It’s been 1 year, 11 months and 20 days since the ‘blackest day in Australian sport’, or so it was said.

And with an apparent end in sight for the long and exhausting saga it’s bizarre that this story is still managing to surprise us.

This morning the Herald Sun reported that Essendon players could boycott NAB Challenge matches if the AFL don’t back-date their anti-doping bans.

We think Michael Auciello summed it up best on twitter this morning…

Essendon players considering not playing in games they're allowed to play in so they can play in games they're not allowed to play in.

— Michael Auciello (@MichaelAuciello) January 30, 2015

To make this more interesting, this afternoon James Hird will learn whether he’s appeal against ASADA was successful or not. Where this story will go following that, no one knows…

Essendon fans are already out in force at the Federal Court. pic.twitter.com/1SnnVwiVeu

— Titus O'Reily (@TitusOReily) January 29, 2015