Essendon assistant coach Dean Wallis was banned for 14 matches after betting on football. Picture: George Salpigtidis Source: Herald Sun
OF everyone who assessed the punishments for Dean Bailey and Chris Connolly on Tuesday, you can only wonder what Essendon's Dean Wallis was thinking?
Or what Matthew Rendell was thinking?
Or the time-keeper or goal umpire who gambled?
Or Peter Blucher, or Stephen Trigg, or Kurt Tippett who were salary-cap cheats?
It ain't easy for the AFL to act as arresting officer, the prosecution and ultimately the judge on AFL issues.
And, indeed, you really can't think of a worse day for the AFL's PR than Tuesday, when Gil McLachlan was forced to explain the unexplainable.
Fair effort, too, from Gil because the lawyers had told him he had to swim between the flags and, unfortunately, for him, those flags were less than a metre apart.
At the very least, his comment that he didn't know what tanking was will be in the AFL's Hall of Fame of Hilarity.
Clearly, the penalties were negotiated, which is a concern.
If you're an integrity department investigating issues of integrity, then your integrity can't be compromised by making deals.
The AFL's punishment system, meanwhile, is out of whack.
In September, 2011, Wallis was banned from coaching activities for 14 matches, which was effectively until July, 2012, after laying three bets on AFL matches at a total cost of $400. He sat out longer than what Trigg will, after he copped six months for salary-cap cheating.
And he was a fortnight shy of Bailey's penalty, who was found to have been pressured into decisions on team selection and player positioning - which wasn't tanking, mind you.
So, Trigg cheated the cap, Bailey didn't tank but was suspended for something close to it, and Wallis put on a $100 quaddie.
Meanwhile, Rendell was sacked for making a racist comment, Tippett's manager Peter Blucher got 12 months for mishandling Tippett's deals and Connolly got 12 months for warning officials about the importance of losing matches in order to secure a priority picks.
And in 2010, there was the goal umpire who missed six months for punting $60, the trainee timekeeper who got whacked five weeks for placing a $5 bet, and the interchange steward who got six months for placing four bets totalling $9.
Think about that, again: The interchange steward got the same penalty as Trigg and Bailey.
If it's all about integrity, then maybe it's time the clubs asked for integrity officers to be placed in the penalties department.
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