AFL Corruption

[Gavstar]

The organisation who punished team wide doping suspensions by giving the team of dopes the number one draft pick is corrupt shock horror.

 

[Faz 2000]

It’s all about growing the reach of the game and getting a bigger tv rights deal.

That's what I'm saying. It's run as a business with business goals.

So far, I’ve been ambivalent about GWS and GC. They represent the corporatisation of our community owned game — that’s all. But not anymore. Those clubs are now a big reason why we’re still at the foot of the ladder. I hope they fold. I’ll be cheering every lost game and every finals exit they suffer. They are a disease on the competition.

I get this Carlton-centric rage, but the follow up question would be... to what end? What's YOUR vision of where the AFL should be heading? If you shut down GC and GWS... do you shutdown the Lions when their crowds dwindle? Wasn't long ago they were in all sorts either.

I think, if starting from scratch, with a magic wand, and national AFL would have:

1 x NT team
1 x Tassie team
1 x ACT team
2 x QLD teams
2-3 x NSW teams
2-3 x WA teams
2-3 x SA teams
4-5 x Vic teams

Distributed around the country, covering all bases, roughly by footy participation sort of ratios (I've done no research here, I'm just saying vaguely this would be "ideal").

But it's not starting from scratch. There's 100 of years of history to respect, but also to re-shape and re-imagine for the future. I live in Melbourne, follow a Melbourne team, born and raised in Carlton - but even I can see the AFL is too Melbourne-centric for a national comp. So to drive it towards that national competition vision, some decisions along the way that feel pretty shitty to us probably need to be made.

 

[Juddrockz]

Like it was mentioned on another thread,Gil doesn't want the top four victorian clubs taking over,given equalisation,that would probably happen.
Imagine Richmond,Collingwood,Carlton and Essendon the four powerhouse clubs holding up the ladder no other team would get a look in!
Apparently not good for footy??

 

[mjonc43]

Only the AFL supporter collective can rise up as one to throw these muppets out.

A Royal Commission into the last 6yrs would uncover some incredible stories of corruption I would tip.


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[gbatman]

The AFL has lost interest in keeping things equal.

Get rid of priority picks, replace them with Free agency. Robs from the poor and gives to the successful.

Player from 6th place team shows interest in going to a club 3rd last. A slight showing that maybe free agency might support lower clubs. Nope, Gil protests this happening then it doesn't happen.

A system that has massive rebuild timeframes for bottom sides.

We just need to make sure the AFL respect us. I'm not sure how we do that, years of playing the nice guy, or trying to has driven things backwards IMO. I don't know if Gil prevented Coniglio coming our way but if he did then we need to go out guns blazing to the press, tell the story and deliver a few blows in our favor.

We actually need to come out in the media and whinge a bit. We need to take a not from leaders at other clubs and make a bit of noise when the AFL cause things to go against us. Chris Scott, Jeff Kennett, Eddie McGuire. The AFL would be hesitant to make such a move against these clubs because it would spill all over the media. We need to make sure the media are a tool which protects us from the corruption of tha AFL. We need to play dirty if things are being played dirty against us.

The other area we need to deliver in is making sure we have the same concessions that GWS etc have. They get ambassador paid players, we will have to have ambassador players. If we can't get our way then it goes out in the media.

It's super obvious the AFL are against us as many posters have stated. Who knows why. Big players have moved from NSW and QLD clubs and nothing has been said but the moment one looks to move to Carlton. This looks like something rotten has happened.

We've done well with our drafting but hell, if the AFL haven't kept priority picks away from us. Brisbane and now GCS will probably get one while we have been down for so long.

I implore Carlton, play dirty. If we can, if we know things that will tarnish the AFL or Gil's and it is indeed true that they did intervene in the Coniglio thing then as soon as the draft is over let it all out. Make sure the AFL know that any form of corrupt movements against us will be made public. Then this sort of garbage might stop.

Just seems too many coincidences where things have gone against us over the Gil years and it just seems to be adding up a bit much. Maybe it's more about giving the new franchises more and that in turn has gone against us but it just seems to keep happening. I'm sure we are not the only club.

 

[teknodeejay]

Free agency. Robs from the poor and gives to the successful.

I think they were facing a player revolt if they didn't allow Free Agency, but you're right in terms of who it has benefited most.

 

[gbatman]

Like it was mentioned on another thread,Gil doesn't want the top four victorian clubs taking over,given equalisation,that would probably happen.
Imagine Richmond,Collingwood,Carlton and Essendon the four powerhouse clubs holding up the ladder no other team would get a look in!
Apparently not good for footy??

Possibly, but Carlton and Essendon have been bottom for what seems like forever. Do they want them to be bottom forever?

