Tanking Investigation 'Timeless'

[Tulip]

I'm sorry to say it, boys, but I think we're going to get done by this incompetent administration.

AN AFL inquiry into tanking allegations against could continue for weeks, but appears destined for the commission table.

While the League won't speculate on the outcome of the investigation being led by integrity officer Brett Clothier, it will be up to the AFL Commission to determine any kind of penalty.

"It's an ongoing investigation, I understand Brett has conducted several interviews and has got more to complete, and we'll await the outcome of that report," AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said on Friday.

Demetriou said tanking was one of the worst of potential football crimes and as a result, the commission would have to become involved if and when Clothier finds enough evidence.

"Anything that affects the integrity of the competition, we put in that basket things like the salary cap, we put in that basket performance-enhancing drugs, we put in that basket things that relate to betting scandals, information sharing and of course taking if that exists," he said.

Clothier will hand his report to football operations manager Adrian Anderson who will then decide whether there is sufficient evidence to send the matter to the commission.

A commission hearing, similar to the one faced by former Eagle Ben Cousins, would likely follow.

But Demetriou insists the investigation is a long way from that, and is still adamant tanking is a myth.

"I've said all along that I don't believe tanking exists," he said, before adding "I've said already that if I'm proven wrong, then so be it."

The League boss said he wasn't bothered by the length of the investigation.

"We don't put timeframes on these things," he said.

"I think it's more important, regardless of time, to get it right."

Good thing we've got a decent amount of high-profile lawyers as part of the board and supporting coterie, because they'll isolate us.

 

[Bluelegs]

How the **** are they going to prove it?

 

[Tulip]

How the **** are they going to prove it?

They don't have to, they'll just take facts out of context. They're teflon.

 

[rhaz]

They have to be seen to be investigating us, but really, i doubt anything will come out of it. Everyone knows we tanked, but the can of worms that'll be opened if they decide to punish us for it is surely just too much of a hassle for AFL. They'd then have to instigate Carlton and so on... they've gotten rid of the priority pick now, everyone should just move on.

 

[Max Power 83]

They can't prove a thing.

Whole thing is a waste of time.

 

[RedLegs#5]

I swear if we get punished at all for this I will A. Protest until all other clubs who've done exactly the same things are 'investigated' B. Demand to know the conclusive facts of how and when we 'tanked' and C. Burn down AFL headquarters. F'n pathetic witch hunt.

 

[Bluelegs]

Honestly it just feels like all smoke and no fire from Vlad. He has to make it look like he's going to hit tanking with a sledgehammer if it's needed and he has to make it look like a real investigation. All while knowing that nothing will be found. He's just saying the investigation is ongoing so that after a while it can be forgotten about.

 

[d33my]

Agree with the above to posts, as I mentioned in the other thread I just can't see anything coming of something so flimsy.

Salary cap breaches, drug testing etc. can all, generally, be proved tangibly, tanking not so much. It's all whispers, rumours, "he told me this" etc.

Unless the club was stupid enough to keep a 'Big Book of Tanking' I think this will amount to nothing.

 

[Rellik666]

You would have to define what tanking was first!

Is it deliberately trying to loose games or is it not putting all your effort into winning, i.e not playing your best players or playing them out of position. Because if it is the latter one, every club in the AFL could be accused of "tanking" for one reason or another.

If it is the first one, how the hell do you prove that? I don't believe anyone has said do not try and win this game at any cost.

 

[Bluelegs]

You would have to define what tanking was first!

Is it deliberately trying to loose games or is it not putting all your effort into winning, i.e not playing your best players or playing them out of position. Because if it is the latter one, every club in the AFL could be accused of "tanking" for one reason or another.

If it is the first one, how the hell do you prove that? I don't believe anyone has said do not try and win this game at any cost.

Exactly. Playing younger players in a shot season to give them experience would be tanking, trying different structures would be tanking, playing players for trade bait would be tanking, playing players out of position to examine versatility would be tanking. By all accounts when Neeld moved Garland forward in the Essendon match and he won the game for us we were tanking.

 

[spudmaster]

And how far do you take it?
Do you accuse Richmond of pre-emptive tanking for drafting Tambling ahead of Buddy, for example?

 

[Wonaeamirri33]

Protest until all other clubs who've done exactly the same things are 'investigated'... burn down AFL headquarters. F'n pathetic witch hunt.

Quite right mate.

By the general definition that's usually applied, it's fair to say we tanked. It's also obvious that Carlton, Richmond, West Coast, Collingwood, Fremantle, St Kilda - and now GW$ - have tanked.

I don't have any problem with us being punished, if that were to occur, but what I certainly do have a problem with is us being dishonestly singled out, on the ludicrous pretence that somehow we're the only club that's culpable.

If we were to be punished, so should the others.

 

[Supermercado]

Somebody needs to a definitive list of all the other dodgy moves that could be considering tanking and/or match fixing. I'll start with a few off the top of my head:

2003 - Melbourne (full disclosure) lead Sydney at half time in Round 22, then fall away and lose to secure a priority pick by winning five games.
2004 - Round 22, Richmond lead at quarter time before losing and therefore securing last place
2005 - Round 22, Carlton lead at quarter time and lose to finish last.
2005 - Collingwood get to five wins in Round 14, then lose the rest of their matches and get a priority pick
2007 - Richmond have the chance to win and jump over Carlton into second last - then blow a three quarter time lead, lose and finish last
2007 - Carlton get their fourth win in Round 11, pack away Fev and lose the next 11 including R22 when they didn't both to tag anyone.
2008 - Paul Roos tells Jarrad McVeigh "go forward, just don't kick a goal" in a NAB Cup thriller and gets away with it because he said it was a joke.
2010 - Fremantle rest 11 players and lose to Hawthorn by 116 points
2012 - GWS openly rest players before they play Gold Coast, going on to lose and take bottom place on the ladder.

