Cass charged with drug offence

[Smokey]

oh one more thing what a cheap shot having a go at a bloke who admits he cant spell to well and has hardly any  english education. when one steeps to that level he must be really insecure and  desperate to win a lousy debate at any cost. talk about key board warrior.

Don't worry about him claw. As you can see he is a very black and white person. According to Smokey, you are either a drug cheat or your not, and you are either highly literate and worth reading, or, if your spelling isn't too good or sentences not grammatically correct, then you are just 'rambling' and obviously your opinion doesn't count. His blind faith in magistrates decisions doesn't surprise me one bit. Actually, Smokey58's 'holier than thou' approach to debating on here is frankly driving me away from OER. 

Thanks for the chuckle guys.

I'm pretty confident I don't initiate taking any comment or debate to a personal level but I will respond in kind if done to me, that's for sure.  Keep that in mind when you are both chucking around the 'holier than thou' accusations.  And DC, if my attitude offends anyone then I am very happy to take direction from the mods and cancel my account, it's no skin off my nose.  But don't confuse your inability to argue your point with my attempts to argue mine - after all, isn't that what good debating is all about?

[the claw]

oh one more thing what a cheap shot having a go at a bloke who admits he cant spell to well and has hardly any  english education. when one steeps to that level he must be really insecure and  desperate to win a lousy debate at any cost. talk about key board warrior.

Don't worry about him claw. As you can see he is a very black and white person. According to Smokey, you are either a drug cheat or your not, and you are either highly literate and worth reading, or, if your spelling isn't too good or sentences not grammatically correct, then you are just 'rambling' and obviously your opinion doesn't count. His blind faith in magistrates decisions doesn't surprise me one bit. Actually, Smokey58's 'holier than thou' approach to debating on here is frankly driving me away from OER. 

Thanks for the chuckle guys.

I'm pretty confident I don't initiate taking any comment or debate to a personal level but I will respond in kind if done to me, that's for sure.  Keep that in mind when you are both chucking around the 'holier than thou' accusations.  And DC, if my attitude offends anyone then I am very happy to take direction from the mods and cancel my account, it's no skin off my nose.  But don't confuse your inability to argue your point with my attempts to argue mine - after all, isn't that what good debating is all about?

lol i dont believe i have ever attacked you on a personal level but have had to put up with plenty from you. a bit like the pot calling the kettle dont you think.  if the gloves are to be off so be it. im all for it.
like i said pee weak having a go at a blokes spelling or grammar. and not big enough to admit you crossed the line. typical of your posting.

[Smokey]

lol i dont believe i have ever attacked you on a personal level but have had to put up with plenty from you. a bit like the pot calling the kettle dont you think.  if the gloves are to be off so be it. im all for it.
like i said pee weak having a go at a blokes spelling or grammar. and not big enough to admit you crossed the line. typical of your posting.

"ya know also all i ever get out of you is very silly smilies etc etc distortions of what i have said . you just look dumb when you have to resort to such imbecile actions" - that was the one I responded to.

Anyway, I'd say the debate between you and I about the topic has run it's course and as you correctly pointed out, some of our opinions were almost the same, just some others were poles apart, so let's not bore everyone with a name calling spat.  There are other champs of that genre on here who can do a better job than you and I.

[one-eyed]

Maxwell slams drug ban for Casserly
By Tim Clarke
SportsNewsFirst
3 March 2011

AFL premiership skipper Nick Maxwell has launched a scathing attack on the two year drug ban handed out to Richmond hopeful

Casserly is pondering an appeal over the two-year ban, which was handed down by the WAFL this week after a magistrate deemed the 23-year-old had intended to improve his performance by taking two Sudafed tablets during the game.

Casserly claimed in the hearing he took one 60mg Sudafed tablet before the grand final and one at half-time, under observation of club staff.

Pseudoephedrine is a “specified stimulant” prohibited in doses greater than 150 micrograms per millilitre. Casserly returned samples of 240 micrograms and 230 micrograms.

The player argued he had taken the pills to treat an existing hay fever condition – but Paul Heaney was not convinced instead saying it had been intended to improve his game.

After receiving support from former AFL star Luke Darcy and Tiger colleague Mitch Morton, Maxwell became the highest profile advocate for Casserly via his Twitter feed.

“One sportsperson shoots someone & gets 2 day suspension & a fine. Another takes a Sudafed 4 a cold & gets 2 yr ban.2 harsh of a penalty IMO,” Maxwell said.

“Cole from Chelsea with the gun & Casserly from Tigers with Sudafed.”

Maxwell was referring to English footballer Ashley Cole, who escaped serious punishment over revelation he shot an intern with an air rifle he had taken to a training session at the South London Premiership giants.

