Did we step into some sort of football twilight zone this week? How else to explain some of the fierce, fervent and dare we say, fake, debates that suddenly seemed to engulf the football industry over the past few days.
Issues that no-one even knew they cared about, like tanking, draft structure, fixture changes, and entire competition overhaul into conferences have dominated the TV talk shows, radio airwaves and social media, with breathless hot takes and opinions thrown around like confetti.
But let’s just slow down a bit. Does anyone in the public actually care? Or are they just pretending because they’ve been told to? Where has this all come from?
It is a panic and frenzy constructed to fix something that isn’t remotely broken, the latest in a long line of media-only issues. They are created to cure mid-season media ADHD, because the game itself, on the ground, is not enough for them, and they’re incapable of anything more than “fingernail-deep analysis” as Ross Lyon likes to call it.
Some of the conversations belong in the plotline of the next Alice in Wonderland, as journalist after ex-player wanders down the rabbit-hole with their rampant ideas for change.
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Is so-called tanking even really an issue? A lot of club supporters like the idea of a higher draft pick, but if their side is a poor one, they’re going to get that anyway. Does it really matter if it’s two, three or four?
Ask delirious Carlton fans in the aftermath of their last-gasp win over Port if they’d be happier sacrificing those emotions for a higher position in a draft taking place six months down the track, to procure a player who may or may not have an impact at the club.
Ask those Blues supporters if they’d like to be stripped of the hope that Brendon Bolton has injected into every crevice of Princes Park that has followed five wins in six weeks, including a sterling victory over Geelong with two men down. Football is still about grit, tenacity and heart. Emotion as much as business.
Does anyone doubt that Bolton and list manager Steven Silvagni are going to make good decisions for the future, once they are dealt their draft hand? That they’ll trade and draft with prudence and acumen, with the medium and long-term health of the club front of mind? And that it will be done so with the confidence and buoyancy of a winning culture and indomitable spirit being implemented?
Essendon and Fremantle are apparently playing for the number one draft pick this week. Will the winner be roundly disgraced and ridiculed? Or is it more likely that fans, players and club officials will celebrate after two months of lonely losses?
A handful of players may play in their first ever AFL win on the weekend. Do they deserve to have such a special memory sullied over a non-issue?
Yes, when clubs are out of finals contention they send players off early for end-of-season surgeries if they are required. Yes, they choose younger and inexperienced players to get a look at them under AFL heat.
This isn’t tanking, and anyone that calls it that is guilty of willful ignorance. It is nothing more than good business, and savvy list management.
Then we have to listen, bleary-eyed, to talk of draft lotteries. It should involve the bottom four only. Or the bottom six. Maybe bottom ten. It should be weighted this way. It should be structured that way. It should be held after a mid-season fixture re-structure.
But any change that is going to be weighted towards the bottom team, right? So if a club is going to ‘tank’ to get a certain number one pick in the current system, they’ll still do so when they are mathematically favoured to get it.
And in the event of a set of teams playing off for the number one pick, a club could still make a business decision to drop from struggling in a middle tier to dominate a lower one.
I’ve got an idea. It’s radical, but hear me out.
If you’re the worst team in the league and finish 18th, you should get the number one draft pick. If you’re the second-worst team in the league and finish 17th, you should get the number two draft pick. If you’re the third-worst team in the league and finish 16th, you should – wait for it – get the number three draft pick.
This would go all the way down until the premiership team gets the number one pick.
Then, and this is where it gets really tricky, the 18th-ranked team gets to pick again, and so on and so forth.
Now, that is a fair system. It is reasonable. It is proportional. It is practical.
The only thing it doesn’t have is enough bells and whistles to satisfy the bored dullards for whom the simple things in life are never enough, intent on pouring energy into fixing things that aren’t broken.
We’re not even halfway through the home-and-away season. We’re barely a third of the way through the football year. We’re witnessing the most even season of play in recent memory, and some of the most thrilling football too. Eight legitimate premiership chances. Fast play and high scoring.
There must be better things to talk about than nonsense solutions to non-existent problems.
Cameron Rose
Expert
Thanks Giddy. You make some terrific points, and you had me laughing out loud with your rant on Footy Classified. Gold!
Cameron Rose
Expert
Looking at Ross Lyon at quarter time last week, I just don't think we can say he doesn't care about losing. And Barlow has, at times, looked as slow as molasses in January. I don't have a problem with him going back. I respect your opinion, but I honestly don't believe they are disingenuous at all. As for those blights, I'll certainly agree with the Richmond one after last night. Although more coaching and development than recruiting I think...
Cameron Rose
Expert
I believe AFL fans do see all teams competing at their best, in terms of the 22 that take the field. That's all you can ask. The strategy around picking that 22 is good business for a side down the bottom in the second half of the season. It's not as if Freo are going to play Walters, Neale, Mundy, etc in the WAFL. Lyon will play with the side around the margins to see who can take the club forward, hopefully for a quick rise up the ladder.
Tricky
Guest
Hey Cam could you please forward this to Gillon?
jax
Guest
You might be right. I'm not defending him. I wouldn't have signed until the 2020. Last year I said they should have gone after Woosha on the quiet and if he accepted sack Lyon.
Don Freo
Guest
"Last week’s team still contained two-thirds of the guys playing regularly last season. That’s despite all the injuries." So, anon, you'd suggest he plays the injured players instead?
Don Freo
Guest
Only 11 of the current list were on the list under Mark Harvey of which only 6, if fit, would play in the first 22. The rest were developed, and stepped up to AFL level, under Ross. They became minor premiers last year. Keep trying Spucey.