 

[Stratton_Gun]

Sorry to intrude. I don't think anything will come of the investigation but......
Hawthorn never tanked. It was just assumed we did but in truth we were just rubbish. and in 04/05 we actually won a couple of games late in the year

 

[Biffinator]

They don't have to, they'll just take facts out of context. They're teflon.

We were so shit at the time. How does one tank under such circumstances?

 

[Wonaeamirri33]

Sorry to intrude. I don't think anything will come of the investigation but......
Hawthorn never tanked. It was just assumed we did but in truth we were just rubbish. and in 04/05 we actually won a couple of games late in the year

Yeah, I get what you mean mate - although there's also the issue of Ken Judge's comments about the instruction given him by Don Scott in 1998...

 

[Theo X]

I think Brock McLean should be castrated

 

[spudmaster]

Somebody needs to a definitive list of all the other dodgy moves that could be considering tanking and/or match fixing. I'll start with a few off the top of my head:

2003 - Melbourne (full disclosure) lead Sydney at half time in Round 22, then fall away and lose to secure a priority pick by winning five games.
2004 - Round 22, Richmond lead at quarter time before losing and therefore securing last place
2005 - Round 22, Carlton lead at quarter time and lose to finish last.
2005 - Collingwood get to five wins in Round 14, then lose the rest of their matches and get a priority pick
2007 - Richmond have the chance to win and jump over Carlton into second last - then blow a three quarter time lead, lose and finish last
2007 - Carlton get their fourth win in Round 11, pack away Fev and lose the next 11 including R22 when they didn't both to tag anyone.
2008 - Paul Roos tells Jarrad McVeigh "go forward, just don't kick a goal" in a NAB Cup thriller and gets away with it because he said it was a joke.
2010 - Fremantle rest 11 players and lose to Hawthorn by 116 points
2012 - GWS openly rest players before they play Gold Coast, going on to lose and take bottom place on the ladder.

In Richmonds defense, they're still coughing up leads to carlton 5 years later so nothing suss there

 

[Wonaeamirri33]

I think Brock McLean should be castrated

Mate, if you're looking to cut someone's nuts off, check out this Pat_Footy flog of an Eagles supporter on the main board.

Like an offensive version of Sargeant Schulz, with substantially higher moron quotient

Finally a team has been caught..... evidence.

AFL need to eradicate this disgusting occurrence.

I would like Melbourne to come out and explain their intent to their fans.

2010 was the first year nobody was suspected of tanking...

Melbourne are a basketcase. Tanking is a disgusting act though and should be punished.

Melbourne fans would be up in arms just like everyone else had another team so blatantly stole draft picks.

This is just blatant stupidity. We had the same chance as Melbourne to pick up first rounders and decided culture was the go. I'm glad we didn't stoop into that scum.

 

[PureFooty]

I thought it's pretty simple, Melbourne and other Victorian clubs exploited Andrew Demitriou's incompetence in an attempt to help develop their club. If he wasn't such a disgrace to our code then he would have scrapped the concept (priority picks) at the first sight of it's misuse, or better yet never introduced such a stupid concept (but that's his forte, so, well you know). Instead now he will act in a way which benefits himself rather than the code which is his F%$#ing job. If we get punished then so be it, but two things should happen. 1. Collingwood should be put under investiagtion as it lost it's last 10 games and should be punished to a higher degree than Melbourne due to the fact that they actually obtained an advantage and happened to win a flag out of it! And 2. He should come out and say 'I'm a shizenhousen, ingnorant, power hungry CEO who only ever made decisions solely on the bases of how it would affect myself.' end rant/

 

[dutchy12]

Having just read the ridiculous Herald Sun article published this morning, there are a couple of things I would like to ask Robbo the Hut.

He insinuates that by starting Stefan Martin in the ruck over Paul Johnson somehow equates to tanking. I would just like to ask him which player is still on an AFL list???

Secondly his comments regarding Cale Morton. Someone should ask him who was playing on Goodes when we trounced Sydney by 15 goals the following year?

Where's the accountability? Honestly these guys have the easiest jobs in the world

 

[Tulip]

Just saw the full HS spread.

MICHAEL WARNER AND MARK ROBINSON CAN GET ****ED.

I cannot describe how angry I am.

They have taken every possible incident and taken them out of context, dramatised them and packaged them up.

GET ****ED YOU WEAP ****ING PARASITES.

Can't believe it took two 'writers' to come up with that.

 

[Wonaeamirri33]

Yeah mate, you can see why I hate News Corp like I do, of course. They're a mafia. Pure bloody evil. They'll say anything if it suits their purpose to do so.

This is typical of the shit they pull when it comes to politics as well...

 

[Supermercado]

I don't give a rats if the journos do what journos do, it's just that it took them three years to be led to the story like dumb animals by a footy player when the exact same evidence they're going through now as if it's scintillating stuff has been there for everyone and anyone to dissect since 2009.

Brock McLean is the newsbreaker on this one, everyone else is three years late.

 

[MAXIMUM GRUNDAGE]

Nothing will happen. We didn't break any AFL rules. Only exploited a rule made to assist lower placed clubs.