Fremantle players leave the field dejected after the AFL Round 21 match between the Hawthorn Hawks and the Fremantle Dockers at Aurora Stadium on August 21, 2010 in Launceston. Photo by Michael Willson/Slattery Media Group
At Aurora Stadium on Saturday afternoon, footy fans were supposed to be treated to a contest between two sides competing for a home final. What they got made a mockery of the term “contest” – an entirely one-sided affair that at no point looked like resulting in anything other than a Hawthorn win.
Even as far back as Thursday afternoon, when the team sheet of Hawthorn’s opponent Fremantle surfaced, it seemed very much fait accompli.
The Dockers had a whopping seven outs – all of them regular members of the team, including Matthew Pavlich and David Mundy – with an eighth player pulling out before the game. It worked out that at least twelve of the best 22 were absent (and that’s supposed to be a conservative estimate).
There’s nothing wrong with giving first-year players like Anthony Morabito and Nat Fyfe a rest late in the season. Resting a player with a niggling injury at this time of year also makes some sense.
But this was so much more than just resting the odd player – it was a conceding of defeat, a white flag, a sign the club had something more important on its mind than four points.
Above all it was farcical. The Hawks won by 116 points. They were up by as many as 130 at one stage. Freo had one goal to three quarter-time.
The AFL shouldn’t sit back and stay silent on this.
The afternoon harked back to previous seasons where there’s been the suspicion of “tanking” among lower sides in contention for priority draft picks.
While there are some differences between what happened in Launceston and what we’ve seen in recent years, it remains that the four points were not at the top of Fremantle’s priorities last week.
That alone conjures up images of Melbourne players playing ridiculously out of position at the end of last season. Or of Carlton appointing Brett Ratten as coach despite him losing all six games during his time as caretaker (how Matthew Primus would love a similar run). Or of Terry Wallace deciding to sit back and, in his own words, “just let the boys play” during Richmond’s final-round 2007 loss to St Kilda.
It should be remembered that tanking is a strong word that is very much open to interpretation. However, there is a common theme among all of the above examples and, whatever you choose to call it, it’s ugly.
All the examples strike at the very integrity of the competition. North Melbourne cannot play finals because of Saturday’s result. Results involving lower teams can also effect the ladder.
Even then, broadcasters pay good money to show these games. Thousands of supporters fork out their hard-earned to see them. Some Freo supporters, particularly, would’ve paid across-the-country airfares.
The strangest thing about what happened Saturday afternoon is that had Freo won, they’d now be sitting equal on points with the rapidly disintegrating Western Bulldogs and thus in contention for fourth spot and a second chance. Instead, they face the very real possibility of it all not being worth it.
Carlton will still test them this weekend. Beyond that, it’s possible such a demoralising loss will have a negative effect.
Who knows?
Mark Harvey has used Saturday afternoon to make a statement about the extra travel burden for West Australian clubs and the prevalence of six-day breaks in their fixture. And that’s fine, anything to improve equality in the fixture is a vote-winner in my books.
But it’s time for the AFL to make a statement of their own. They need to let it be known that treating a game of AFL football the way Fremantle did over the weekend is unacceptable.
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