NEW GAME UNDER SCRUTINY IN GWS TANKING PROBE - EXCLUSIVE

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Tanking debate

Do you believe GWS tanked in 2012?

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NEW GAME UNDER SCRUTINY IN GWS TANKING PROBE - EXCLUSIVE by Michael Whorener and Mark Robbersonofabich, August 19, 2017

A NEW suspect game has emerged as the AFL probes tanking claims against GWS.

Tanking debate

The Giants lost to Melbourne in Canberra in Round 21, 2012, after making numerous changes over a two week period following their second and last win (against Port Adelaide) of the club's inaugural season of AFL competition. They included a total of eight changes for the game against Gold Coast (already under the scrutiny of investigators) in which the Suns coasted to a five goal victory overturning their 27-point Round 7 loss from earlier in the year.

A respected former AFL coach is believed to have told the enquiry that he was "reeling in shock" when he learned that more changes to the Giants' line up were pending the following week for the Demons game after three key players Jonathan Patton, Jeremy Cameron and Dylan Shiels had their seasons brought to an abrupt and mysterious end after they were sent to have surgery for various suddenly-incurred ailments. Captain Callan Ward who ultimately won the club championship that season as well as the number one pick from the previous year's draft Stephen Coniglio were among the eight changes from the previous week while gun midfielder Adam Treloar was omitted for the Demons' game raising the eyebrows of many astute football observers from the Western Sydney area.

Insiders have revealed that a member of the club's staff (who is also a relative of one of the playing list) was so disturbed by the events of the time that he went on an eating binge putting on 10 kilograms in the five days leading up to the Melbourne game and it is rumoured that his flight to Canberra on the day before the match had to be turned back because it was carrying excess baggage.

Sources close to the club are said to have claimed under conditions of anonymity that they were privy to a conversation with a cousin of a senior GWS official the night before the match which indicated steps had been taken to reduce the prospect of a win.The conversation at a Canberra hotel centred around concerns the GWS would win too many games in 2012, costing them the first pick at the national draft."We'll be right, we've made plenty of changes and Lachie is in the bag," he is alleged to have said, most likely referring to former GWS midfielder Lachie Whitfield who was selected with the Giants' first pick in the 2012 National Draft.

"Eight changes, we'll be right"

Associates of the club have said they would consider submitting to formal interview as part of the AFL's tanking probe.

Our investigation has revealed:

■ FORMER Melbourne captain James McDonald and a playing member of the first GWS squad in 2012 has been interviewed by the AFL and denies tanking took place.

■ ONE of GWS's club doctors from 2012 said "Blind Freddy could tell the team wasn't picked for optimal performance" late in the season.

■ TWO of the eight changes for the Gold Coast match were made after team selection.

■ AT one stage of the Manuka match players were rotated on and then off before having the opportunity to take up their positions on the ground. As a result, a record number of 256 rotations were made for the game, a figure which stands in stark contrast to the zero number of interchanges in Round 11 when GWS had the bye.

■ THE Giants would not comment yesterday when asked about the Canberra game or the tanking investigation. Asked about the Manuka match last night, an AFL spokesman said: "We are not providing a running commentary on the investigation or confirming who or how many people we have spoken to".

The AFL inquiry, has involved interviews with a number of past and present Giants officials and players.The only person interviewed who was prepared to say anything was Blind Freddie whose only comment was, "I saw nothing!"

Whitfield is one of the players believed to have been interviewed. Ironically, he left the Giants after two controversial seasons in Western Sydney to join the Tassie Mappers, a new franchise playing out of Hobart and Launceston, for what was believed to be a then record sum.

Expert commentators have pointed to several suspicious aspects of the game including these tell-tale signs:

• ISRAEL FOLAU - the GWS rugby league convert seemed lost on the field in the opening half and had less Dream Team points in the game's first fifty minutes than Jack Watts who was on the Demons' bench and still wearing his green sub's vest at the time. Folau had just three touches when he was finally subbed off after seeing Melbourne off to an unassailable lead. Critics claim that Folau was given a contract with the Giants for reasons not connected with his ability to play the game. It is understood that the club's founders originally settled on the colour orange so that Folau would resemble a witches hat around around which opposition teams could play.

