Settled, but far from perfect

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MARK Thompson called Essendon's supplements program "the perfect storm".

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After two days of gruelling negotiations came to a dramatic finish, the AFL will believe it has come out with the perfect solution.

Of course, it is far from that, given serious questions on a number of levels that might never be answered.

Those questions surround the AFL's decision to negotiate, the convenient timing of the ASADA "interim" report, and the skeletons jangling in certain closets over Essendon's self-reporting.

Andrew Demetriou and Mike Fitzpatrick after Essendon sanctions.

But when the dust settles this morning, the AFL will have at least succeeded in sealing Essendon's fate before, as AFL deputy CEO Gillon McLachlan put it, the integrity of the finals series was compromised.

Imagine the farce if had Essendon been able to storm to the most unlikely of premierships, only to have it stripped by October.

Imagine James Hird standing atop the premiership dais shouting, "Andrew Demetriou, you were wrong". It couldn't happen.

Essendon's controversies have cast a pall over the entire season, with potential infraction notices a future horror no one wants to consider.

But of the 198 home-and-away games, just one will be a dead rubber - the upcoming Essendon clash against Richmond.

And even that will have some bizarre appeal.

The AFL will have kept its promise to its broadcasters, the Bombers will have played live games long enough to keep their fans and sponsors, and the turnstiles have kept ticking over.

The AFL even gets a barnstorming finish to the home-and-away season with four teams still able to parachute into the eight at Essendon's expense.

Has Essendon got off lightly? Why would an AFL with nothing to hide not just summon Essendon to a Commission meeting and mete out punishments?

Have months of leaks from both sides tarnished the AFL and Essendon and potentially driven a wedge between the parties that could take years to repair?

In the end, Essendon got its concession that as Paul Little said last night: "There was no admission of drug cheating." And the AFL got James Hird's apology, with admissions of key failings from the Bombers.

Demetriou and Little said last night it was time for football to start healing itself.

"I think in many ways today has been the start of the beginning going forward and I don't say that lightly," Little said.

"Today there was an acceptance by both parties that we have to get on with the future. We can no longer dwell on the mistakes."

That won't happen easily but, as the days go by, the talk will start to turn more to what it was that brought Essendon to this sorry place - the quest for a flag.

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