I don't think teams tank. Players AND coaches are often playing for their careers and livelihoods, particularly the players. We say the demons tanked, but at the end of the day, injury are injuries and Green cannot play with a broken wrist!

I mean honestly, think about it logically. If the demons, or Freo or WCE are totally crap and can't win in the first 16 weeks of the year, why in the hell do people think they are any more capable of winning in the past 6 weeks of the year! They continue to lose because they are no good that year!

Thus, the real problem comes down to perception of the general public and football fans and supporters.

Supporters do NOT want their team to win in the latter half of the year. This is bc supporters are long sighted and feed on the 'hope' that can come from a top draft pick, hoping he will become the 'missing link'.

It is disgraceful that football supporters should be barracking for the opposition! I personally barraked for Sydney today and I hated it.

It undermines the competition if footy fans don't want their team to win. It is simply counter intuitive.

Since it is the supporters and footy fans that make the game of afl great, for the sake of the game, this alone is reason enough to get rid of priority picks (or at least a lottery system).

I'm not sure about abolishing it. But perhaps moving the PP for two consecutive years of < 5 wins to the middle of the first round. For example, if we were the only team to qualify for a PP this year the picks would go like this:

1: Melbourne

2: 15th

3: 14th

4: 13th

5: 12th

6: 11th

7: 10th

8: 9th

9: Priority Pick (Melbourne)

10: 8th

etc.

Obviously there is still some temptation to tank, but it significantly reduces the benefit.

Edited July 26, 200916 yr by Stylus

I mean honestly, think about it logically. If the demons, or Freo or WCE are totally crap and can't win in the first 16 weeks of the year, why in the hell do people think they are any more capable of winning in the past 6 weeks of the year! They continue to lose because they are no good that year!

Logically.

In the first 16 weeks we had a tough draw. Around 12 difficult match-ups with the most winnable games against North, Richmond, and WC and Port at the MCG.

In the last 6 weeks we have a much easier draw: Sydney, Richmond, North, Freo, Carlton and St Kilda. Only one of the last six is a certain loss, while each of the other five is "winnable". We would have won today if we kicked straight, and we have roughly 346 players on the injury list - that is how bad Sydney is.

First sixteen: 75% tough.

Last six: 17% tough.

Valenti & Jones playing out of the forward line ???

WTF ???

I agree, the fans are a massive part of the game. As far as i'm concerned I just want the next 5 games to be over and done with. Following my football team is not how it should be at the moment and the fact the AFL are happy to continually force this situation upon supporters is ridiculous.

The AFL can say all they want about tanking being non-existent but maybe they should look outside the square a bit and look at the effect the priority pick situation has on supporters.

I'm guessing I wasn't the only one today who was totally conflicted.

Halfway through the last quarter, my heart was saying "win win win". I could feel that feeling you get in your guts when you want to win.

But at the same time, my brain is saying "no no no" and I could see Tom Scully flashing before my eyes.

Awful situation to be in.

I worry for our mental health over the next 5 weeks. If this continues, I fear I may develop some kind of Multiple Personality Disorder.

I'm guessing I wasn't the only one today who was totally conflicted.

Halfway through the last quarter, my heart was saying "win win win". I could feel that feeling you get in your guts when you want to win.

But at the same time, my brain is saying "no no no" and I could see Tom Scully flashing before my eyes.

Awful situation to be in.

I worry for our mental health over the next 5 weeks. If this continues, I fear I may develop some kind of Multiple Personality Disorder.

I agree with you I wanted Melbourne to win today and then my brain said the same as yours.

I posted this on Ology and maybe it would be a way to avoid this happening.

The problem as I see it is that a club like, say West Coast can play in two Grand Finals in a row, win one and then have two bad years and get a priority pick.

Perhaps they should have a system where the bottom three sides have their last three years points added and the lowest, if the total is below 50 points, gets a priority pick. If none of the three clubs have a total lower than 50 points then they just go through the normal draft from 1 to 16. This would identify the club that has a real problem and not a super rich one that's going through a period of rebuilding.

The figure doesn't have to be 50 points it could be 60 so it would take in to account a club that has won about 5 games a year for 3 years.

I agree with you sylvinator regardind draft order,either that way or you could get the first 2 picks in the 2nd round,ie 17 & 18.still a advantage but not as big.Only problem then would be is that all the other clubs like st kilda,carlton etc have benifited from priority picks & will get the rewards down the track so why shouldnt we also be able to benifit?

I agree with you sylvinator regardind draft order,either that way or you could get the first 2 picks in the 2nd round,ie 17 & 18.still a advantage but not as big.Only problem then would be is that all the other clubs like st kilda,carlton etc have benifited from priority picks & will get the rewards down the track so why shouldnt we also be able to benifit?

I buy a (premium) membership to watch the mighty dees WIN...not tank !!!!

I buy a (premium) membership to watch the mighty dees WIN...not tank !!!!

I buy a membership time and time again to support the club I love, and to see them play finals and a Premiership! Sooner rather than much later thanks!

Players do not tank!

Do you actually read responses at all?

The real reason priority picks will not be abolished: The SYDNEY SWANS

I was actually [censored] myself in the last quarter when it looked like we were are a real shot to win.

Not an ideal scenario... no. But we must use the system to our advantage.

As long as we get the priority pick this year I couldn't care less about what they do with them in the coming years.

I wouldn't say it fixes it, but it certainly helps. There's about 6 models people are throwing around out there... the lottery being the classic example.

The problem with ALL of them is that the lowest team in the league is the one that hurts. MFC currently needs every high pick it can get. Anything that limits their opportunity to gain this is hurting the competition in the long run. It would be easy if we were the NBA and had 5 players starting on the ground, but in our case we have about 35 positions on the list that needed to be filled when Bailey took over. You can't fix that problem with one from each round every year. Not without a bucketload of luck and great facilities/money to keep the player around.