This isn't on the net so I scanned it in. It's Malthouse view on tanking...
Stamp out priority draft picks to banish tanks from the grounds
By MICK MALTHOUSE
SAT 11 JUL 2009, The Australian, Page 47
IT's time for the ugliest word in football to rear its head again.
The top sides have September on their minds; the middling outfits are focused on that, too, but down at the bottom of the ladder, it's priority draft picks and next year that are starting to becomes the issues.
Allegations of tanking -- the word the AFL doesn't want you to hear -- are about to be in the news again.
What a shame.
Last week was a definitive round for a lot of clubs for a lot of reasons. We hoped for and got a great game between St Kilda and Geelong, but we were surprised by a blowout between the Bulldogs and Hawthorn.
The other results were reasonably predictable and now we have a handful of sides who are approaching the mathematical reality of not making the eight.
Where do they head?
There was an interesting comment made during the week by Terry Wallace when he was asked about coaching and whether he had coached to lose games.
Terry said he coached every game, but he didn't necessarily make moves in every game towards the end of the year. He basically said that he let the game run out.
Every coach knows you cannot tell players to play at half-pace; it is just not on. A coach can, if he wants, move players to a position where they are less effective. If a coach doesn't make moves at all, then you let players run their own game and will find they are against multiple opponents who are coming off the interchange.
I can't be certain, but I interpret Terry's comments to mean that Richmond, at the time he was speaking of, was not necessarily unhappy to lose a game of football if it meant a better draft pick.
Terry is a great coach and if he did allow this to occur, I would suspect he was under some pressure, or maybe it is just the invidious position clubs are put in when they know that a win will be more costly than a loss. Maybe I have misinterpreted his comments altogether.
The fact remains, however, that Melbourne, Richmond, North Melbourne, Fremantle and West Coast find themselves in a position where they can get priority draft choices should things go a certain way for the rest of the year.
I am in no way suggesting that they will, but the reality is that there are priority draft choices for clubs who keep under a maximum number of wins for the season and you cannot stop the perception, if not reality, that there is an inducement to underperform.
John Worsfold has just re-signed with West Coast, a side that has lost 18 consecutive games on the road. I listened to him speak recently and he suggested they have a young side and the plan is to nurture them through to a mature group.
The Eagles won a premiership by nurturing young players through so the reasoning is very sound, but we are rarely dealt the same hand as coaches.
John would dearly love to find that he had a young Chris Judd, Daniel Kerr, Ben Cousins and Dean Cox on his list again. Collectively, they were one of the best midfield groupings ever, but it is unlikely he will be that lucky again.
John now has to go through his list and find out who can fill the key positions. He has an exciting prospect in Nick Naitanui.
Fremantle has been in the building process for a number of years and it has a coach who has been more than patient. The Dockers lose games when they are in front, which they did at home last week, and this is part of a learning process, but now the young players have to learn how to win or they will continue to learn how not to win.
North Melbourne and Richmond are both operating under caretaker coaches. This pair are the intriguing ones because I dare say that whoever inherits these sides will be hoping that neither of them win too many more games so they can get the best possible draft picks.
The caretaker coaches, of course, will not want this to happen; they will want to win every possible game to enhance their career prospects. I suspect a taste of senior coaching will be addictive to both these men and they will not want to go back to being assistants.
Melbourne won last week in a tribute to Jim Stynes, but it has to keep winning -- the team cannot be allowed to continue without showing signs of improvement.
The club has been in the wilderness for several years and has not made inroads on the ladder. While it was wonderful they did it for Jim, you wonder why they have not been able to motivate themselves to such a performance earlier. They showed on the weekend they are capable of doing it.
All these sides will be aware that the Gold Coast is coming in and Western Sydney after that. The best 12 17-year-olds are already out of the draft and the draft is already compromised, but there are still priority picks available.
The talk will start very soon about which clubs have decided to pursue these last picks. I know this upsets the AFL and they deny it happens.
The last thing the AFL needs is people saying or thinking that sides may go into a match not wanting to win.
You would never hear of tanking, whether it happens or not, if priority picks did not exist.
A side should never need to bottom out to rise again and good clubs can always rebuild themselves without this help.
Football should not be in the position where in round 15 the talk of tanking and priorities starts again. It is unsavoury, a blight on the game and totally avoidable. Get rid of priority picks and you will get rid of this ugly allegation and this unseemly suspicion.
