DAVID King has slammed AFL clubs for their lack of transparency when it comes to injured players and the way their status is communicated publicly.<\/p>\n
Kings said supporters are being treated like fools for not being told the full story when injury reports are released from clubs, calling for the AFL to start introducing fining clubs that are exploiting this tactic.<\/p>\n
The conversation is topical after Melbourne star Clayton Oliver was ruled out of his side’s recent clash against Geelong as a result of a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n
King said clubs are massaging the truth when it comes to this in order to gain an advantage over the opposition.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe clubs treat us like fools, that\u2019s the bottom line,\u201d King said on SEN\u2019s Crunch Time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey treat us like fools with this injury list stuff, they want to massage the truth with all sorts of reporting, they don\u2019t want to give up and extra information to opposition clubs which is ridiculous.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, the fans pay the price for that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Geelong injury list is just ridiculous, the short term, medium term and long term, it\u2019s always been one to two weeks, three to four weeks and five plus.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then when something goes wrong, they say \u2018you\u2019ve got to trust us, you\u2019ve got to believe us when we tell you this\u2019, well we haven\u2019t been able to believe you for the previous five years so why do we have to believe you today.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the clubs are a victim of their own standards here, the reporting of injuries needs to be clarified and corrected in the severe manor by the AFL next season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe game has gone past this stuff, hiding players and massaging the truth, naming your 23 that you know is wrong, you know there\u2019s two players going out.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s just be done with all that stuff, you\u2019re treating the fans like fools. Come down on it hard and if you want to make a change to your team and run the fine line on a player playing or not playing, every change to your team should be a $5000 fine.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you want to do it every week, you\u2019re going to spend $100,000.\u201d<\/p>\n