That caused a sensation in England, when Cole is a maligned figure after revelations about his astronomical wages, his marriage to pop star Cheryl Tweedy and his subsequent infidelity.

Maxwell also admitted he had taken similar substances to overcome illness during training sessions, and did not feel that warranted them as performance enhancing.

“I don't see it as performance enhancing but I had only taken when crook at training years ago. I still felt terrible!,” Maxwell said.

“They were allowed until about 18 months ago. I wouldn’t say they enhance performance - maybe if you took 10 not 2.”

Casserly, 23, was on the Tigers' list from 2006-08 and has spent the past two seasons playing with WAFL club Swan Districts.

He was one of three players training with Richmond who are battling for the club's final rookie spot.

http://www.sportsnewsfirst.com.au/articles/2011/03/03/maxwell-slams-drug-ban-for-casserly/

[gerkin greg]

classic maxwell, only good at being 3rd man up

darcy, morton... whoop up pops nicky

[Penelope]

    

[Dubstep Dookie]

It's in their club culture to be third man up.

Just ask Sam Gilbert. 

[one-eyed]

Appeal delay a blow for Casserly
By Craig O'Donoghue
The West Australian
March 8, 2011

Travis Casserly's hopes of having his two-year drug suspension reduced in time to join Richmond are all but over, with his lawyer Simon Watters admitting it will be difficult to hold an appeal before next Tuesday's rookie draft deadline.

Swan Districts received WAFL tribunal chairman Paul Heaney's 15-page finding on the case on Friday. It explained why he found Casserly guilty of using performance enhancing drug pseudoephedrine during last year's grand final.

Casserly had hoped for another chance at an AFL career after previously being on Richmond's list from 2006-2008. He was one of three players training with the Tigers as part of a new rule that allowed clubs to make their last rookie selection after the NAB Cup.

Richmond have already declared they would have selected Casserly at the December rookie draft if not for the drug charge.

The AFL yesterday announced that the selection had to be made before 11am next Tuesday.

Hawthorn also have a vacancy on their rookie list. Travis Tuck, who received a 12-match ban under the AFL's illicit drugs policy last year, is one of the players training with the Hawks.

The WAFL fast tracked the original tribunal hearing because of the draft deadline and the league's acting football operations manager Steve Hargrave said it would try to do the same thing for the appeal.

But Watters said that would be tough. "It's highly unlikely," he said. "We still need to file the grounds for appeal and ASADA (Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority) have to be ready too."

Watters said the appeal would be on the grounds that the suspension was manifestly excessive.

He will ask for the suspension to be reduced to three months and backdated to October 18. That would mean Casserly wouldn't miss any games.

The two-year ban can't be reduced unless Casserly convinces the appeals panel that he tested positive after taking Sudafed to treat hay fever.

Russian 1500m runner Anna Alminova received a three-month suspension for the same offence last year after telling the tribunal that she took a tablet to treat a cold.

Heaney dismissed the hay fever claim in the original hearing. He declared Casserly took the drug to improve his performance.

The appeals tribunal will be headed by one of the league's tribunal chairmen - Alan Moroni, Trevor O'Sullivan or Brian Sierakowski. The three-man panel could also include a doctor.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sport/a/-/wafl/8969157/appeal-delay-a-blow-for-casserly/

[one-eyed]

Cousins reference might help banned WAFL player
By Craig O'Donoghue
The West Australian
March 15, 2011

A reference to Ben Cousins in an article published by The West Australian two days after Swan Districts premiership player Travis Casserly was suspended for two years will form a key plank in the club's evidence at their appeal next month.

Swan Districts have been poring over Magistrate Paul Heaney's 12- page document which lists his reasons for suspending Casserly on February 28. Casserly tested positive to pseudoephedrine after last year's WAFL grand final after taking two Sudafed tablets.

Casserly said he took the tablets to treat hayfever, but Heaney declared Casserly used the drug to enhance his performance.

"He took the Sudafed tablets and he knew he was taking them with the intent to enhance his sporting performance," Heaney wrote.

Swan Districts' grounds for appeal include 13 points.

But Heaney's reference to _The West Australian _'s report about Cousins' book on March 2 will provide the most intrigue.

"Legal drugs were part and parcel of a footballer's routine," Cousins wrote in My Life Story.

"Taking caffeine was a way of manufacturing an alert sharp state for a match.

"It wouldn't guarantee you'd play well but it stacked the odds in your favour.

"Then there was Sudafed which was widely used in the AFL. The pseudoephedrine pepped you up for those games when you weren't quite sharp."