Having the most heavily supported clubs weak for so long is not good for footy. Thats a lot of people following this game being turned off the game because their team has been poor for 10+ years. And this is at the expense of trying to grow the game where there is no real interest.

Trying to impress 50,000 people while there are around 200,000 (probably a whole lot more) who are being turned off AFL.

I'm not against expansion but keeping sides down for so long is so bad for the clubs and the game and this is the competition that he has created.

Competition should be about letting bottom sides get to the top quickly and making it really hard to stay there. This is the problem, it's not. Teams get to the top and it's easy to stay there. Teams get to the bottom and it's a really long road back.

Quicker rotation of the ladder should be priority. No doubt these changes will come in once we rise to the top.

 

[FRUMPY]

Except that involved sacrifice from our end. Kennedy and pick 3.

Cognilio is already their player.....

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[FRUMPY]

People on here were laughing about the crows board and hawks board the last few days. This thread is just as embarrassing and laughable.

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[gbatman]

I think they were facing a player revolt if they didn't allow Free Agency, but you're right in terms of who it has benefited most.

It's ridiculous, the idea of a player revolt. The employees shouldn't run the company. This is how corruption breeds and things go bad.

I'm ok with free agency, I think the rules should be tweaked a bit to keep the top sides out of it. I'm not ok with the removal of things which give extra support to bottom sides.

 

[LanceRomance]

People on here were laughing about the crows board and hawks board the last few days. This thread is just as embarrassing and laughable.

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Go to any other board and ask if they think the AFL have been attempting to manipulate outcomes and see what they say.

 

[FRUMPY]

Go to any other board and ask if they think the AFL have been attempting to manipulate outcomes and see what they say.

'Oh but why are they always against Carlton?' it's hilarious. Them allowing Judd to Carlton with the Visy deal that got him to agree to play for us is worse than anything the AFL has done here. Yet we were ok with that.

So many bottom lips on the ground today, hilarious

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[Faz 2000]

I think they were facing a player revolt if they didn't allow Free Agency, but you're right in terms of who it has benefited most.

That's because of the way it was implemented. If the AFL had followed basically any other professional sports league in the world's model, the compensation would come from the team poaching the Free Agent rather than out of thin air, which then self-polices it. The problem with the boneheaded AFL model is Richmond can buy Lynch and it costs them no assets - so why wouldn't they? If in doing so it gutted their draft hand (like it should), it would give them pause for thought and they'd have to truly commit to win-now at later's expense.

Again, I think there's a overarching theme of the AFL trying to expand, modernise the game - which I think is fine and appropriate - but doing it in a stupid, half-assed way which is terribly frustrating.

I dunno if Gil's actions had anything at all to do with the Coniglio decision, but a Free Agent leaving a top club for a bottom club should be EXACTLY what Free Agency is about.

 

[LanceRomance]

'Oh but why are they always against Carlton?' it's hilarious. Them allowing Judd to Carlton with the Visy deal that got him to agree to play for us is worse than anything the AFL has done here. Yet we were ok with that.

So many bottom lips on the ground today, hilarious

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That was 12 years ago.

Both administrations have pretty much completely turned over and the circumstances are different.

 

[bigm386]

But it’s not a business. It’s not listed on the stock exchange. It’s a non-profit, community owned organization. It takes taxpayer money. It belongs to us.

We ought to be outraged at the way the competition is being run. Corporate values are not community values. We demand fairness and equitability. Corporations don’t give a s**t about that stuff, it’s just big fish eat little fish for them and to hell with everything else.

Just think about what’s been taken from our club over the last decade in the name of entering new markets:

• The draft concessions to GC and GWS pushed us a long way down the draft order at a time when we were rebuilding.
• Priority picks, intended to help struggling clubs climb off the canvas, suddenly disappeared when we needed them most.
• Free agency comes into play, giving rich, successful clubs a huge advantage over us.
• The AFL starts giving out ambassador money to free agents who might have joined us.
• Now, suddenly, priority picks reappear to push us down the draft order again, right when we need the help.

There’s no fairness here. It’s all about growing the reach of the game and getting a bigger tv rights deal. So far, I’ve been ambivalent about GWS and GC. They represent the corporatisation of our community owned game — that’s all. But not anymore. Those clubs are now a big reason why we’re still at the foot of the ladder. I hope they fold. I’ll be cheering every lost game and every finals exit they suffer. They are a disease on the competition.

I understand the frustration.

Am barracking for both Ben King and Jack Lukosius to ask for trades.

 

[Wickzki]

It's a wonder the AFL Commission hasn't branched out into used car sales.

Having worked in the industry (I was desperate for work at the time), this is an underrated post. Completely on point.

