Tanking in AFL, coaches speak out.

[eelofwest]

The AFL will interview Carlton's Brock McLean over the former Melbourne player's allegations that the Demons were tanking for draft picks in 2009.

McLean said on Monday night that he had left the Demons because circumstances at the club in the second half of the 2009 season didn't sit well with him.

"They don't call it tanking; we would call it 'experimenting' or whatever it was," McLean told FoxFooty's On The Couch program on Monday night.

"It just went against everything I was taught as a kid, taught as a footballer and as a person."

McLean said even "Blind Freddy" would have been able to see that Melbourne weren't doing everything they possibly could to win games late in the 2009 season, a year in which they finished last with a 4-18 win-loss record.

The Dean Bailey-coached Demons received a priority pick at the national draft, which they used to select Tom Scully first overall, and then used the No.2 pick to select now co-captain Jack Trengove.

Acting AFL chief Gill McLachlan said on Tuesday the league had reviewed McLean's comments in his television interview.

"The AFL has resolved that this matter will be addressed by the General Manager of Football Operations, Adrian Anderson," McLachlan said. AFL HQ speak for we will cover this one up don't you worry.

http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8508385

Tanking Exists in the AFL weather you like to believe it or not..... Your footballing operations can cover up all they want, it exists time to own up..

[justanotherleaguefan]

Lets see the spin they try and put on this

[Xman]

Please show me where they planned deliberate losses...

NFI

[King-Eliagh]

Clear as day, the jury has spoken, case closed on this one. We have those in the know, insiders completely owning up and admitting what happened. Then we have some douchebag fan who goes by the name of 'Xman' pretending its not true.

Who would you believe?

[Xman]

Clear as day, the jury has spoken, case closed on this one. We have those in the know, insiders completely owning up and admitting what happened. Then we have some douchebag fan who goes by the name of 'Xman' pretending its not true.

Who would you believe?

Where did he say that Melbourne deliberately lost games?

Insert quote here: "............................."

Otherwise shut your girly little mouth. :D

[piesman2011]

In my opinion tanking happens. The key is to not include extra draft picks for getting less then a certain amount of wins (which they have already done) and the second thing I would do was make it a lottery with the bottom 5 sides all having an equal chance to get the number 1 draft pick. I like the idea of a lottery system for the first pick but most people dont like the idea.

[eelofwest]

In my opinion tanking happens. The key is to not include extra draft picks for getting less then a certain amount of wins (which they have already done) and the second thing I would do was make it a lottery with the bottom 5 sides all having an equal chance to get the number 1 draft pick. I like the idea of a lottery system for the first pick but most people dont like the idea.

I think your idea is the only way to stop teams tanking. =D>

I have said this before, the draft system does not work. It could work in the future with some fine tweeking but as it stands it is a terrible System for distributing talent across the league, not only for the players and there family's but it also promotes tanking.

NRL stay away from this mess please.

[piesman2011]

In my opinion tanking happens. The key is to not include extra draft picks for getting less then a certain amount of wins (which they have already done) and the second thing I would do was make it a lottery with the bottom 5 sides all having an equal chance to get the number 1 draft pick. I like the idea of a lottery system for the first pick but most people dont like the idea.

I think your idea is the only way to stop teams tanking. =D>

I have said this before, the draft system does not work. It could work in the future with some fine tweeking but as it stands it is a terrible System for distributing talent across the league, not only for the players and there family's but it also promotes tanking.

NRL stay away from this mess please.

I think the system is good is some ways and not so good in other ways. Is it fair that the Broncos get all of the best talent in the NRL with the zone system and for Souths to miss out (correct me if I am wrong). AFL had the zone system in the 70's I believe and a team like Hawthorn ended up with some awsome picks that ended up winning them a lot of premierships. TLPG would know more on this. Perhaps with the introduction a much more national comp with 8 teams now outside Victoria it is time to consider special consideration for some locals who want to play in their state. Of course the AFL do offer about 850 people the oppotunity to play sport professionally with an average wage soon to be 350K per year so thats pretty good.

[TLPG]

Oh for crying out LOUD!!

What Melbourne did in 2009 was NOT tanking! It was experimentation. If Brock Maclean didn't like that, then that's his decision - but even he acknowledged that it was NOT tanking! He just didn't like the experimentation going on - and this is a beat up by the media as it was before when Bailey admitted to the experimentation.

Such things have been going on for years. They do it in the NRL as well. Once a club knows they can't make the finals, they'll experiment in preparation for the next season. It goes for all team sport and there's nothing wrong with it. If Maclean didn't like it, then frankly he's in the wrong game.

[Xman]

Oh for crying out LOUD!!

What Melbourne did in 2009 was NOT tanking! It was experimentation. If Brock Maclean didn't like that, then that's his decision - but even he acknowledged that it was NOT tanking! He just didn't like the experimentation going on - and this is a beat up by the media as it was before when Bailey admitted to the experimentation.

