Should the banned Bombers come back?
![Michael Hurley: The banned Bomber on many clubs' wishlist.](/web/20160821074205im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/7/7/6/l/image.related.landscape.120x80.gqa0d8.png/1470202456931.jpg)
Why Essendon could be better off letting Michael Hibberd leave.
Why Essendon could be better off letting Michael Hibberd leave.
A group of Essendon players suspended for an anti-doping breach will meet in Croatia this week to discuss their plans for 2017.
One of Essendon's good news stories in 2016 is on track to continue beyond this season, with the Bombers offering key defender Michael Hartley a new two-year contract.
Player agents fear the compensation claims against Essendon over the 2012 injecting program will drag on into 2017 - although the Bombers insist they will be finalised in a "timely manner".
There was no precedent for the situation the Bombers found themselves in this season. With the core of their senior team suspended by WADA Essendon was tipped for the wooden spoon.
Brent Stanton says he is "leaning towards" returning to football in 2017 and hasn't given much thought to the prospect of leaving Essendon.
Melbourne coach Paul Roos says he sympathises with Essendon counterpart John Worsfold, but insists the Demons have not broken any rules in approaching contracted Bomber Michael Hibberd.
Essendon chief executive Xavier Campbell has questioned the professionalism of Port Adelaide chairman David Koch - who suggested last week that it was "not a great look" for the Bombers to receive the No. 1 draft pick this year.
Paddy Ryder has conceded that Essendon players deserve some of the blame for the suspensions that wiped them out of football this year.
Ruckman Tom Bellchambers, one of a dozen suspended current Essendon players, has confirmed he will remain with the club.
The father of former Essendon coach James Hird has joined the fight for Jobe Watson to retain his Brownlow Medal.
Past and present Essendon players seeking compensation from the club as a result of anti-doping bans are preparing to undergo independent mental and physical checks.
The fight for the release of secret documents linked to the Essendon supplements saga has taken a twist, with independent senator John Madigan lodging a Freedom of Information request.
Essendon coach John Worsfold says he warned Jobe Watson not to return to the Bombers next year unless the captain can give his "full heart and soul" to the game.
Thirty-two past and current Essendon players have been asked to release secret documents detailing why they were initially cleared of an anti-doping breach by an AFL tribunal.
Essendon star Dyson Heppell says he is "super excited" after becoming the fifth of the banned Bombers to re-commit to the club for 2017.
Essendon chairman Lindsay Tanner has leapt to the defence of his predecessor David Evans, after Evans was publicly criticised by former board member Beverly Knight for taking the club backwards whilst he was in the role.
The father of former Essendon coach James Hird has described anti-doping chief Ben McDevitt as a "hypocrite" and says the decision to not allow the release of secret documents relating to the supplements saga as "disingenuous".
AFL chief Gillon McLachlan is lobbying 32 of the 34 banned current and former Essendon players to approve the public release of the AFL anti-doping tribunal's full report.
Ben McDevitt has been pitched into the role of firefighter these days, detouring him from the responsibility as chief executive of ASADA, the government body responsible for combating drugs in sport.
Former Essendon director Beverly Knight says the board she stepped down from was a backroom recipe for disaster – a divided board led by a chairman impatient for a premiership while seemingly en route to the AFL Commission.
James Hird's latest defeat in court – this time being slugged with a bill for $660,000 – is another chapter in a saga that could eventually cost more than $35 million.
Banned Port Adelaide star Paddy Ryder has been struggling to deal with his year-long anti-doping suspension but took comfort from being welcomed back for a night into the Power fold.
Tim Watson says his son, Jobe, won't play at a club other than Essendon in 2017.
Independent Victorian senator John Madigan has won his bid to secure the release of secret documents relating to the Essendon injecting program.
Essendon chief executive Xavier Campbell says the burden of proof required to potentially strip Jobe Watson of his Brownlow medal would be "significant".
Essendon will not get many wins on the field in 2016, but off the field - remarkably - the wins keep on coming.
Independent Victorian senator John Madigan will seek two motions in the Senate on Monday, calling for an inquiry into the handling of the Essendon drugs saga and for key documents relating to the case to be released.
While Carlton has high hopes for their latest generation of Silvagni, the Blues had good reason to toast an earlier variety on Friday night.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport's verdict in the Essendon drug case could act as an important precedent in Maria Sharapova's bid for clemency after her positive Australian Open test for meldonium, Tennis Australia president Steve Healy believes.
Geelong president Colin Carter says a forensic audit of the club's accounts stretching back a decade found the Cats had nothing to worry about from Dean Robinson's tenure.
The Essendon players suspended for an anti-doping offence will have to take their case to the AFL grievance tribunal if they seek to quit the club for a breach of contract.
The uncertainty over the future of Essendon's elite suspended talent continues to grow, with Dyson Heppell among those still deliberating whether to return to the club next year.
Suffering unparalleled reputational and commercial losses, Jobe Watson stands to earn substantially more than any other banned Essendon player with a compensation claim estimated to be worth multiple millions.
Omertà. Everyone in road cycling knows what it means. Anyone who has paid even passing attention to that sport in recent years does too.
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