The AFL Commission have scrapped the priority pick rule with immediate effect, and they will decide on any future assistance to be given to any of the 18 clubs at their own discretion.
In recent years 'tanking' has become one of the AFL's buzzwords, with teams battling at the bottom end of the ladder in the latter stages of the season often accused of not trying their best to win games.
That was because when teams claimed 16 points or fewer in a home-and-away season they would be awarded an extra pick at the end of the first round of the national draft, while if they did so two years running they would automatically receive the first pick in the draft.
This view was reinforced by comments from Dean Bailey following his sacking as Melbourne coach last year in which he suggested he had coached the Demons to 'ensure the club was well placed for draft picks' early in his tenure.
But having alerted the 18 clubs of their intention to consider changes to the special assistance rules, the AFL confirmed on Tuesday that the Commission had decided to dump the rule in its current form.
Instead there will be 'stricter criteria' developed and then applied when considering whether or not to assist clubs that perform poorly.
Likely to be factored into this criteria are premiership points over several years, percentage over the same period, finals appearances and premierships in the recent past and injury rates in the relevant seasons.
When the new version of the rules is introduced football operations manager Adrian Anderson will make a recommendation to the Commission if he believes a club should be awarded a priority pick and it will then be up to the Commission as to whether to award it.
If this system had been in place two years ago then West Coast would likely not have received a priority pick for winning just four of their 22 games as they finished with their first wooden spoon, a pick they used to draft Jack Darling.
Anderson said the Commission felt a need to make a change because the 'balance ... under the rules was no longer right for the competition'.
"The Commission accepted a recommendation that stricter conditions for any Special Assistance should be developed," Anderson said.
"The old rule had become a permanent feature of the draft that skewed the draft in favour of the bottom clubs of that particular year, relative to other clubs near them on the ladder."
"The Draft, along with the TPP (total player payments) and salary cap rules, are designed to ensure an even spread of talent between the clubs and clubs should not be over-compensated for a short period of poor performance."
"As clubs have become more sophisticated with talent identification and development of young players, the success around early picks in the draft has become much greater."