Why we should all feel insulted

Dean Bailey (right) and Chris Connolly pictured at the Junction Oval in 2007. Picture: Colleen Petch Source: Herald Sun

IF it looks like a tank, sounds like a tank and acts like a tank, it's a tank

THE football fan in all of us should feel insulted. Insulted and confused.

An investigation the AFL tried to ignore for several years ended with a determination that only two people spoke about tanking, that those two men rested players, those two played players out of position, but ultimately those two did not tank.

And the club didn't tank, but was fined $500,000.

And the club didn't complain about being whacked and, in fact, its officials actually praised the AFL.

And this, the best one of all - only two people knew about the situation; coach Dean Bailey and football manager Chris Connolly.

If we accept the AFL's line, Connolly must be a two-face.

He has convinced us he's a jovial, knee-slapping, humdinger of a bloke from the country, when, after yesterday, it is clear he is cunning and perhaps the most influential backroom standover merchant in the history of the AFL.

He's the Graeme Richmond of the modern AFL.

The man who clicks fingers, points fingers and barks orders.

And in this case, loses matches to gain priority picks.

Bailey must have panicked because, the AFL said, he felt pressured by Connolly.

To do what exactly is confusing - even more so because whatever he did earned him 16 weeks on the sidelines.

We know Bailey didn't tank on game days because the AFL told us so. But he rested players, which also wasn't tanking. And he played players out of position, but that's not tanking either.

So, Bailey is not guilty of tanking but guilty of playing players out of position and not picking players, which the AFL simply called prejudicial to the spirit of the AFL.

Sounds awfully like tanking.

Can't quite understand how Bailey could be pressured by Connolly.

He must have been frightened, so bloody frightened that after being told by Connolly to lose matches to gain priority picks, Bailey didn't even discuss this monumental and rule-breaking proceeding with anyone.

Not CEO Cameron Schwab. Not the prez, Don McLardy. Not the board. No one.

Confused or insulted any further?

Connolly sits out for 12 months for saying one sentence - in jest, arguably - in a footy meeting held mid-week and mid-season.

One bloody comment that was - yep - prejudicial to the interests of the AFL.

At times yesterday it felt like Gillon McLachlan was contradicting himself.

On one hand he said they didn't tank, but then admitted he didn't know what tanking was.

Another time, he said: "He (Bailey) felt pressured after that meeting and he made decisions in response to that, resting players and selection of players in certain positions ... there is no evidence that supports, for clarity, that on match day he did anything other than try to win the games and all players tried to win the games."

Another: "There is not just the resting of players and playing them in different positions, because that can be for developmental reasons, many other reasons. There is an admission here that was done to secure a priority pick."

And another: "What I am saying is that he (Bailey) made decisions in response to the pressure of that meeting, that he had to appease Chris Connolly and may have had an impact that goes to success, but he made no conscious decision on match day to lose games".

And, finally: "He made decisions in response to that, which meant that he was resting players and playing players out of position in the context of pressure not to win".

At least McLachlan took all questions and answered as best he could within the parameters of which the lawyers instructed him.

At least he was there.

The absence of chief executive Andrew Demetriou was the elephant in the room, and, though he explained last night there was nothing sinister or evasive about the decision, it wasn't a good look.

"This was a general manager of footy ops operation," he said.

"That's why I wasn't there."

Bad look on a momentous day?

"People can say that, but in keeping with past practices, the general manager of football operations is across all issues, rationales and reasonings and I'm happy to do interviews now that I've read the report."

The most accurate offering yesterday came from McLachlan when he said of tanking: "I don't think anything is in black and white in this world".

And that's why we remain insulted and confused.

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