 

[outabounds]

I don't know a lot but I certainly know Gil is certainly the worst thing to happen to the AFL in 50 years, just a pathetic excuse for a leader who is way out of his depth. Only got the gig because he is about as close as we have in this country to a "ruling class". The very fact he is in the job is in itself an injustice to the sport.

 

[Wickzki]

• The draft concessions to GC and GWS pushed us a long way down the draft order at a time when we were rebuilding.
• Priority picks, intended to help struggling clubs climb off the canvas, suddenly disappeared when we needed them most.
• Free agency comes into play, giving rich, successful clubs a huge advantage over us.
• The AFL starts giving out ambassador money to free agents who might have joined us.
• Now, suddenly, priority picks reappear to push us down the draft order again, right when we need the help.

There’s no fairness here. It’s all about growing the reach of the game and getting a bigger tv rights deal. So far, I’ve been ambivalent about GWS and GC. They represent the corporatisation of our community owned game — that’s all. But not anymore. Those clubs are now a big reason why we’re still at the foot of the ladder. I hope they fold. I’ll be cheering every lost game and every finals exit they suffer. They are a disease on the competition.

Again, on point. Just wanted to point out how badly the compromised draft screwed us;

2010 compromised draft -- we needed a key position player -- we would have drafted 9th (finished 8th, lost first week of finals). We ended up drafting Matthew Watson. Pick 11 that year was Tom Lynch.

2011 compromised draft -- We drafted Bootsma at 22. We would have drafted 13th -- Taylor Adams, Devon Smith, Brandon Ellis were 13-15.

Imagine how much better we would be now if we had a Devon Smith as our small forward and a Lynch.

 

[agro]

As long as Ken Wood is examining GWS’s TPP with as much scrutiny and vigour as all the other 17 teams in the competition them I don’t have a problem.

 

[Loramarthalas]

'Oh but why are they always against Carlton?' it's hilarious. Them allowing Judd to Carlton with the Visy deal that got him to agree to play for us is worse than anything the AFL has done here. Yet we were ok with that.

So many bottom lips on the ground today, hilarious

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Those kinds of deals were extremely common. Every club was engaged in it. Remember when we tried to get Cloke and he suddenly scored a Channel 9 deal from Eddie? The difference here is that it’s the AFL stepping in — the body in charge of an equitable competition — and tampering with trades.

If you can’t see how this precedent is dangerous, then you’re seriously naive.

 

[FRUMPY]

Those kinds of deals were extremely common. Every club was engaged in it. Remember when we tried to get Cloke and he suddenly scored a Channel 9 deal from Eddie? The difference here is that it’s the AFL stepping in — the body in charge of an equitable competition — and tampering with trades.

If you can’t see how this precedent is dangerous, then you’re seriously naive.

What have they done? The extra money he is receiving from the AFL is under the same rules as about 15 other players and 2 AFLW players, extremely common.

 

[btdg]

It sucks but it isn’t corruption.

The AFL said they would protect and support the expansion teams. That was always going to happen at the expense of someone, and in these cases it tends to be the Victorian clubs at the bottom of the ladder who lose out. Unfortunately that’s us, but it’s also our fault we are where we are, and it’s our fault we haven’t got out of the abyss. Coniglio wasn’t changing that (and like Shiel and Smith probably wasn’t coming anyway).

The bigger question is why the AFL didn’t act previously - when Lynch and May left GC for example. Somehow they have allowed GC to flounder on and off field while offering all sorts of support to GWS

 

[The Grover]

Jarrod Waite zero compo pick

 

[DamianBis]

Again, on point. Just wanted to point out how badly the compromised draft screwed us;

Blaming the compromised draft takes a lot away from our incompetence. Remember we drafted Kane Lucas before Talia and traded a top 10 pick for Brock McLean

We probably would have picked up the same players we did even in an uncompromised draft.


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[Foucault1989]

This is some tin foil hat stuff. Some pretty out there statements here.

The reason we are in this position is not because of afl corruption, ambassador payments or draft manipulation - it is pure and simply because between 2007 - 2013 we drafted 2 - 3 AFL quality players. And when you look through all of those drafts there were better options available. We didn't have the best recruiters in place. In fact, I have heard we were one of the only clubs that did not conduct psychological assessments on potential draftees to get an understanding of their resilience.

Our former club officials, not the afl, are to blame. The context for Gold Coast in particular is so different to us in terms of difficulties retaining players. We are a big Melbourne club who play big games...we have an advantage over gws and gold coast on that basis alone.

Seriously if we want to get out of the lower end of the ladder we need good recruiting, good player development and clever trades for players like Newman, Setterfield, Marchbank and so forth. We do not, and never have, deserved a priority pick. Let's move on because this is embarrassing. If I was an opposition fan read this I'd be laughing at this childish "woe is me the afl are corrupt" rant.