. And if you are going to question the end point, then you need to ban the squat [a gym exercise] and any other modality that stimulates growth hormone.

NM: Did Essendon football boss Danny Corcoran or [former] CEO Ian Robson know about your program and to what extent did they know the details? (Note: Hird and Corcoran have both been charged by the AFL with bringing the game into disrepute, while Robson resigned earlier this year).

SD: Of course they did. Danny certainly knew everything as he needed to. He promoted it. Each week he would check in with me, particularly in the early days. To be quite honest, we went to training for a week at the Gold Coast and I remember a discussion before we left that we were to make sure that the supplements went up there.

NM: Is it right that [convicted drug trafficker] Shane Charter stuck his head in during that training week at the gold coast? (Note: The AFL has alleged that Charter supplied peptides to Dank that were used on players. Dank denies this).

SD: He happened to be staying there exactly the same week we were staying there. He said hello to me because he saw some of the players and realised I was staying there. I think he went and said hello to James for about five minutes.

NM: Your critics say you think are the smartest guy in the room and you have a bit of a god complex.

SD: No. Quite the opposite.