The Warlord
RuSsIa iS BaD
- Aug 21, 2018
- 30,031
- 76,156
- AFL Club
- North Melbourne
North are now tanking for better draft position.
The evidence is now incontrovertible.
Dropping Polec against Adelaide, after playing him out position against Carlton early, one of the many indicators.
If we lose to Adelaide, pick 1 is back in the realms of possibility.
Strategically it makes perfect sense. With no home games or crowds we can't be slammed in the media and give the usual suspects in the media ammo for the awful crowds we'd get otherwise.
The key here is Brady Rawlings who is smart and ruthless. This was always a development year - trading for Melbourne's first and not re-signing a bunch of players shows we were always planning on a clean out of the list and hitting the draft hard.
The footy we played in the first two rounds shows we were taking the season seriously first up.
But once the slew of injuries hit, instead of doing what we previously do and fighting back late in the year to end up 10th instead of 16th makes no sense.
If we can finish the season with two top five picks (dependent on the Dees form) that supercharges the rebuild.
I reckon North are shamelessly tanking in plain sight and betting that in this "crazy season" it will fly under the radar.
Rawlings took gambles at West Coast with pick swaps that laid off handsomely.
To win flags you need high end talent that largely comes via high end draft picks.
We're tanking this "asterisk" year accordingly once it became plain that was the best way to improve our list.
But can and will anything be done about it?
The evidence is now incontrovertible.
Dropping Polec against Adelaide, after playing him out position against Carlton early, one of the many indicators.
If we lose to Adelaide, pick 1 is back in the realms of possibility.
Strategically it makes perfect sense. With no home games or crowds we can't be slammed in the media and give the usual suspects in the media ammo for the awful crowds we'd get otherwise.
The key here is Brady Rawlings who is smart and ruthless. This was always a development year - trading for Melbourne's first and not re-signing a bunch of players shows we were always planning on a clean out of the list and hitting the draft hard.
The footy we played in the first two rounds shows we were taking the season seriously first up.
But once the slew of injuries hit, instead of doing what we previously do and fighting back late in the year to end up 10th instead of 16th makes no sense.
If we can finish the season with two top five picks (dependent on the Dees form) that supercharges the rebuild.
I reckon North are shamelessly tanking in plain sight and betting that in this "crazy season" it will fly under the radar.
Rawlings took gambles at West Coast with pick swaps that laid off handsomely.
To win flags you need high end talent that largely comes via high end draft picks.
We're tanking this "asterisk" year accordingly once it became plain that was the best way to improve our list.
But can and will anything be done about it?