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Richmond coach Terry Wallace looks on during a Richmond training session at Punt Road Oval, Melbourne. Slattery Images
Dean Bailey is resigned to six weeks of speculation, Eddie McGuire demands change, Chris Newman is rapt to have Trent Cotchin as a team-mate and John Worsfold just wants Chris Judd back.
Comments from former Richmond coach Terry Wallace about the round 22, 2007 loss to St Kilda predictably fuelled debate on Wednesday about priority draft picks and whether clubs “tank” to gain them.
Richmond lost that game by 10 points and that meant they gained a priority pick, which they used to recruit Cotchin.
Wallace said the Tigers coaching staff felt it was a no-win situation for them.
He insists Richmond did not tank the game, but also admits the coaching staff let the game run its course with minimal moves from them.
“I’m not angry about it but I’m probably a little disappointed,” Newman, now the Richmond captain, said of Wallace’s comments.
“… It’s a little bit disappointing but what can you do? It’s two years ago and Terry did a lot of great things around the club so to focus on that would be probably unfair.
“Trent Cotchin’s a quality player and we lost that game and the circumstances were we were able to pick him up in the draft, so I’m thankful that Trent’s at the club.”
Collingwood president McGuire seized on Wallace’s comments, saying it was time to end priority picks.
“The AFL know about it. It was good that Terry came out and said it as far as at least being open about it,” he said.
“I think there’s been a rather large elephant in the room for a long time regarding that.
“We’ve made it clear in the past that we think priority picks are not that helpful and the sooner we get back to having an unencumbered draft and salary cap the better it is for everybody.
“We’re about to go into a huge upheaval with the new teams coming into the competition … we think that priority picks should go the way of the dodo.”
Melbourne have three wins, or 12 premiership points, so far this season and will gain a priority pick if they finish the season on no more than 16 points.
Bailey, the Melbourne coach, is intent on sticking to his development of the young Demons side and weathering the constant tanking talk.
“We’re accepting the discussion is going to happen externally, it’s not going to change what we do,” Bailey said.
“We’ve been pretty honest with it, but we’ve been very direct with where we intend to go.
“Those discussions are going to happen anyway – they just are – until either changes are made at the end of the year or discussions to improve the system (take place).
“You can only deal with what you’ve got.”
West Coast are another club who could gain a priority pick this year, only three years after the premiership.
Asked about this debate, Worsfold sarcastically replied: “yeah, abolish the draft and abolish the salary cap.
“But it’s an integral part of the way the competition is run.
He also noted they would probably have a lot more wins had Judd not gone to Carlton.
“Give us Chris Judd back and there’s no issue, we wouldn’t be in this position,” he said.
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