McGuire was asked on Monday whether the encouraging performances of the Western Bulldogs and, to a lesser extent, St Kilda and Melbourne this season — clubs that have struggled on field in recent seasons — had meant equalisation was working.

He replied that "equalisation is the greatest myth of all time, as financial equalisation".

"That is to have an uncompromised draft and not to have any of these other elements on the side, whether it's a cost-of-living component, or whether it's zones or whether it's academies, or anything else," he said.

"Everybody has to have the same opportunity to recruit the players based on the ladder. The draft works. The best football we have ever had was when we finally washed out the benefits that the Brisbane Lions received in the late '90s, and that took about 10 years.

"Now we are getting to a stage where we are washing through where you saw the two new teams coming in, Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney, and that is probably part of the problem for some clubs that have been stagnant for a while. Melbourne get access to some good players - they are starting to look like a good side.