ESSENDON coach Matthew Knights said the League should consider introducing a new drafting system after tanking again became a talking point over the weekend.

While Knights called tanking "disgraceful” and said he doesn't believe in it, he suggested a lottery-type draft needed to be looked at in order to eliminate the idea it existed among lower ranked teams. 

However, he said a lottery draft would have to be structured so the bottom-placed sides had a bigger chance to snare the top selections.

"Following [NBA] basketball's [lottery system], I think there would have to be more favoured odds that the lower teams would get that first or second pick”, he said.

"I probably don't like the certainty of the bottom team definitely getting the first pick in the draft."

The Bombers have not had a No.1 national selection in the 23-year history of the draft, although they did secure Scott Gumbleton at pick No.2 in 2006.

Knights said he believed quality players can still come from outside the top selections, and it was up to the club to manage them once they were recruited. He singled out David Myers, Paddy Ryder and Michael Hurley as players who came from outside the top-five selections that were developing well at Essendon.

"Part of the mystique of drafting is how you develop the players once they get here," he said.

"They've still got a lot to learn once they even arrive. They're not ready-made players, even if they're high picks, so you've got to do a lot of work with those players once they get here.”

Knight said he was disappointed to again have the issue of tanking raised within the industry.

"You're coaching 22 really motivated young men, and when you put them out on the ground, they want to win the game," he said.

"I don't like [tanking] and I don't believe in it."

"I think it's a real blight on our industry, and it really disappoints me when I see the word being bandied around football circles because I don't think it's what Australian Rules football is all about."