Such things have been going on for years. They do it in the NRL as well. Once a club knows they can't make the finals, they'll experiment in preparation for the next season. It goes for all team sport and there's nothing wrong with it. If Maclean didn't like it, then frankly he's in the wrong game.

Exactly. Playing youth and experimenting is a commonly used strategy used in many sports to advance the development of a team that is realistically not in contention for the finals. This didn't suite Brock because he wanted to play his own game. What's hilarious is that he is claiming he left for these reasons yet he went to a team that used exactly the same strategies!

[King-Eliagh]

Problem is in the NRL and youth comps around the world teams dont get that special bonus for coming last, or as TLPG and Xman call it 'experimenting'

TLPG and Xman - the unfortunate owners of a pair of bosoms where their eyes should be

[Xman]

Problem is in the NRL and youth comps around the world teams dont get that special bonus for coming last, or as TLPG and Xman call it 'experimenting'

TLPG and Xman - the unfortunate owners of a pair of bosoms where their eyes should be

The priority pick no longer exists anyway so the point is mute. But developing your list by experimenting is not deliberately losing.

[eelofwest]

The AFL will interview Carlton's Brock McLean over the former Melbourne player's allegations that the Demons were tanking for draft picks in 2009.

McLean said on Monday night that he had left the Demons because circumstances at the club in the second half of the 2009 season didn't sit well with him.

"They don't call it tanking; we would call it 'experimenting' or whatever it was," McLean told FoxFooty's On The Couch program on Monday night.

"It just went against everything I was taught as a kid, taught as a footballer and as a person."

McLean said even "Blind Freddy" would have been able to see that Melbourne weren't doing everything they possibly could to win games late in the 2009 season, a year in which they finished last with a 4-18 win-loss record.

The Dean Bailey-coached Demons received a priority pick at the national draft, which they used to select Tom Scully first overall, and then used the No.2 pick to select now co-captain Jack Trengove.

Acting AFL chief Gill McLachlan said on Tuesday the league had reviewed McLean's comments in his television interview.

"The AFL has resolved that this matter will be addressed by the General Manager of Football Operations, Adrian Anderson," McLachlan said. AFL HQ speak for we will cover this one up don't you worry.

http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8508385

Tanking Exists in the AFL weather you like to believe it or not..... Your footballing operations can cover up all they want, it exists time to own up..

Xman are you blind freddy?

McLean said even "Blind Freddy" would have been able to see that Melbourne weren't doing everything they possibly could to win games late in the 2009 season, a year in which they finished last with a 4-18 win-loss record.

[TLPG]

You're Blind Freddy, Eel, and so is KE. You don't know the difference between experimentation and actual tanking.

[eelofwest]

You're Blind Freddy, Eel, and so is KE. You don't know the difference between experimentation and actual tanking.

AFL unable to act on McLean tanking claims.

http://www.bigfootynews.com/2012/07/AFL ... ing-claim/



That is right they cant act because its true....

The AFL has put itself in a bind regarding tanking. Anderson’s statements in the middle of last year meant that tanking would not be looked at in cases up to and including the 2009 debacle.

If the AFL was to investigate the allegations against Melbourne, they would have to investigate other clubs. There’s the 2007 ‘Kreuzer Cup’ in Round 22 between Carlton and Melbourne. Terry Wallace ‘doing nothing’ in 2007. Efforts by Hawthorn and Collingwood in early 2000s and West Coast putting players in for early surgeries when it was clear the season was shot are all other examples of tanking.

The Collingwood example saw them gain Scott Pendlebury and Dale Thomas, cornerstones of their current side. Reports were made at the time of many of these allegations and even Brendan Fevola’s new book makes mention of the tanking at Carlton. Yet the AFL have only investigated one case of the offence.

If it is a crime, then Melbourne have to be punished. Since the tanking year in 2009, Melbourne have not made the finals. The club has gone backwards in a year of both on-field and off-field hell.

The supporter base is completely demoralised; one look at the comments on the official Melbourne Facebook page after yet another loss shows that. Recent history has compounded into a season of hell. The two Melbourne jumper sponsors are short-term after the EnergyWatch scandal. For the AFL to add to this might even put the club’s existence at risk.
Many supporters seeing, say, a loss of draft picks on top of five years of terrible performances might give up on the club for the time being. Memberships and merchandise sales would surely suffer.

Finally, what’s to be gained from such a punishment? The coach of 2009 has been sacked. The then-president of Melbourne is a legend among the eyes of many Melbournians and not just supporters of the Demons, and dragging his name through the mud since his passing is a sure-fire way to come under attack from the mainstream media.

It’s too much of a risk to the AFL for them to go after Melbourne. A quiet word to clubs, saying that the party is over and if you’ve got people who come out and say this again, we will punish you, will be the way to go.

Otherwise the last decade of AFL football will forever be tarnished by the actions of various clubs over the years.

Hey Blind Freddy can you see it yet......