TANKING…PUT A LID ON IT!!
June 26th 2008 01:30
Perceptions can be a dangerous thing. Particularly when sad, lonely little men start to believe there own dribble and begin prophesising that things are actually more than mere perception. This is the case with tanking and the annual sook fest that is now associated with it. Since the inception of the Bryce Gibbs cup two years ago in a game that ended drawn between two clubs knowing not how to win, there has been constant speculation that AFL clubs have deliberately looked for ways to win as few games as possible in the latter half of a season so as to improve the position it will find itself in the draft order. This is ludicrous. Yes the perception can be attained, but so to can the reality that a side in this position is doing as it always has, heightening its chance for success in the season immediately following – not a season three years down the track, not a season five years into the future as certain scribes would have you believe. In the modern game, a team that can’t qualify for September action has inevitably put players in for surgery before the end of the year so as to allow them a full pre season, and thus the best chance of having a good season the next year. How often do you hear the line “he’s got his first full pre-season under his belt” in reference to a player having a breakout year? Adam Cooney anyone?! A full pre season is crucial to a player having a good consistent season, not a side effect of tanking.
These muck rakers want change so that the perception can no longer exist, but the perception is only evident because they need a headline, they need to be seen as passionate and in touch with the game. In this instance however, they are proving themselves to be nothing more than hanger-onners with ulterior motives. The only logical change would be a lottery system as used in United States professional sport but this would still reward the bottom sides as they have more chances at getting the higher draft picks and the perception could still be imagined by the aforementioned hacks when it comes time to put there name in lights. And to make a change robs clubs of the chance to rebuild there list in the way that St Kilda, Hawthorn, Carlton and the Western Bulldogs have. Richmond and Melbourne of course have had that chance and have wasted there opportunities which as a result shows further the nonsense that is the discussion of tanking. Say there was a lottery and by fluke, Hawthorn got the number one pick, Carlton the second and the Western Bulldogs third. The worst two teams outside the top three picks which makes a mockery of the entire system, much more than any perceived perception of trying to lose.
Regardless of pick, you still have to have good recruiters and developmental staff. Geelong’s powerhouse team at the moment is built largely on players taken outside the top ten, Sydney continued success also lies away from priority picks. The system is fine, and with the two new franchises set to enter the competition and subsequently affect future drafts hugely, teams like Melbourne and Fremantle will need every assistance they can get in climbing out of the mire and should not be castigated for tanking when they are simply not good enough.
And one more point in all of this. Daniel Kerr is rested and West Coast are tanking, Anthony Rocca plays and gets injured and Collingwood shouldn’t have allowed him to play. Double standards anybody?! Watch Dean Cox at some point and tell me he’s not playing injured. He can hardly run and his ankle is padded enormously to protect him from further damage to an injury incurred earlier in the season, but when he inevitably goes in for early surgery later in the year, will the tanking calls reverberate around the Melbourne media? Of course they will because player welfare is apparently inconsequential in the quest for a draft pick, which by its very nature remains speculative. This is the one club who I want to see involved in a tanking furore because if anyone will not have a bar of it, it is Woosha. Hopefully some defamation is seriously threatened and this garbage masquerading as journalism and editorial can be put to bed.
These muck rakers want change so that the perception can no longer exist, but the perception is only evident because they need a headline, they need to be seen as passionate and in touch with the game. In this instance however, they are proving themselves to be nothing more than hanger-onners with ulterior motives. The only logical change would be a lottery system as used in United States professional sport but this would still reward the bottom sides as they have more chances at getting the higher draft picks and the perception could still be imagined by the aforementioned hacks when it comes time to put there name in lights. And to make a change robs clubs of the chance to rebuild there list in the way that St Kilda, Hawthorn, Carlton and the Western Bulldogs have. Richmond and Melbourne of course have had that chance and have wasted there opportunities which as a result shows further the nonsense that is the discussion of tanking. Say there was a lottery and by fluke, Hawthorn got the number one pick, Carlton the second and the Western Bulldogs third. The worst two teams outside the top three picks which makes a mockery of the entire system, much more than any perceived perception of trying to lose.
Regardless of pick, you still have to have good recruiters and developmental staff. Geelong’s powerhouse team at the moment is built largely on players taken outside the top ten, Sydney continued success also lies away from priority picks. The system is fine, and with the two new franchises set to enter the competition and subsequently affect future drafts hugely, teams like Melbourne and Fremantle will need every assistance they can get in climbing out of the mire and should not be castigated for tanking when they are simply not good enough.
And one more point in all of this. Daniel Kerr is rested and West Coast are tanking, Anthony Rocca plays and gets injured and Collingwood shouldn’t have allowed him to play. Double standards anybody?! Watch Dean Cox at some point and tell me he’s not playing injured. He can hardly run and his ankle is padded enormously to protect him from further damage to an injury incurred earlier in the season, but when he inevitably goes in for early surgery later in the year, will the tanking calls reverberate around the Melbourne media? Of course they will because player welfare is apparently inconsequential in the quest for a draft pick, which by its very nature remains speculative. This is the one club who I want to see involved in a tanking furore because if anyone will not have a bar of it, it is Woosha. Hopefully some defamation is seriously threatened and this garbage masquerading as journalism and editorial can be put to bed.
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