Tanking didn't happen - Drum

FORMER Fremantle coach Damian Drum says his side didn’t tank in the final round of the 1999 AFL season against Geelong to secure the draft picks that ultimately landed Paul Haselby and Matthew Pavlich.The notion of tanking for draft picks continues to be a major negative hanging over the AFL as it undermines the game’s integrity, with the issue surfacing as far back as a decade ago.Ten years ago, with Drum - who is now the chairman of the Bendigo Football League and Nationals MP for the Northern Victorian Region - in his first year as coach, the Dockers travelled to Skilled Stadium for the final round of the 1999 season to take on the Cats.The Dockers had five wins on the board, meaning a last-round victory over the Cats would cost them the opportunity for a priority pick at the upcoming national draft.In a match that has since been dubbed “The Haselby Game’’, the Dockers led at half-time by nine points.However, in the second half the Cats piled on 14.2 to the Dockers’ 3.8 to record a 51-point victory, 21.13 (139) to 13.10 (88).Later in the year, the Dockers, courtesy of their five wins, secured Haselby with their priority pick - No.2 overall in the draft - and with pick No.4, the club drafted Matthew Pavlich.A decade on, Haselby has won a Rising Star Award, earned All-Australian selection and three times finished in the top-three of the Dockers’ best and fairest.Pavlich’s record is even more impressive - five best and fairests, six All-Australian guernseys, five-time leading goalkicker and captain since 2007.Speaking yesterday about the match at Skilled Stadium a decade ago, Drum conceded that game had always created conjecture about the reward for losing.“I have always maintained that you can’t do it (tank),’’ Drum said.”I know (former Richmond and Western Bulldogs’ coach) Terry Wallace has effectively said you can coach in a manner that may be able to assist the team to lose.“But certainly the way you talk to your players, the team you pick, the team you put out on the ground, effectively, you have to coach to win.“It’s what is built into you and that’s certainly the way we coached that day.’’Drum is adamant that the AFL must change its rules in relation to the priority pick.“I have said all along that the rules are wrong . . . when a coaching group goes into the coaches’ box and feels compromised then there’s something wrong,’’ he said.“We knew very well that if we lost that game (against Geelong) we were going to receive an additional draft pick, and I’ve always maintained that the AFL has to address this.“But to this day, I still maintain that we did everything we could in that game to win; we were over-run by a stronger Geelong team.“Back in that year, it wasn’t anything unusual that we were in front at a certain stage of the game, but got over-run in the second half.’’Drum coached Fremantle from 1999 to round nine, 2001, ending his 53 games at the Dockers with a win-loss record of 13-40.He later coached Bendigo’s VFL side, the Diggers, in 2002.