News that the AFL investigation into Melbourne tanking is gathering pace is like a blow to the stomach of any Demons supporter.

I always felt a lack of effort and will to win was evident in Demon games in 2009. It was also evident in 2007 and 2008 when the club won eight games combined.

2010 when they won eight seemed to also have a fair bit of the ‘can’t be stuffed’ about it.

When Cameron Schwab’s rebuild plan the ‘Red and BluePrint’ was really driving into effect, the Dees had that wonderful 8 win season in 2011 and managed to really take it up another notch.

Schwab’s master plan really paid dividend this season too, with four wins.

Outstanding.

Now it looks like these geniuses, from Bailey to Schwab and the entire board, have placed the club further into harms way by possible sanctions for tanking in 2009.

In my mind, whether Melbourne ‘tanked’ or not hardly matters. The entire administration is culpable for gross mismanagement regardless.

Now it seems, those complicit in the deception, are folding like a house of cards.

This is hardly surprising. The fact they can’t even execute a cover up under pressure is true to form.

I watched Brock Maclean from the moment he joined the club. I would have seen all his games, the majority live. To say he needed encouragement to not try is a joke. Brock’s application was sporadic at best. His effort was normally poor and only now at Carlton under the threat of delisting has he turned it around.

Now he’s acting like 2009 was some different set of circumstances and has happily thrown everyone under the bus. As if the tanking had some impact on his desire to compete. Well, Melbourne supporters remember all those other years Brock, you tanked the lot.

Bailey is not much better. He was terrible as a coach and post-2009 seemed to continue on like he never received the memo the tanking was over. Were we tanking when we got belted by Geelong to the tune of 186 points in 2011? Bailey had one gear for his entire tenure, 2009 is a handy excuse when his coaching ability could be explained away. Even then they couldn’t tank properly. If Richmond hadn’t booted a miracle goal after the siren they would have won.

Then there is Cameron Schwab and Chris Connolly. Two snake oil salesmen.

When they were appointed, I wondered what all the hype was about. They hadn’t been anywhere near success in their collective careers, yet the Demons portrayed it as some kind of coup.

The fact they have survived the last few years is negligent on the Board’s behalf. They should have gone along with Bailey, and all that talk of not wanting to disrupt the club by getting rid of them all is a joke. Disrupt what? Would we get worse?

Lastly, there is the Board itself. Obviously, with the very sad chapter of Jim Stynes’ death and a lack of knowledge about how intimately they knew of the tanking, makes it hard to draw any strong conclusions.

Yet the only real plus of the past few years has been the debt demolition program driven by Stynes. A few other highlights off the field are really just a board doing its job.

With Melbourne it’s necessary to adopt the George Costanza approach. We need to do the opposite of what the instincts of those currently running the club would do to be successful.

I would sit Cameron Schwab down and ask him everything he thinks we should do to restore the club. I would then go all in on doing the opposite.

Now, do I think Melbourne tanked? Probably. But really how did it differ from the culture this club has shown for the last twenty years?

Melbourne’s record from 1991 to 2011 was 190 wins, 266 losses and 4 draws. That’s a 41.78 win percentage. Only Fremantle (40.37%) and Richmond (40.24%) were worse and the Dockers were an expansion team in that time.

These three teams are substantially worse than the rest of the league. Here’s the full list with every team which shows they are in a class of their own.

If the AFL finds Melbourne guilty of tanking, I personally hope they consider the last three years of abysmal football as retrospective time served.

Another punishment would be to leave this Board in place and sign Cameron Schwab for another three years.

The real people being punished will be the fans who have already put up with enough. Those running the club deserve everything they get but sanctions that will cripple this club on the field (if that is possible) just punishes the fans who have put up with more than enough for a very long time.

The only way to fix Melbourne is to forget about past ‘Melbourne people’. The club has sucked forever, none of them have the necessary experience.

We need to do the opposite of everything we have instinctively done. It’s the only way because Demon fans have had enough of this.