Swan Districts will argue that Cousins' comments were never raised in the tribunal and weren't published in _The West Australian _until after the suspension had been announced.

They will also question whether an autobiography can be used as a legal reference.

"We were surprised that the chairman would have used that to reach his decision," Swan Districts football operations manager Phil Smart said.

The club is also arguing that pseudoephedrine is a controlled substance, not a banned drug.

Players are allowed to have 150 micrograms per millilitre in their system but Casserly's A sample had 240.

The club intends to use Russian athlete Anna Alminova's three-month ban last year as a precedent to show the two-year suspension is excessive.

Swan Districts will also argue that Casserly did not perform beyond expectations during the game and he only intended to treat hayfever by taking the drug.

The club wants Casserly's suspension cut to three months, and backdated to October 18.

He hasn't been allowed to train with Swan Districts since testing positive, so that would become his punishment.
But the appeal won't be held in time to revive Casserly's AFL career. He had been training with Richmond, but the club must use their final rookie selection today.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sport/a/-/sport/9011222/cousins-reference-might-help-banned-wafl-player/

[Penelope]

Just more insight into how the WA legal system locks up innocent people.

[one-eyed]

Drug ban upheld for former Tiger
abc.net.au
Posted June 3, 2011 20:46:00


Former Richmond defender Travis Casserly will remain barred from playing football at any level until the end of 2012 after his appeal against a doping offence was dismissed on Friday.

Casserly, who was on the Tigers' AFL list between 2006-08, was suspended for the 2011 and 2012 seasons after testing positive to restricted substance pseudoephedrine following last year's WAFL grand final win by Swan Districts.

The 24-year-old, who was a chance to regain his spot on Richmond's list earlier this year via the rookie draft before being handed the penalty, challenged the severity of the ban, which was the maximum he could receive.

Casserly argued he had taken two Sudafed tablets during the grand final to merely treat a bout of hay fever.

But the WAFL Appeals Panel dismissed Casserly's appeal, declaring the original decision by WAFL Tribunal Chairman Paul Heaney "was not erroneous or unreasonable given the evidence".

"Under the Australian Football League Anti-Doping Code if a player uses pseudoephedrine there is a mandatory two-year disqualification unless he shows that he did not use it to enhance his performance," the WAFL said in a statement.

"After hearing evidence, the Tribunal was not satisfied that Casserly did not use it to enhance his performance and found that he did. It then imposed the mandatory disqualification of two years."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/06/03/3235356.htm?site=sport&section=afl

[Infamy]

I'd walk away from the game forever after a result like that, talk about being made a scape goat. He's received a ban 8 times longer than any athlete in the world and he was not even competing at the elite level.
Really feel bad for the kid.

[Hard Roar Tiger]

I'd walk away from the game forever after a result like that, talk about being made a scape goat. He's received a ban 8 times longer than any athlete in the world and he was not even competing at the elite level.
Really feel bad for the kid.

It seems absurd.

[gerkin greg]

1) He's not a kid.
2) He could have taken a range of medicines permitted by ASADA to combat his hay fever that don't have conditions of use like psuedoephedrine does and thereby eliminate all risk of "accidental" illegal dosage.

I can't feel sorry for him. He was goofed up to his eyeballs, guilty as charged. It's stuffed that he's been made a scape goat in terms of his penalty but you can't be made into a scape goat if you don't put yourself in that position in the first place.

What's more relevant to RFC is that we could have looked at a much needed ruck prospect along with Keddell and Corrie for that last rookie spot instead of wasting time with this idiot.

[Infamy]

1) He's not a kid.
2) He could have taken a range of medicines permitted by ASADA to combat his hay fever that don't have conditions of use like psuedoephedrine does and thereby eliminate all risk of "accidental" illegal dosage.

I can't feel sorry for him. He was goofed up to his eyeballs, guilty as charged. It's stuffed that he's been made a scape goat in terms of his penalty but you can't be made into a scape goat if you don't put yourself in that position in the first place.

What's more relevant to RFC is that we could have looked at a much needed ruck prospect along with Keddell and Corrie for that last rookie spot instead of wasting time with this idiot.

1) Well I'm in my 30s so I'd still say 24 is a kid, he still had a chance at an AFL career. In 2 years time and at 26 years of age with two years out of the game he has no chance so the decision has ended any chance of a career in his profession of choice
2) Except for the fact that he had used it throughout his career and notified the authorities. Also I know from personal experience that the new versions of the hayfever/non-psuedoephedrine drugs don't work on me and I have to get the original versions.

Still don't know how anyone can explain how he gets a penalty so severe compared to every other case of this offense in every other sport around the world.