The rewriting by the AFL Commission earlier this week of Rule 29, which relates to conduct prejudicial, also offers a clearer definition about the sort of player management by clubs that could be could be regarded as tanking.
Rule 29, 'To Perform on One's Merits', now reads: "(It) means at all times to perform honestly and to the best of one’s ability in the pursuit only of legitimate competitive objectives.
"For the avoidance of doubt "legitimate competitive objective" includes the development of the team or players or management of player fatigue or injuries but does not include improving a club’s draft position, improving a club’s position with respect to a potential player exchange or manipulating a club’s position on the ladder for the purpose of improving its draw within the finals series."
In layman's terms, it means that clubs can base their team selection and match-day coaching around injuries and player welfare, as well as the need to look at their depth and younger players with a view to the future. But teams on the bottom of the ladder and those already in the finals will be walking a finer line.
The types of mass changes made by the Dockers ahead of their round 23 clash this year with St Kilda at Etihad Stadium might now be seen as a breach of the rules.
Knowing they almost certainly couldn’t be budged from third place on the ladder and facing another trip back to Victoria the next week to open the finals, the Dockers rested 12 players - Michael Johnson, David Mundy, Lee Spurr, Zac Dawson, Hayden Ballantyne, Nick Suban, Stephen Hill, Michael Walters, Zac Clarke, Garrick Ibbotson, Chris Mayne and Nat Fyfe – and then lost by 67 points to the 16th-placed Saints.
Similarly, after spending all of last summer investigating Melbourne for tanking during 2009, a charge that was ultimately unproven but that still led to lengthy suspensions for then-coach Dean Bailey and football manager Chris Connolly, it is now clearer that picking teams and making positional moves with a view to ladder position ahead of the player exchange periods, both trade and draft, will be scrutinised more closely than ever and might likely be seen to be outside the rules.
The AFL has also tightened Rule 30, which means more match-day officials and directors of AFL clubs will need to be registered with the AFL. And a significantly larger investment by the League in staff and technology for its beefed-up integrity unit means there will be more rigorous background checks undertaken on those who work for clubs and serve them in various areas.
Twitter: @afl_hashbrowne
