Melbourne tanking scandal: David Schwarz blasts ‘disgraceful’ period in Demons history after explosive revelations

Former Melbourne player David Schwarz branded his old club ‘disgraceful’ while Brock McLean reveals his regret over his former club’s tanking saga. SEE WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

Former Melbourne player David Schwarz has branded the club’s 2009 tanking scandal “disgraceful” and says the effects turned the club into a “basket case” for almost a decade.

The Herald Sun on Thursday night revealed secret documents which proved senior Melbourne Football Club staff blew the whistle on a conspiracy to lose games.

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More than 80 transcripts were obtained during the Herald Sun’s investigation.

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David Schwarz says Melbourne paid the price for its efforts during 2009 for almost a decade.

After winning just four games in 2009, the Demons were rewarded with the first two picks in that year’s national draft, selecting midfielders Tom Scully and Jack Trengove.

Schwarz conceded he had always had suspicions, describing actions during the Demons’ heavily-scrutinised 2009 campaign as “the world’s worst kept secret”.

“It was a disgraceful period in the footy club (and) from 2009 to basically 2017 they have been a basket case,” Schwarz said.

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“Tanking doesn’t get you anywhere. In fact it set the club back and it’s been almost an epidemic at the club since.

“It’s been really hard to wash away what they did in that period.”

AFL legend Leigh Matthews said tanking was “as big an offence as you can have in footy.”

“If you can prove a club deliberately wasn’t trying their hardest … you would have thought that’s about as big an offence as you can have in footy,” Matthews said on 3AW.

AFL BOSSES: ‘THERE WAS NO TANKING ON MATCH DAY’

Matthews said he was confident Melbourne’s players would have been giving their all, but added it was clear the “off-field wasn’t trying their hardest”.

Schwarz, who played 173 games during a 12-year Demons career, said he felt for the players dragged into the tanking saga.

“I just feel sorry for the players that missed out on games because they were trying to protect not winning four games so they could get either a priority pick or get better draft picks,” he said on Macquarie Sports Radio.

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WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT THE DEES:

AFL BOSS GILLON McLACHLAN

“The players went out to win and they were coached to win, but there was evidence there were decisions made that were prejudicial to interests of the game.

“Tanking means different things to different people. What is important here is to understand what the rules say.

“The advantage of having all this investigation out here is people can see how thorough it is ... people will see it was a tough investigation trying to get to bottom of what happened and at the end ... the charge of not performing on merits on match day couldn’t be sustained.” — McLachlan on 3AW

AFL GREAT JIMMY BARTEL

“Let’s call it what it really is. Tanking is a nice word (but) it’s match fixing — I don’t get why we dance around it. You can’t go out and deliberately stack a game so your side doesn’t win for a future draft pick, that is match fixing and its finest.” — Bartel Macquarie Sports Radio

Former Demons coach Dean Bailey (right) congratulates Brock McLean after a Melbourne win.

FORMER MELBOURNE STAR BROCK McLEAN

“I think it’s a little bit sad that Dean’s not here and able to back up what he said and speak in his defence because I think there will be some people who will call him a liar, and say this isn’t true.

“The playing group went out there with the intention of winning a game. You talk about developing players, but when you put players in positions that they’re never ever going to play in again, I think there’s a distinct difference between those two things.” — McLean on SEN

FORMER DEMONS GREAT DAVID SCHWARZ

“It was a disgraceful period in the footy club (and) from 2009 to basically 2017 they have been a basket case. Tanking doesn’t get you anywhere. In fact it set the club back and it’s been almost an epidemic at the club since. It’s been really hard to wash away what they did in that period.” — Schwarz on Macquarie Sports Radio

LEIGH MATTHEWS

“If you can prove a club deliberately wasn’t trying their hardest … you would have thought that’s about as big an offence as you can have in footy.” — Matthews on 3AW