The issuing of infraction notices against 34 current and former Essendon players relating to the alleged administration of a banned supplement indicates that this saga, for the players at least, has entered its final formal stages. Essendon members and fans should be relieved that events have proceeded to this point. There is a light at the end of the tunnel— and it's not a speeding train!

It's likely that, in the event that the infraction is proven to the "comfortable satisfaction" of the AFL Tribunal, any penalties will be relatively slight, as they were for the NRL Cronulla Sharks players. This will be based on a no-fault finding — that is, the players were not aware they were being administered a banned substance and in fact had good reason to be convinced they were not.

AussieRulesBlog fears that a significant number of people in the football world will see such a result as a failure of the system.

For some, fans with a hatred of the Bombers (for whatever reason, logical or not), only a decimation of the club will satisfy. Most assuredly, were the shoe on their foot, they'd sing a different tune. Jobe Watson will be booed for the remainder of his career for the simple crime of having been adjudged the best player in the competition in a year in which his club was administering these supplements, regardless of them being non–performance-enhancing. It was, and will be, ever thus. Most football fans aren't fielding recruiting calls from Mensa.

Some, media pundits who've conducted a vitriolic campaign against coach James Hird and the club's administration, we suspect won't be satisfied while Hird remains officially associated with the club and the current Board remain substantially in place. Irrespective of evidence, or of logical reasoning, they'll continue to howl. May their throats become raw with the strain of maintaining their prejudiced and irrational rage.

For the rest, a further layer of the already microscopically-thin layer of gloss on our game has been worn away.

Don't rush to pillory James Hird, or the club. They didn't intend for any (allegedly) banned substances to be (allegedly) administered and wouldn't have condoned that action had they known of it, and they almost certainly weren't the only club engaged in a potentially-compromised supplements program. It's the nature of a competitive professional sport with substantial investment, and even more substantial rewards to the successful, that envelopes will be stretched and boundaries tested.

Why does the AFL persist with entering a camel in the Melbourne Cup? Sure, the camel has four legs, and it can carry a rider, but that doesn't make it a champion stayer.

The “International Rules” series commencing later this month pits Australian Rules against Gaelic football, with both hobbled. No amount of fiddling will produce an even contest. If the Aussies can't exploit their advantage in physical agression, the Irish will use their superior skills with the round ball to win — and vice versa.

The notion that the Australian players are representing their country in this confected curiosity is fanciful and playing out of training simply increases the risk of injury. None of it makes sense. There aren't huge crowds, so there's no pot of gold at the end of this rainbow.

At least among the sources AussieRulesBlog listened to, there seemed to be a certain unanimity that Brendan McCartney was doing a terrific job at Whitten Oval and the future looked quite bright.

Despite Chairman Peter Gordon's protestations, it's hard to escape the conclusion that the tail was wagging the dog when the Western Bulldogs did nothing, at least in public, to dissuade their coach from submitting his resignation.

It's hardly a surprise that in mid-November, the club still has not appointed a replacement. Who would put their hand up for the job?

It's three-quarter time and the Bulldogs are ten points down. How does the coach appeal to the players to put in an extra effort? It seems the senior players didn't take kindly to being told they needed to lift, so who could you appeal to? Ask the Chairman to give the address and kindly ask the players if they wouldn't mind trying just a smidgin harder?

For years, AussieRulesBlog has had a soft spot for the team of the mighty west, but we fear for its future in the wake of this post-season schemozzle.

The Crows may have been caught with their pants down after sacking Brenton Sanderson only to find favourite son Simon Goodwin was signing up with Roosy, but they quickly got on with things. Perhaps the Bulldogs don't have any applicants?

This post is dedicated to Nikki.

At a semi-private function recently, the MC referred to AussieRulesBlog as a “tragic Essendon supporter” — a bit much coming from a committed Melbourne supporter, but we’ll let that alone for the moment.

As a lifelong Bombers fan, the past couple of years have been quite difficult. Not nearly as difficult, we hasten to add, as the Essendon players, Danny Corcoran, Mark Thompson, Dr Bruce Reid and James Hird have had to endure. Nevertheless, the constant speculation reporting on the supplements scandal program have encouraged humorous kindergarten-style barbs directed at us — the bigger “us” that includes players, coaches, staff, board, employees, members and fans — wear one down and diminish our affection for and enjoyment of the game.

Notwithstanding those issues, we attended as many games as normal in the past two years, watched as many games as usual on TV and consumed more than our fair share of footy media while avoiding the ambulance-chasers peddling the most strident anti-Essendon agendas.

All this has had its effect on AussieRulesBlog — this blog, not our online persona. Our practice had degenerated into, largely, commenting on media stories. There's only so many times we can write that the head football writer of The Age (an appointment that continues to baffle us) is pursuing an irrational agenda. So, we stopped writing altogether.

It's time for AussieRulesBlog to be reborn. The supplements saga still has some way to run and, no doubt, we'll be writing about it again, but our intention is to comment on issues without reference to the speculative media.

It's footy’s quiet time, but we're sure we can find something to write about. Now, how many years is it since Melbourne’s last Premiership?

It seems like there may be only two people who aren’t enjoying the way the game is being umpired. Well, two with a public forum anyway.

Kevin Bartlett and Patrick Smith seem fixated on the game being umpired to the exact letter of the law, splitting hairs on the placement of commas and counting the angels dancing on every full stop.

For the rest of us, the game is flowing and the annoying 50-50 free kicks that annoyed almost everybody have been consigned to the dustbin. Obvious free kicks are being awarded (when they’re seen) and the game is a better spectacle for it.

Congratulations Wayne Campbell and Hayden Kennedy, and good riddance Jeff Gieschen.

Apparently Taylor Hunt is unlucky for being suspended for bumping Daniel Rich and initiating a head clash. It seems he was only “shepherding”.

AussieRulesBlog is no spring chicken, but when we were learning the game, a “shepherd” meant spreading your arms and trying to hold an opponent away from a teammate who had the ball.

What Hunt did was to pick off an unprepared opponent who didn’t have the ball and wasn’t in a position to intercept. It doesn’t matter how close the ball was. This is not a shepherd. It’s sniping. It’s cowardly. End of story.

Much consternation about AFL scheduling this week. Rohan Connolly has picked up on scheduling as one reason for clearly lower attendances, but the AFL has a hospital handball cocked ready to avoid being caught holding the ball.

AussieRulesBlog was posting about critics of a 30-minute delayed broadcast back in 2009 and it has been a couple of years now that we’ve had wall-to-wall live football.

Not so long ago, live broadcast was THE biggest issue in AFL football. So many people HAD TO HAVE the game broadcast live, because they couldn’t avoid a news source for two and a half hours.

Given that the game takes around 2.5 hours to get started and then play itself out, there are limited slots available so that all games will be broadcast live to air.

THAT’s why we have games scheduled at 7.10pm on Sunday nights — that and the power of particular clubs to pull a primetime TV audience.

The hospital handball? Vlad will say the AFL have only done what the fans demanded.

Who’s the luckiest player in the AFL this week? Probably the Blues’ Jarrad Waite.

If you don’t have Foxtel’s Comedy Channel and you haven’t had a laugh for a while, check out Waite’s Oscar-worthy performance from last Thursday night.

Click the image to view the video. Scroll forward to about 2:50 for the big show.

Why is he lucky? Well, young Jarrad has form. AussieRulesBlog outed him for a very similar incident back in 2010.

A bit of a one-trick pony, is Jarrad. It’s a pity for the Blues that the trick isn’t playing consistent footy.