Don Freo
Guest
You are certainly NOT trying to be objective regarding Ross. You have committed intellectual suicide.
Pumping Dougie
Guest
Very well said TomC. Tanking is an issue, but less than what it used to be since the abolition of priority picks and repeated failure of some clubs to turn their performances around. Nothing wrong with debating alternate systems so long as all the "what if scenarios" are comprehensively contemplated. And the blame for this unusually early discussion should reside with Ross Lyon. I can't recall another year where a high performing team from the previous year has so early in the season (round 4 or 5?) shown no concern about losing and openly strategised about shelving good players. Freo are adopting an Under 10s strategy of giving all the kids a go, rotating them through different positions and not over-playing the best players - even rotating some of them out (e.g. Barlow) to give the whole squad a turn. If anyone deserves criticism for this approach so early in the season, it's Fremantle Football Club and its head coach (who I like too, by the way Cam), not the media. They are operating counter to all competitive instincts and seem disengenuine about their season. Blight on the game contenders: - Ross Lyon (ugly game style and now 'taking the piss' out of the competition) - Lindsay Thomas - Carlton (perennial favorite) - James Hird (long term stain) - Travis Cloke (embarrassing) - Richmond recruitment team - Hutchy and Caro Rant, over and out. ?
Giddy
Guest
Bloody well said. I couldn't agree more. Since priority picks for winning less than 5 games went, it makes bugger all difference to tank. Melbourne chose Jack Watts over Natanui. Cotchin has been the better player in the famous Kruezer tank. It all means nothing. What I agree with most is your thoughts on the media. There is too much bullshit spoken, that no one actually cares about, yet somehow do because its on all the time. Footy Classified is the worst. It should be called Footy Gossip. They barely even talk about anything to do with actual football. It's all "is he really in the right headspace to lead the club", "is this such and such distracting him from his commitments blah blah. Its a bloody hairdressing salon
anon
Guest
Round 1: Near full strength team could only manage 1 goal in the first half against the Bulldogs. Round 2" Full strength team against a horrible Gold Coast side at Subiaco, found themselves down 5 goals at half time with no answer to Gold Coast's onslaught.
anon
Guest
Isn't Lyon paid $1 million per season and had his contract extended until 2020 to get those things right? The fact that an experience, 10 year senior coach in the AFL has made such a ham-fisted attempt at "evolving" the team's overall strategy and game plan shows he doesn't know what he's doing.
anon
Guest
"Freo isn’t tanking, the coach is using the year to experiment a bit (as you say, using the hand he has been dealt). Some of them are working e.g. the fluke that Crozier might actually be a better half back than a forward. Some aren’t and some kids can’t run out a game." Freo aren't 0-10 because of experimenting. He drops his c-graders like Dawson, Sutcliffe, Clarke, for a week then brings them back for the next game. He's not actually committing to playing young players. Last week's team still contained two-thirds of the guys playing regularly last season. That's despite all the injuries. The fact is when Freo had a near full strength team in round 1 they were uncompetitive against the Bulldogs. Only 1 goal by half time. When Freo had a FULL STRENGTH team at Subiaco against the horrible Gold Coast that can't travel, Freo still found themselves down 5 goals at half time with seemingly no answer to the Gold Coast onslaught. Lyon's team is simply plain awful, whether full strength or not.
Batman
Guest
I agree, it is an issue and Lyons disregard for this season has exacerbated the problem. Players DONOT tank but clubs DO. "It is nothing more than good business" This belief is not acceptable as AFL fans deserve to see all teams competing at their best, not preparing for next year. This is why tanking is outlawed although Clubs are clever enough to avoid being caught. While the lottery doesn't solve all issues the fundamental problem with the draft is that it rewards failure so improvements are a good idea.
spruce moose
Guest
His great H/A record is because he's never coached a side on the slide. I mean, how easy is to win games when you coach two sides where the previous coach built your lists for you!? His H/A record is taking a battering this year, and probably for two more years…if everyone thinks the rebuild is on. As a result, he’ll never have it at the levels he has it at now (or more accurately, had it at the start of 2016). Which means his ‘incredible’ H/A record will be fairly rank and file in a few season’s time. And he can’t use it as an excuse either, cause every single coach goes through it. So, darn mate, you’ve been screwed by your own bad logic. Shames.
jax
Guest
Take a closer look at them then Andy. Most people can see that they aren't tanking. Just look at their first game against the Dogs and the next few games after that. Did they start the season and have Pac go around again to tank?
spruce moose
Guest
@ Michael The reason why I chose not to mention Sydney is because a) the COLA warriors would go mental but more importantly; b) they adopt an usual strategy where they have to abide my market realities. They can't afford to bottom out (Sydney fans just STOP attending when they are unsuccessful). They pick teams designed to make the 8, but not necessarily be outright contenders. They never really set up for a period of dominance. To use a mountain analogy, they prefer to wait at a high base camp and make a short sharp jab at the summit. Other teams will go right back down, stock up and prepare themselves for a lengthy assault at the peak later. Sydney nab premierships, they don't set them up through years of draft picks and rising and falling.
andyl12
Guest
Hodge was not a priority pick, we traded a popular player to get him. Give ME a break.
Paul D
Roar Guru
Your COLA jibes are garbage Andy. Sydney have a culture that as a Lions fans I would love to see exist at my club. They will consistently be in and around the 8 for the next decade even without it. No handouts - Hodge and Roughhead not priority picks now? Give me a break.
Cat
Roar Guru
And now they have the imbalanced academy.