The Melbourne Football Club tanking scandal refers to issues involving the
Melbourne Football Club
The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. It is based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, ...
and allegations that it had
tanked towards the latter part of the
2009 season – that is, that it had intentionally lost matches near the end of the season so that it would receive a
priority draft pick
The priority draft pick is a type of draft selection in the Australian Football League's AFL Draft. Priority draft picks are additional draft picks, located at or near the start of the draft, which are given only to the poorest performing teams, ...
in the upcoming draft. The club was found not guilty of charges related to tanking, but senior coach
Dean Bailey
Dean Bailey (18 January 1967 – 11 March 2014) was an Australian rules football player and coach. He played for the Essendon Football Club and was the senior coach of the Melbourne Football Club, as well as an assistant coach at Essendon an ...
and general manager of football operations
Chris Connolly were both found guilty of related charges.
Background
In August 2012, AFL Integrity Officer Brett Clothier announced a full investigation into Melbourne's 2009 season, regarding allegations that the Demons had tanked games during the season in order to secure a priority draft pick that year, available to clubs winning fewer than five games. The press had published such allegations previously, but the investigation was prompted most specifically by statements from former Melbourne player
Brock McLean
Brock "Chooka" McLean (born 11 March 1986) is an Australian rules footballer who played with the Melbourne Football Club and the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Early life
McLean played his underage football w ...
during a television interview in July 2012, when he revealed that he requested to be traded from the club at the end of 2009 because he was dissatisfied with its match strategies during that time.
Melbourne club officials, led by board chairman Don McLardy, denied the tanking allegations.
Then-senior coach
Dean Bailey
Dean Bailey (18 January 1967 – 11 March 2014) was an Australian rules football player and coach. He played for the Essendon Football Club and was the senior coach of the Melbourne Football Club, as well as an assistant coach at Essendon an ...
had previously made statements, interpreted by some as an admission of tanking, at the press conference which followed his sacking as senior coach in August 2011. Bailey was quoted as saying:
Notable matches in question
Throughout the AFL's investigation into Melbourne's 2009 season, three matches in particular were investigated:
* Round 17, 2009 vs
Sydney Swans
The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a reser ...
: Senior Coach
Dean Bailey
Dean Bailey (18 January 1967 – 11 March 2014) was an Australian rules football player and coach. He played for the Essendon Football Club and was the senior coach of the Melbourne Football Club, as well as an assistant coach at Essendon an ...
made seven changes to the team that was defeated by by 46 points the previous week. In the match, Melbourne made 67 interchange rotations, down from its season average of 85.
* Round 18, 2009 vs : Richmond came from three goals behind to win a very close match by four points after
Jordan McMahon
Jordan McMahon (born 27 May 1983) is an Australian rules football player. McMahon, a native South Australian, was drafted from South Australian National Football League (SANFL) club Glenelg in the 2000 AFL draft as a first round selection (10 ...
kicked the match winning goal
after the final siren. During the match, coach
Dean Bailey
Dean Bailey (18 January 1967 – 11 March 2014) was an Australian rules football player and coach. He played for the Essendon Football Club and was the senior coach of the Melbourne Football Club, as well as an assistant coach at Essendon an ...
placed several players in unusual positions. These included placing ruckman
Paul Johnson and midfielder
James McDonald in the backline; playing forward
Brad Miller in the ruck; placing defenders
James Frawley
James Joseph Frawley (September 29, 1936 – January 22, 2019) was an American director and actor. He was a member of the Actors Studio since around 1961. He was best known for directing ''The Muppet Movie'' (1979) and ''The Monkees'' television ...
and
Matthew Warnock in the forward line, as well as leaving
Russell Robertson
Russell "Robbo" Robertson (born 24 November 1978) is a former professional Australian rules footballer, who last played for the Melbourne Football Club.
Robertson is one of the Melbourne's great goalkickers, being one of just four players in ...
and
Colin Sylvia
Colin Martin Sylvia (8 November 1985 – 28 October 2018) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club and Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Football career
At 15 years of age, ...
out of the game for
Michael Newton and rookie
Jake Spencer.
The ''Herald Sun'' later accused Bailey of making these changes during the match in an attempt to throw the match.
* Round 22, 2009 vs : Dean Bailey moved James Frawley off St Kilda forward
Nick Riewoldt
Nicholas Fredrick Riewoldt ( ; born 17 October 1982) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was the first draft selection in the 2000 AFL draft. He was the ...
, despite Frawley having limited Riewoldt's effect on the game; he shifted
Lynden Dunn
Lynden Dunn (born 14 May 1987) is a retired professional Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League (AFL) for Melbourne from 2005 to 2016 and for Collingwood from 2017 to 2020. He kicked 99 goals in 198 games.
...
onto Riewoldt, and Riewoldt kicked three goals before Frawley was reassigned to him; by that time, Melbourne was in a position where it was unable to win the match. Additionally,
Liam Jurrah was benched in the third quarter despite kicking two goals; he did not return to the field until late in the final quarter.
Outcome
The investigation lasted 203 days and Clothier interviewed over 50 people associated with the club. The league released its findings in February 2013, and found the club not guilty of tanking.
However, it did find Dean Bailey and then-general manager of football operations
Chris Connolly guilty of acting in a manner prejudicial to the interests of the competition. This related most specifically to a meeting in July 2009, which became known colloquially as "the vault", in which Connolly allegedly openly discussed the potential benefits to the club of tanking.
The guilty parties received the following penalties:
* Connolly, who was still at the club in 2013 but serving in a role outside the football department, was suspended from serving in any position at any club for 12 months (until 1 February 2014, or 22 matches); while he was subsequently sacked by the club in October 2013, this was not directly linked to the tanking scandal.
* Bailey, who had been fired as Melbourne coach in 2011 and was serving as an assistant coach at the Adelaide Crows, was suspended from his position for the first sixteen matches of the 2013 season and barred from having any contact with the Crows' playing group during that time.
* The Melbourne Football Club, which was complicit to the offending in its capacity as Connolly's and Bailey's employer, was fined $500,000.
None of Melbourne, Connolly or Bailey contested these penalties.
See also
*
List of Australian sports controversies
References
{{2013 AFL season
Australian rules football controversies
Controversies in Australia
Match fixing
Melbourne Football Club
Sports scandals in Australia