Straight Sets Simon

Fevola could run down the streets naked shouting his claim of tanking at Carlton and no journalist would write about it.

I can't believe Caroline "The Vault" Wilson is still referring to the meeting as "the Vault" and not the room. If she can't even get basic facts right it makes you wonder about the rest of what she is saying. It is interesting that she appears to have changed tack from "Melbourne did tank" to "Melbourne conspired to tank". That Herald Sun article is hilarious when they claim a team with only a few wins being outraged when strategies are changed during the year.

Is it just me, or in that photo of McDonald kicking the ball does it look like he is being trained to drop the ball lower? I know it's only a photo but he looks like he is working on his kicking action under the watch of Neeld.

That made me giggle.

That's all good and well but she needs to show evidence of this. A quote from Green himself confirming this would be a minimum.

Did she find it locked in a vault?

Is there proof of this?

If she was just "reporting" on the matter she would have known the "Vault" was the name of the building, not the meetings. She would provide actual quotes not just heresay and she wouldn't put in throw away line about Brad Green being "disillusioned" without any evidence to support it. If Melbourne are guilty then the club deserves its right whack, but she has in no way reported accurately or fairly on the matter.

I agree, nearly impossible but nothing surprises me with Melbourne.

This is where you and I differ, I think tanking can also include moves made by coaches if it can be proven without doubt (the hard bit) that the motivation was to deliberately try to lose matches.

That's what annoys me, if Melbourne are cleared of any wrongdoing then she should be held accountable for making false and damaging claims.

I hate how journalists these days can put in throw away lines without and accountability. The line about Brand Green for example, no substance behind it whatsoever and her continual reference to the "vault".

Caroline Wilson has just written another article. I'm mobile so hard to do a link, but again she has provided nothing new, or no evidence. She's still flogging the "vault" horse.

Better still, just wait until Demonland gets a mention as evidence. I felt sick this morning, I feel slightly less suck now, hopefully the trend continues.

It is a grey area, but I would argue that not playing players is worse than playing them out of position. I'd prefer to have Pavlich in a back pocket than sitting in the stands, but that's just my simple view of things.

Did Fremantle perform to their merits when it rested all its star players?

You missed the part where I clearly stated unless it can be proven that the motives (for playing players out of position) were to try to lose, and these motives can be proven.

Agreed.

It's all good, worth explaining.

The point is "tanking" (or whatever the correct term is, if there is one) is about deliberately trying to lose ("match fixing" in a way) which is what Caroline Wilson is insinuating. I argue that there is a difference between deliberately trying to lose, and winning not being a top priority. It is very hard to prove that actions such as resting players constitutes deliberately trying to lose unless there is concrete evidence to prove that was the motivation for it.

Fair call, I suppose I was looking at in in the context of which most people use it (right or wrong).

Deliberately trying to lose. Winning not being a top priority isn't tanking. Fremantle didn't deliberately try to lose when they rested ten of their best players in Tasmania, but on that day winning wasn't their number one priority.

I've maintained a similar point of view, however I think there is one exception. If (big if) they find proof that the motivation for playing players out of position, resting players and alike was to deliberately lose then I would classify it as tanking. But, the evidence for this motivation needs to be concrete.

Don't bother, most people don't understand what "tanking" means.

So it's fake? On iPhone so it's hard to navigate around and get any context.