The Old Dark Navy's
Moderator
- Moderator
- #5,476
Happy for the Dees that this will go no further but puzzled as to what it all means, like everybody else I guess.
If Connolly said to secure a priority pick and Bailey felt pressured to do so, and as a result of that Connolly direction, Bailey changed his selections and played around with positions, and that is clearly what the AFL have said he did that was prejudicial to the AFL's best interests, then clearly that has been enacted on the field and affected a match.
If Bailey changed selections and positions for a reason other than Connolly's direction, i.e experimentation, future development blah blah blah, then what the hell has Bailey been suspended for?
There is absolutely no middle ground there.
If doing what Bailey did is prejudicial to the AFL's best interest, then suspend every bloody coach that has done that towards the end of a season.
No, the issue is that the AFL have found Bailey did something at Connolly's direction that affected the team on match day. The only way for the AFL to find this is for Bailey to tell them. Of course the players tried hard in whatever position they were in, and didn't deliberately exhibit less skill on the day in order to lose.
Sanction Connolly for saying it in the first place ... deserves it for being so indiscreet. Fine Melbourne because they are responsible for the performance of their employees ... fine. They did that to Carlton after the idiots had been ousted from the club prior to our salary cap penalties. All good on that score.
However, you can not sanction Bailey unless Bailey tried to affect the result of a game. He has no other bearing aside from this. The AFL stuffed up. This only flies if Bailey walks away unscathed.
If Connolly said to secure a priority pick and Bailey felt pressured to do so, and as a result of that Connolly direction, Bailey changed his selections and played around with positions, and that is clearly what the AFL have said he did that was prejudicial to the AFL's best interests, then clearly that has been enacted on the field and affected a match.
If Bailey changed selections and positions for a reason other than Connolly's direction, i.e experimentation, future development blah blah blah, then what the hell has Bailey been suspended for?
There is absolutely no middle ground there.
If doing what Bailey did is prejudicial to the AFL's best interest, then suspend every bloody coach that has done that towards the end of a season.
No, the issue is that the AFL have found Bailey did something at Connolly's direction that affected the team on match day. The only way for the AFL to find this is for Bailey to tell them. Of course the players tried hard in whatever position they were in, and didn't deliberately exhibit less skill on the day in order to lose.
Sanction Connolly for saying it in the first place ... deserves it for being so indiscreet. Fine Melbourne because they are responsible for the performance of their employees ... fine. They did that to Carlton after the idiots had been ousted from the club prior to our salary cap penalties. All good on that score.
However, you can not sanction Bailey unless Bailey tried to affect the result of a game. He has no other bearing aside from this. The AFL stuffed up. This only flies if Bailey walks away unscathed.