AFL's expansion plans kill tanking * Jon Ralph
* Herald Sun
* February 10, 2010 TANKING is dead for the next two seasons, with this year's wooden-spooner potentially ending up with a pick as low as No. 6 in November's national draft.
The incentive to lose games for a better draft order has vanished, the victim of the league's expansion plans rather than AFL interference.
Despite high-level discussions to tighten eligibility for the priority pick, the bonus selection will remain this year at No. 4 in the draft.
But Melbourne is the only club eligible for a first-round priority pick, as it was the only side that won four games or fewer last year.
The Gold Coast has first-round picks 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 and the first pick of every subsequent round in the draft.
If the Demons replicated last year's horror season, they would receive selections four and six in the draft, with the Gold Coast locked into picks one, two and three.
The draft has already been weakened by Gold Coast having had access to the best 12 17-year-olds, making it a poor time to rebuild through the draft.
Richmond, Fremantle and Melbourne are equal $4 favourites for this year's wooden spoon, followed by North Melbourne at $5.
A group chaired by AFL executive Andrew Dillon and football operations manager Adrian Anderson reviewed the priority pick late last year.
They considered pushing the two-year qualifying period to three years or leaving it to the AFL's discretion before deciding priority picks would stay, but not as a pre-draft selection.
Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse last week again called for their abolition, saying the league had its "head in the sand" on priority picks.
Melbourne took player experimentation to new levels last year, with its approach ultimately rewarded with the first two picks, which it used to draft Tom Scully and Jack Trengove.
But AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou condoned the Dees' approach, saying speculation about the experimentation was "absolutely disgraceful".
The Herald Sun's Issues Survey of more than 5000 people last month showed 70 per cent believe clubs deliberately lose games to get better draft picks.
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