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James Hird’s fate in hands of players after Federal Court failureMark Robinson
Herald-Sun
September 20, 2014 JAMES Hird is wounded, perhaps fatally.
His position as coach of Essendon next season clearly was less secure at 3pm than it was at 1pm, when Justice Middleton emphatically and stunningly dismissed Hird and Essendon’s application to throw out the ASADA-AFL investigation.
Call it what you will using any metaphor or slogan — a 20-goal drubbing, a financial bomb, a PR whacking, can No. 5 stay alive? — but the Bombers were flattened by the result.
Hird and Essendon went to the Federal Court to fight for the players after the players were issued show-cause notices.
Now, it would seem it will be the players who’ll decide if Hird, and by extension Mark Thompson, and Dr Bruce Reid, and chairman Paul Little and every other board member there through 2011 and 2012, will be at the club next year.
There’s an argument they should all resign en masse. But that won’t happen.
Hird won’t walk, either. It’s not in his DNA to walk. Some will call it arrogance and denial to the extreme. Others say he is a fighter, a fierce competitor, and he’ll do everything and take on anything to clear his name, the players and the footy club.
But Hird might not have a choice.
The 34 players have to answer show-cause notices.
They will decide either to fight them, which could add another 18 months to the nightmare with no confidence of a result, or accept a deal for a suspension which surely will be in the offing from ASADA chief executive Ben McDevitt.
The court case was a momentum killer and you have to ask if the players have had enough. Had enough of the drama, the headlines, the uncertainty, the anger and the body blows.
Already, Patrick Ryder is distressed — and has now requested a trade.
So what happens now?
The players were offered a deal before the Federal Court case began and you’d expect McDevitt would open negotiations again. He wants a swift end.
So does the AFL. It wont’ lean on McDevitt in any way because last time the league interfered — CEO Gill McLachlan suggested to Little that players voluntarily stand down to minimise future penalties, which doesn’t look a bad move today — the AFL was harangued by all and sundry.
The curly one is the players.
The worst-case scenario is a deal is for a 12-month ban and the best case a suspension possibly as short as three months.
In any situation, the players have to plead guilty to taking a banned substance.
There’s the curl.
Do they plead guilty to taking a banned drug when they believe they didn’t and be labelled drugs cheats for the rest of lives, or do they ignore the deals, fight ASADA against the show-cause notices and hopefully win the result?
No doubt, some of them will be emotional and the NRL result, where most of the players received three-month bans, could be inviting.
Until now — Ryder aside — the playing group has been rock solid.
It’s reasonable to suggest that after 20 months the players will continue to fight to clear their names. But you just never know.
If players do take deals — even just one player — then Hird is finished. So is Bomber and Reid and Little and the necessary board members.
You can’t have suspended players sitting in the stands and the senior officials of then coaching and managing in the now.
Everyone has pointed finger at Hird, but the responsibility is significant for the Little and the board.
Gut feel says the players won’t roll.
Gut feel says Hird and Essendon will likely appeal because they believe their legal argument was not addressed by Middleton.
What a mess it is for everyone.
Essendon has already blown in the vicinity of $5 million and an appeal could throw good money after bad. Justice Middleton almost dared them to, to further the stupidity of it all.
The Bombers also have to pay ASADA’s costs.
If the players take deals, the football club will be turned on its head. It will need a new coach and new board and greater resilience from the fans.
If the players take deals, the AFL has to be concerned about what happens to the competition next year. Can the Bombers field a team? Where do they find players? What happens to the media rights deal?
Then there’s Stephen Dank.
He walked into court 30 seconds before Justice Middleton and sat in the row behind Hird, Little and Bombers chief executive Xavier Campbell.
Audacity doesn’t cut it.
He maintained he didn’t give the players banned drugs and Little said the same out the front of Federal Court.
Friday was another day and another dollar and ASADA won the battle.
The war continues, however, which means more banging of heads against what feels like a brick wall.
http://www.news.com.au/national/james-hirds-fate-in-hands-of-players-after-federal-court-failure/story-e6frfkp9-1227064597571
