Draft tanking?

[Dry Rot]

All this tanking talk made me wonder about another type of possible tanking and dodgy draft dealings - the young players being drafted.

Does this scenario happen often?

Say a young player is spotted by a club when he is 15 or 16 - looks very promising.

He wants to play for that club too. Perhaps the young player and the club are in the same non-Victorian state. The player wants to remain close to family and friends and the club makes the judgement that the player will go in the first round of the draft. The club's problem is that they are usually say a successful top 6 club and the young gun will be gone by their pick.

So they do a quiet deal that the player will play poorly in the season or two before the draft and the club picks the player with a late first round pick or even better, a later pick.

Does this happen often? Is it individual tanking too?

[GVGjr]

I think if you ask any player if they tank games the answer would be no and a stern no.
The coaches will say the politically correct response which will be a firm no.

Coaches know the score, if they aren't a chance to make the finals they will send off players for operations that could otherwise be deferred if finals were pending. They will also play some of the younger group to prepare them for the following season.
Is that tanking? Of course not.

If the coach is just dropping players to minimise the chance of the team winning then he is in effect tanking the game.

The way to fix this is remove the priority pick as an option and create the opportunity of anyone of the bottom 4 teams having the first pick in the pre-season draft.
This should be weighted heavily towards the team that finished last but it would make sure that a team cannot use the trade period to hold a gun to other teams heads.

I think any team that has been caught tanking should be banned from the 1st and 2nd rounds of the draft for two years but getting that evidence would be near on impossible.

[hujsh]

Hmmm. If the Bulldogs said, "Nathan, we think you are a gun and we really want you at our club. Now to ensure you get there you may need to ease up on the pedal and might have to answer some questions badly." I would be tempted but most likely would decide not to to avoid messing with my future.

Now i try to say this with modesty but many other people may not as smart as me and might just do as they're told without a second thought. But as a 16yr old that is how i think.

[Sockeye Salmon]

It's not quite the same, but in 1995 it was made public that Port would be entering the comp in 96. A number of South Australian draftees elected not to nominate for the draft after receiving a promise from Port that they would take them the following year as concessional picks. Some of the players included Tredrea, Lade and our very own Nathan Eagleton.

Somehow this wasn't draft tampering.

[hujsh]

It's not quite the same, but in 1995 it was made public that Port would be entering the comp in 96. A number of South Australian draftees elected not to nominate for the draft after receiving a promise from Port that they would take them the following year as concessional picks. Some of the players included Tredrea, Lade and our very own Nathan Eagleton.

Somehow this wasn't draft tampering.

Anything that helps the AFL look good is legal

[wimberga]

Interesting theory Dry Rot.

It seems a little farfetched, but then again, this sport is run by a Stooge!

Not sure something would happen like this, but im sure that some clubs would try and encourage players to downplay there value.

[Dry Rot]

Interesting theory Dry Rot.

It seems a little farfetched, but then again, this sport is run by a Stooge!

Not sure something would happen like this, but im sure that some clubs would try and encourage players to downplay there value.

I suppose my point is this: the recent Carlton allegations are that they were really a side that should have finished say 14th or 15th not 16th. They finished 16th because they allegedly played badly (ie coaching decisions and the teams that were picked).

IMO this isn't that different to young player who should go say around pick #10 who deliberately plays badly so he goes at pick #20 or 30 to his preferred club.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Why don't we tell Ayce Cordy to play basketball for a year

[FrediKanoute]

Happens less now than it did previously I think. I think in the early days of the draft there was still a hangover from the old days of recruiters hiding players in the bush so that they could swoop, leon Cameron is one example where in the sason before he was drafted he killed it in the warnambool league but never once made the bests.......

I think it was the Chalmers case which really made clubs sit up and take notice. Chalmers wanted to come to Collingwood and stated that he would enter the draft, but would only play for Collingwood so if any other side drafted him he would stand out of footy. The AFL took a tough stand and Chalmers eventually ended up at Colllingwood but was a dud!

In terms of a player actually putting in sub-par performances, I think its unlikely to happen with younger guys, but more of a problem with mature players. Lets take Judd as an example. He had a pretty awful year, is injured a fair bit, there are rumours circulating that the eagoles med's can't fix his prblems etc. He then announces he wants to go home, yep every Vic club circles, but there were some who were only in it as a demonstration of ambition rather than wanting Judd. his injuries, performances etc impacted his value somewhat. A Brownlow medal Judd would have had all 9 Vic clubs circling with intent.

[Mofra]

Have we done the same in the past?
Easton Wood played little footy at a level the draft watchers would rarely spot him, given we had been in contact with him during the season was he "warehoused" by Clayton?

[Sockeye Salmon]

It was very common in the old zoning days that kids gave the wrong address so they could be tied to another club.

My cousin was Keenan Reynolds partner some years ago. He lived in Werribee which would have zoned him to Geelong. He was an Essendon supporter and his grandmother lived in Moonee Ponds. He put is address down as his grandmothers address and hey presto! he's off to Essendon (who prompty gave him the flick and he came to us).