This article (on Carlton) sums it up the tanking talk. Round 22 between Carlton and Melbourne will be interesting.
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Drop priority pick
Herald-Sun
July 11, 2007 12:00am
THE AFL did its best to slice and dice the carrot dangling in front of struggling clubs.
But amid the scraps, a monster has emerged. A vegie on steroids.
The giant carrot is the priority pick, the controversial reward for stuffing up a season.
Carlton is eye-balling it right now. Surely, it is too tempting to pass up.
Under new priority rules, the Blues are assured pick No. 1 in the national draft if they fail to win another game.
If the ladder positions stay the same, they will gleefully take a priority choice before the first round and then enjoy pick No. 4 as well.
The Blues desperately need a ruckman. Standout No. 1 prediction Matthew Kreuzer just happens to be a 199cm gun.
And two picks in the top five would be an opportunity to continue a Hawthorn-like rebuild.
A 0-8 record until the end of the season would ensure the Blues have three prized No. 1 picks on their list: midfielders Marc Murphy and Bryce Gibbs and maybe Kreuzer.
Throw in another kid at No. 4 to go with other early picks such as Andrew Walker and Josh Kennedy, and suddenly supporters have something to believe in.
Are one or two meaningless wins late in the season worth losing a chance to pick up Kreuzer or someone else at No. 1? No.
Denis Pagan is coaching for his life and will be intent on winning as many as possible, but you couldn't blame those in the Blues' head office for hoping for two months of development and honourable losses.
The fans are on to it, too. Talk to any educated Carlton supporter and they like the idea of picks 1 and 4.
Quite simply, supporters are now saying it's worth the pain. Winning six or seven is a waste of time, they say.
And that is a real shame. A huge problem for the AFL.
Once you have fans barracking against their own side, it stinks.
This year, there's been so much talk about other issues hurting the AFL "brand".
All the debate about "tanking" is just as damaging as the off-field indiscretions. It pulls at the fabric of the competition.
It is time for another serious look at the priority system.
If the Blues get the No. 1 pick this year after finishing above Richmond and Melbourne, good on them.
But they should be the last of the lucky losers. The AFL must scrap all priority picks - before or after the first round.
Yes, there would still be a "reward" for finishing last and taking No. 1 pick, but there would be no more giant carrots.
The AFL took a step in the right direction when it toughened qualification for a priority pick at the start of the first round.
The criterion is simple: If you win four games or fewer in successive years, you are entitled to a prized priority pick before the first round.
Any other team that wins four games or fewer in a single season now has the chance of a priority pick at the end of the first round.
But the Blues are the first side with the chance to grab that big prize since the rule change.
In making it available only after two bad years, it's a matter of taking it while you can. Such chances rarely come around now.
The AFL, unwittingly, has created a massive incentive. Talk about tanking won't go away for weeks.
Imagine the chatter if the Blues still haven't won another game by the time they come up against fellow straggler Melbourne in Round 22.
There's every chance it will be dubbed the match no one wants to win.
That can't be good for the "brand".
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22053679-11088,00.html
