The invisible mullet
Premium Gold
This is a deadset whinge and doesn't relate to draft picks. And I've read it carefully...
Originally posted by Chris_Judd
Another reason the draft does not work. Yes.. clubs may not "throw" games... but what happens every single year. You may have to read carefully to see what I mean.
You have clubs by about Round 15 with 7 rounds to go.. they know they cannot make the finals... What is the first thing they do? Bring in youth. Say they are on 4 or 5 wins for the season... its not in their best interests to win 5 of their remaining 7 games and finish 9th to 11th.... so they bring in "youth to develop". This immediately weakens the clubs even further... these clubs can now lose games against betetr clubs by 4 or 5 goals and it can be seen as a "good effort" as they are blooding young players... its effectively giving them a reason for not winning...
but here is where it is really unfair...
by Round 15... who are these bottom of the ladder clubs playing? You guessed it... they are playing the teams they played from round 1 to 6. Given that they are a bottom of the ladder club... they probably lost the majority of those games... and now are playing those same teams with an even weaker younger lineup. Because of the uneveness of the draw it means those teams effectively get wins against weakened sides whilst others have harder draws. Imagine your team fighting to get into the finals while the side you directly above you ahs a round 20 game against a St Kilda team who have dropped all their experienced players to play youth... basically forefeiting any chance of winning.