Jobe Watson/Essendon

Missed the point tbh. If a team is deliberately cheating this is obviously true. But it is not true when it comes to working the grey areas, teams will never stop working the grey areas (nor should they tbh, I personally think that that is what evolves the game and makes it better). The punishment will deter clubs from using these particular peptides (at least so long as they remain clearly banned) but that is going to happen regardless now that it is clear they are illegal. But that is the only thing that it will deter clubs from doing. It's not going to stop clubs from trying to push the boundaries of the rules in order to gain any competitive advantage that they can.

 

Good point well made...

 

Yeah but all they need to do for that is make it clear what the rules are? Punishing a team for doing something that they didn't think was illegal when they were doing it won't deter anyone else from doing it. Making what the team was doing illegal will. That is always how it has worked in sport. A team finds an exploit and either every other team copies them or they make it illegal and everyone stops...

 

I am not at all saying don't punish them, just that doing so isn't necessarily in the best interests of the AFL. They are one of the most popular clubs and they bring a whole lot to the game. 2 of the years biggest and most meaningful games include them.

 

Where as Clubs like Richmond that obviously lack talent do nothing and remain uncompetitive?

 

tbh, i don't see any reason why they shouldn't be punished. Maybe not to the same extent or severity as a regular doping case, but whether they knew or not they still gained an unfair advantage over their competition.