PAUL Roos suggests banning betting on the NAB Cup could be looked at after it was alleged he instructed a player not to kick a goal in a match in the AFL's pre-season competition.
The Swans’ coach has been sent a please explain by the AFL after an interchange steward told the AFL he overheard Roos tell Jarrad McVeigh to, "Go forward, just don't kick a goal", in the final quarter of the Swans' NAB Cup opening-round defeat to Hawthorn in Launceston.
“If you linked it into gambling which the charge is linked into then, yeah, the answer is yes [we should ban betting], because you're not going to have a charge about gambling if there's no gambling on the NAB Cup," Roos said.
Roos did concede, however, that the term “match-fixing” was something he wasn't expecting when he read the AFL's please explain.
“I must admit when I read the letter I didn't know where the rule came from but Andrew [Ireland, Sydney football manager] explained it and it had something to do with the gambling clause, so yeah, just trying to get your head around that. But we're in that situation and you try to deal with it.
“When you link it back to match-fixing it can be a bit of a slight on your character. As long as you can put your head on the pillow at night, that's the main thing.”
Despite the controversy, Roos also gave qualified support for the NAB Cup format.
“In the NAB Cup teams are in different stages of development, as [Brisbane Lions coach] Leigh Matthews said last week,” Roos said.
“While it maintains that I think it's a fine competition to play, clearly most coaches don't compromise their preparations for round one.
“As long as everyone takes it as what it is – a pre-season competition with everyone having varying degrees of what their outcomes need to be. And it seems more so than ever more coaches are saying, ‘Well, I'm focussed on round one of the regular season’.
“But I'm comfortable with the current format as long as everyone understands what it's there for.”
In team news, Tadhg Kennelly and Teddy Richards will return for the Swans' clash against the Lions in Canberra this weekend.
And midfielder Nick Davis returns after missing last week with a sore groin. Amon Buchanan is also due to return this week.
