Judge's bombshell - 25 May 2003 |
FORMER Hawthorn coach Ken Judge dropped a bombshell yesterday when he claimed dual premiership captain and current Hawks director Don Scott asked him to deliberately lose matches.
Judge said on Perth radio yesterday morning that Scott approached him and asked him to lose the final five games of the 1998 season.
At that stage the Hawks were 3-14 and in line to earn the first selection in the national draft and a concession pick for winning five or fewer games.
"Don Scott came to me at one stage when I was coaching Hawthorn, (it was) one of the few times we spoke, and said, 'Don't win another game for the year because we want to put ourselves in the best position as far as the draft goes',"Judge said on 6PR.
"I said, 'You're kidding'."
When contacted later, Judge said the instruction from Scott came in a private meeting.
"I was summoned into a one-on-one meeting with him and he said, 'I don't want you to win another game for the year because it would help our draft situation',"Judge said.
Judge said he strongly disagreed with Scott's suggestion and the Hawks finished the season in a flurry, winning their last five games against Richmond, St Kilda, Brisbane, Geelong and Fremantle to climb to 13th on the ladder with an 8-14 record.
Hawthorn president Ian Dicker said last night he was shocked by Judge's claims.
"I haven't seen or heard what it is you are talking about, so I am limited in what I can offer, but I would be very surprised if Don had said that to Ken,"Dicker said.
"Every pressure on every coach at Hawthorn has always been to win every week and I would be amazed if that was the case."
Dicker said there was "no way"that he would knowingly preside over a Hawthorn board that would entertain the notion of losing matches to gain higher draft selections.
Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse raised eyebrows on Friday when he suggested clubs were willing to sabotage victories in the hope of finishing low down on the AFL ladder to secure prized selections in the national draft.
Malthouse said he'd heard of incidents involving club officials going "behind a coach's back to ensure we don't win the last couple of games".
"When you get to your fifth victory and there's one or two games left I've had officials, who have got nothing to do with the football side, who would rather them finish bottom and not win another game and finish second-bottom because there's (top draft picks) out there,"Malthouse said.
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By DIGBY BEACHAM
HeraldSun - Sunday
https://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/
common/story_page/0,5478,6489563%255E661,00.html
Follow-up stories:
27-05-2003 - HeraldSun - Angry Scott digs in
27-05-2003 - Age - Crisis-hit Hawks put up shutters
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