Can I get your thoughts on this?
Yesterday was the first time in a long time that I had a chance to go watch my beloved Tigers and I chose to do something else. I really enjoy going to the footy and even go interstate sometimes to do so.
I seriously think the AFL has a massive problem regarding the draft and the way the picks are worked out. Teams are rewarded for finishing near the bottom and with the priority selections even rewarded for finishing near the bottom in successive years.
I realise that is designed to even up the comp but really what it is doing is jeopardising the integrity of the competition.
Whether you are for or against ‘tanking’ the realisation is that it happens and will continue to happen until something is done to fix the problem. Personally I don’t blame teams for doing it because if the ‘powers that be of clubs’ didn’t take into account the future of the club they surely would be seen as negligent. Winning meaningless games when you are out of finals contention is just plain stupid imo when the system rewards losing.
Which brings me back to why I chose to do something else yesterday (get drunk) instead of going to the footy- it was round 13 and for me the season is well and truly over and all I can hope is we keep losing so we get better picks come draft day. Going to the footy and hoping your team looses is just not enjoyable to me and maybe others. The AFL must open up their eyes and see that this is hurting the game and people not turning up is not good for our game also.
This year more than ever with the new teams coming in, is vital to the lower clubs to try and get the best possible players to their clubs before the drafts are compromised.
The AFL need to work out a system so that all teams endeavour to win all games they play whether it’s round 1 or round 22, they need to still help the lower teams try and get more competitive but the game of AFL has to come first.
I personally think we should get rid of the priority picks, this would straight away take away a lot of the problems and clubs would have to maybe work a little harder to try and improve their lists. Also as some have talked about maybe have a raffle of the bottom 8 sides to determine the draft picking order. This would alleviate the temptation to try and finish last. So finishing ‘middle of the road’ is not a disadvantage also. (Tigers)
The AFL change rules every year for game day decisions but IMO have let this problem get worse and worse. It’s time the AFL has a real good look at the system in place or people like me will just decide to do other things on game day instead of going and barracking for our clubs if winning is hurting the club
long term!