PAUL Roos is all for a draft lottery system, but the Melbourne coach is unsure if even that radical move would completely wipe out the stigma of tanking in the AFL.
Competition cellar dwellers Fremantle and Essendon play this weekend in Perth, with the loser one step closer to claiming the No.1 pick at this year's NAB AFL Draft.
The Dockers have tumbled from being minor premiers last season to being winless after 10 rounds in 2016.
A lottery system whereby the first four picks at the draft are randomly awarded to the bottom four teams at the end of the season has been proposed in the past, but was raised again this week by Collingwood chief executive Gary Pert.
Roos is a fan of the idea, but says even a lottery will leave room for cynics to doubt the motives of underachieving clubs.
"I've been a massive supporter of it for probably the last 10 years ever since the tanking, or whatever people want to talk about (started)," Roos said.
"It's already started again this week so I think (a lottery) is a clear solution.
"I suppose the debate then is do you tank from being the fifth-worst team to be the fourth-worst? Do you try and go down the ladder to get into the lottery?
"That's the next phase of it, but I think having that system certainly clears up a lot of the intrigue around the end of the season and what teams are going to do because you're just not guaranteed to get the No.1 draft pick."
Clubs have a duty to prepare as well as they possibly can for the next season once they are out of finals contention but actions such as playing youngsters and putting players in for operations inevitably lead to tanking questions being raised from outside the club.
"When you're out of finals contention and there's four or five rounds to go you're often thinking about the next year," Roos said.
"You're not thinking about the draft or getting a draft pick, you're thinking about getting players in for an operation so they can start training in November, so that's very different (from tanking)."
Melbourne was investigated by the AFL after it finished last in 2009 and was awarded a priority pick for winning fewer than five games, but the League found no evidence of systemic tanking.
Meanwhile, Port Adelaide assistant coach Michael Voss said there would always be conjecture about tanking, no matter the system.
"One part of me leans to the fact we'll start talking about the bottom four. All it (a lottery) does is the focus shifts," he said.
"But I like the concept of a fact that four go into a [lottery] and we find out at the end of the season who is the beneficiary."
Voss said there would always be conjecture about tanking, no matter the system.
"One part of me leans to the fact we'll start talking about the bottom four. All it (a lottery) does is the focus shifts," he said.
"But I like the concept of a fact that four go into a [lottery] and we find out at the end of the season who is the beneficiary."
