Freo did it in 2013 and won their first 2 finals; they didn't do it last year and went out in straight sets. Not surprising other clubs are following.
Where’s the controversy??
Their club, their players, their match committee = their call. As long as it’s being done honestly (ie not naming them in the 22 and pulling them out at the last minute), there’s no issue.
What’s wrong with that?
Unrelated to above: This is a ridiculous argument and another example of why as a league we are so far behind all other pro leagues in the world. The whole Lyon “asking for permission” is such a joke. Imagine explaining to Chelsea or Arsenal that we had to do apply to be able to manage our list. They would crack up laughing.
The bolded - Naming guys and pulling them out at the last minute?
Thought it was self explanatory but the whole point of having teams in on Thurs is so people can have a look at them and know what they’re betting on. As long as the clubs are clear who they’re picking, who cares. But don’t lie about it.
So we’re OK with tanking (which, of course, we know doesn’t exist) when Ess/Carlton/Brisbane pull out half their team, but if someone in 7th does it…???
Didn't we do it in 2000?
That game against Collingwood was the worst game we could possibly play going into finals. We rested a few players but also played a lot of players out of position and just did enough to win.
Come the following week, we smashed North by a record margin.
We also did it against Richmond in the final round one year (think it was 2001 or 2002).
We lost to Richmond on purpose and in the event Carlton fell outside the top four (meaning they missed out on the double chance) and we player Richmond the first week of finals and completely smashed them.
In the end, having your best players on the pitch for the finals is more important than anything else.
Has any team every ‘tanked’ it in the final round and gone on to be kicked out of finals the next week (two weeks for teams with a double chance)?
Cant think of one but will probably happen to Norf this year.
See we did it in years where we were at the top & knew we wouldn’t lose top spot anyway & as Dunstall pointed out u wanna have some good form heading into finals which Norf don’t have. Norf seem to be doing it more to avoid the risk of playing Adelaide in the 1st week of finals.
Personally i don’t like it as it seems Brad Scott is telling his players they wanna avoid Adelaide. I don’t think that’s good coaching as it sends a message to your players that u are not good enough to beat a particular team on any given day, but obviously Scott knows better than me
I wonder what the AFLs response would have been if it was EFC that decided to rest players.
Disrepute, loss of draft picks etc etc…Am I being paranoid?
Didn't we do it in 2000?
That game against Collingwood was the worst game we could possibly play going into finals. We rested a few players but also played a lot of players out of position and just did enough to win.
Come the following week, we smashed North by a record margin.
We also did it against Richmond in the final round one year (think it was 2001 or 2002).
We lost to Richmond on purpose and in the event Carlton fell outside the top four (meaning they missed out on the double chance) and we player Richmond the first week of finals and completely smashed them.
In the end, having your best players on the pitch for the finals is more important than anything else.
Has any team every ‘tanked’ it in the final round and gone on to be kicked out of finals the next week (two weeks for teams with a double chance)?
donno about 2000, think that collingwood game we just came out and played like we had nothing to gain from it.
2001 however we were in a similar boat to north if I remember. in the last round we played Richmond, If we beat them then we’d have had to play carlton in the first week of the finals, and considering they beat us twice that year wasn’t the best option.
Not sure if we rested players or the like but we had no intention of winning the game, richmond made us look second rate and so on and so on.
Come first week of the finals we play richmond again and absolutely spank them.
any clubs first priority should be to do what’s best for their club, if that’s to throw a game so be it.
And please people ■■■■■■■■ and moaning in the media about the “integrity of the game” please, there’s no ■■■■■■■ such thing left in the game.
Geelong in 2011 did it all through the season. They didn’t name an unchanged team all year and every week they were resting someone or other. Not coincidentally, a ■■■■■■ old list looked the freshest come September.
If you can afford to do it, it’s negligent not to.
As for North, it’s possible they’ll lose to Richmond next week. But if they do, it will be because Richmond are better than them, not because they lost “momentum” or some such rubbish.