One commentator said on radio at the time of Folau, "He doesn't know how to compete. He doesn't know what to do out there. Right now, again, he is a statue watching the birds." Despite claims that using a player lacking any ability like Folau was tantamount to lying down, Sheedy was adamant about his player's value pointing out that his efforts kept pests like Seagulls away from the playing arena and this was good for the environment. Cynics point to the fact that once Folau was subbed off in the final term, the Giants outscored the Demons.

• NO JACKET, NO WINDSOCK AND NO MARTIANS

Despite the freezing conditions (snow fell the day before), Giants coach Kevin Sheedy failed to bring his club jacket to the ground - proof that he had no intention of waving it in his customary fashion when his team tastes a victory, pointing to the fact that the coach knew that it was not going to happen against the Demons. It was also noted that the Manuka Oval windsock had not been dismantled for the game and not a single UFO sighting was reported in the days leading up to the game.

• TOM SCULLY'S 50M PENALTY - consummate professionals earning in excess of $1m a season do not give away 50m penalties in front of goal. Our informant advised that the former Demon had been unnerved during the game by the constant booing and jeering happening on the other side of the fence. He also revealed that the main offenders were members of the GWS's own cheer squad.

Photo: Young GWS midfielder Tom Scully arrives for the infamous game at Manuka Oval against Melbourne on 18 August, 2012

For his part, Sheedy was adamant he would never coach a team to a wooden spoon and he fulfilled that promise a week and a half later when he resigned on the eve of the final round leaving his deputy Mark "Choko" Williams with that honour when they lost the last game of the year to North Melbourne by what was briefly a record AFL margin until they lost to the Demons on the MCG early in 2013.

The investigation is continuing.

* * * * * * * * *

THE Round 21 Manuka Oval game is also also known for its inclusion in the Guinness Book of Records as one of the Melbourne Football Club's ten most ugly wins in the more than 150 years of its history.

The windy conditions made things tough for the players and it was a scrap from start to finish. The Demons took control by the middle of the first quarter and by the first break, they held an 8 point lead which they stretched to 18 at half time before kicking away to a lead of 39 points at the final break and then scored the first goal of the final term before deciding to follow the lead of their hosts and play dead through to junk time when a few late Giants goals reduced the winning margin to a paltry 25 points in the slopfest.

The critics had a field day as they skewered the winning team for taking their feet off the Giants' throats in the final stanza claiming that such conduct was "unacceptable" (conveniently forgetting having labelled their 8 goal final quarter against the Saints the week before as "irrelevant"). The tragic performance of the losers was forgotten altogether until the current tanking investigation began last month.

Better players in this game for Melbourne were Lynden Dunn who rose like Phoenix from the ashes of his abandoned mustache, the two co-skippers Jack Grimes and Jack Trengove who were really beginning to grow into their leadership roles and jumping Jeremy Howe who added to his weekly highlights reel and booted three goals. It could have been many more had he managed to handle the blustery conditions in a game in which his team finished with 29 scoring shots to 14.

Little could we imagine that the Demons were on their way to bigger and brighter things so soon after that dismal day in the nation's capital but that's another story for another time.

Melbourne 3.4.22 6.10.46 9.13.67 11.18.84

GWS Giants 2.2.14 4.4.28 4.5.29 9.5.59

Goals

Melbourne Howe 3 Rivers Sellar Trengove 2 Green Grimes

GWS Giants Greene 2 Adams Davis Giles McDonald Phillips Power Smith

Best

Melbourne Dunn Howe Grimes Trengove Macdonald Sylvia

GWS Giants Greene Giles Power Adams Phillips Cornes

Injuries

Melbourne Nil

GWS Giants Nil

Changes

Melbourne Nil

GWS Giants Nil

Reports

Melbourne Nil

GWS Giants Nil

Umpires Ryan Armstrong Harris

Official crowd 7,561 at Manuka Oval

The views in this article are not necessarily those of the authors, Demonland, the AFL or its clubs.