Accusations of playing our players out of position in the tanking debate is hardly worth the paper it's printed upon. Knowing it has always been part of the game our moves were fairly ho hum. The most ridiculous one (on paper) I could think of was Matthew Richardson to the wing. I wondered what other so called strange moves people could think of. We could send a list to the AFL

Stephen Silvagni at FF.

Neitz and Garry Lyon moved to CHB.

Campbell Brown on Nick Riewoldt.

Wanganeen to a BP.

Stop now or this will be a bigger thread than the No T$ one. There are probably a million examples we could all list.

Lachlan Henderson to CHB.

Mitch Clark into the ruck.

Cameron Ling in the midfield.

Read post 3.

Alan Johnson was a fantastic wingman when he first came to the club before some idiot decided to play him in a back pocket.

[RL - yes, I know post 3]

Brent Grgic on the field.

Selecting the Cockatoo Collins Twins for a senior game...

Shoenmakers on anyone.

Just a side note: Wouldnt it be wonderful to see the Hawthorn Scum shattered at losing Buddy and getting much much less compo than what we got for the greedy dwarf..

Jake King to a FP.

Was Jack Watts relocation to the backline longterm tanking?

Its ridiculous.....where does it say in the rules of the game that a player who normally plays in the backline must never be allowed to play up forward or on the ball, or in the ruck?

Stephen Silvagni at FF.

Neitz and Garry Lyon moved to CHB.

Campbell Brown on Nick Riewoldt.

Wanganeen to a BP.

Nietz was a AA CHB.

Alan Johnson was a fantastic wingman when he first came to the club before some idiot decided to play him in a back pocket.

[RL - yes, I know post 3]

That wasn't such a bad move. You just have to watch the 1988 Elimination Final v West Coast, where his brilliant rebound led to a last gasp victory for Melbourne.

Sending players to the interchange bench after kicking a magnificent goal. Is now routine in the AFL as part of rotation or 'player management'.

Sean Wight to the backline!

Danny Hughes to the ruck!

That wasn't such a bad move. You just have to watch the 1988 Elimination Final v West Coast, where his brilliant rebound led to a last gasp victory for Melbourne.

That was the point I was making.

And there's no better time for experimentation than when your season's shot and you have no hope of making the finals.

Robbie Flower to a key position, back or forward.

John Nichols to 1st ruck - he was only 189cm ffs

Darrel Baldock to CHF - he was only 179cm ffs barely big enough to be a rover

Sean Wight to the backline!

Danny Hughes to the ruck!

What about having Danny Hughes played as full forward one time and watching him line up in front of goal? Fortunately he missed which would of otherwise have put a blemish on his illustrious 0-goal football career.

I'm glad the days of having to play Silvia, Bate or Green as KPF are over.

Mind you, many players can play so many positions, it's impossible to know what their "true" position is. What is the "true" position for Adam Goodes, Jared Brennan or Brendan Goddard? Who (before it happened) would have thought Matthew Pavlich could play on ball? Or Jobe Watson? Or for our own team, what's the "true" position for Lynden Dunn or Colin Sylvia?

Experimentation is a wonderful opportunity to find out what your players can and can't do. Given Paul Johnson had been tried as a key forward and as a ruckman and hadn't nailed either, primarily because he couldn't take a contested mark, trying him in the backline on a running player makes perfect sense. In the end, it didn't work and he's no longer an AFL footballer. But I'm glad we tried him in a few positions first. Mobile 200cm players are had to find.

reason for edit: spelling

Nietz was a AA CHB.

That's the point.

Didn't Tony Shaw play Sav Rocca at full back once? I've got a Collingwood supporting mate who is still traumatised by the Shaw era and he brings this up all the time.

And James Hird famously played on Gary Ablett Sr. Failed and I believe never played full back again.