"Fixing" the AFL

[HH3]

Thank you for helping me see the errors of my ways. I am forever in your debt.

PS. Your hair looks great today

No problem mate

[Booney]

Jeez, sorry for posting an afl article about a possible change to the afl in a thread titled fixing the afl. How foolish of me

It's an easy mistake to make, we don't have a "******* up the AFL" thread so you really had nowhere else to put it.

[bennymacca]

Fixing is in quotations.

[HH3]

He makes a good point.

F**k you Booney.

#TeamBennymacca

[JK]

Spot on Booney. Exactly why you'd trial it first. If it makes the game worse scrap it, if it makes it better, keep bit. Simple.
As Bill Heslop said "You Can't Stop Progress"

Problem is much of what gets trialed gets implemented as a way of justifying the trial in the first place.

Why is there still 9 point goals in the pre season?

Not advocating bringing it in, but surely this should have been booted from those games a long time ago.

Spot on

[whufc]

CRAPOLA IDEA

More space, fitter players, higher skilled kickers= basketball

Coast to coast goals would become the norm and marks would be in the hundreds.

[Wedgie]

CRAPOLA IDEA

More space, fitter players, higher skilled kickers= basketball

Coast to coast goals would become the norm and marks would be in the hundreds.

More space = basketball?
You are aware of the dimensions of a basketball court aren't you?

[Feenix]

CRAPOLA IDEA

More space, fitter players, higher skilled kickers= basketball

Coast to coast goals would become the norm and marks would be in the hundreds.

That would make for more Supercoach points

[whufc]

CRAPOLA IDEA

More space, fitter players, higher skilled kickers= basketball

Coast to coast goals would become the norm and marks would be in the hundreds.

More space = basketball?
You are aware of the dimensions of a basketball court aren't you?

I'm just saying I believe more space in the AFL will turn the game into a style like basketball where a majority of times teams will just coast to their attacking 50m arc without much pressure hitting easy uncontested targets the whole way and teams will just defend by purely guarding from around the 55m mark. The game will just be teams swapping going coast to coast

To some that is entertaining to me that's not I prefer a contest and I don't mind a tough scrap

In saying that I prefer rugby union now to Aussie rules so that might explain it

[Booney]

CRAPOLA IDEA

More space, fitter players, higher skilled kickers= basketball

Coast to coast goals would become the norm and marks would be in the hundreds.

More space = basketball?
You are aware of the dimensions of a basketball court aren't you?

I'm just saying I believe more space in the AFL will turn the game into a style like basketball where a majority of times teams will just coast to their attacking 50m arc without much pressure hitting easy uncontested targets the whole way and teams will just defend by purely guarding from around the 55m mark. The game will just be teams swapping going coast to coast

To some that is entertaining to me that's not I prefer a contest and I don't mind a tough scrap

In saying that I prefer rugby union now to Aussie rules so that might explain it

Coast to coast isn't from 50m arc to 50m arc though.

I admire your persistence though.

[Wedgie]

The old create more space and it'll become like a sport that plays in a small space trick!
Check out videos of the 80s mate, it was awesome footy to watch.
I've gone off rugby union recently after being a big fan for a decade, it's going backwards with crowds going downhill in Australia.
Have you considered Royal Rumble wrestling? Sounds like it would be your thing, or filling phone boxes with people.

[whufc]

The old create more space and it'll become like a sport that plays in a small space trick!
Check out videos of the 80s mate, it was awesome footy to watch.
I've gone off rugby union recently after being a big fan for a decade, it's going backwards with crowds going downhill in Australia.

I've seen lots of videos of games in the 80's and I agree it was awesome but from the videos there was a lot more contested marks, contests etc than we see these days

Agree rugby union is going backwards and will continue to

[whufc]

CRAPOLA IDEA

More space, fitter players, higher skilled kickers= basketball

Coast to coast goals would become the norm and marks would be in the hundreds.

More space = basketball?
You are aware of the dimensions of a basketball court aren't you?

I'm just saying I believe more space in the AFL will turn the game into a style like basketball where a majority of times teams will just coast to their attacking 50m arc without much pressure hitting easy uncontested targets the whole way and teams will just defend by purely guarding from around the 55m mark. The game will just be teams swapping going coast to coast

To some that is entertaining to me that's not I prefer a contest and I don't mind a tough scrap

In saying that I prefer rugby union now to Aussie rules so that might explain it

Coast to coast isn't from 50m arc to 50m arc though.

I admire your persistence though.

Maybe coast to coast isn't the correctly terminology but I feel with 16 teams will get the ball anywhere in their defensive area and then just pick there hitting targets who are 10-15m on there own all the way up their ground

The game will cater more and more for the Hawthorn style teams which is highly skilful etc but personally not the style of the game I like to watch

Like yourself Booney I'm not sure why there is a need for constant changes in the game, I was going to use the word tinkering in most cases there pretty dramatic changes

[Wedgie]

Only one way to find out.

[whufc]

Only one way to find out.

Agree and I don't mind trying things but does the AFL have a vision of what a 'better AFL' is, a lot of these changes seem like change for the sake of change.

What do they judge makes a game better than it was before, Is it goals scored, possessions in a game, marks taken etc etc

I'm not so certain the AFL knows what they want the comp to look like, one minute there speeding the game up, next minute there slowing it down etc

[JK]

As with every rule change, the coaches will adapt and then exploit it in ways the AFL hadn't been able to foresee and we'll be no better off, what then 13-a-side?

Wouldn't be opposed to it being trialled, but don't have faith in the AFL keeping it to just a trial.

[whufc]

As with every rule change, the coaches will adapt and then exploit it in ways the AFL hadn't been able to foresee and we'll be no better off, what then 13-a-side?

Wouldn't be opposed to it being trialled, but don't have faith in the AFL keeping it to just a trial.

I could be completely wrong but I feel like the massive flood would be back on the cards with 16 a side

If you couldn't stop teams from hitting targets coming out of defence because the extra space they have to work through I could see teams just sitting back and giving up ground and zoning from 55-60m out from goals with every defender within that space. From there you look to force a turnover or low percentage shot from distance

Similar to how in basketball teams will generally defend from the 3 point arc, and at certain times inforce a press.

[bennymacca]

As with every rule change, the coaches will adapt and then exploit it in ways the AFL hadn't been able to foresee and we'll be no better off, what then 13-a-side?

Wouldn't be opposed to it being trialled, but don't have faith in the AFL keeping it to just a trial.

I could be completely wrong but I feel like the massive flood would be back on the cards with 16 a side

If you couldn't stop teams from hitting targets coming out of defence because the extra space they have to work through I could see teams just sitting back and giving up ground and zoning from 55-60m out from goals with every defender within that space. From there you look to force a turnover or low percentage shot from distance

Similar to how in basketball teams will generally defend from the 3 point arc, and at certain times inforce a press.

the difference between basketball and footy is you dont get the ball when they score.

I think moving to 16 would make the game more free flowing.

What I dont know is what would happen to key position players.

It could make teams play forwards in their traditional positions, as it will be harder for the whole team to run end to end with less players.

Or it could mean they just choose a smaller team that has better running ability.

My guess might be the latter, which wouldn't be a good thing. But its worth trialling imo

[whufc]

Agree Benny, I think less numbers would see the game go back to look for athletes rather than footballers.

Would be interesting to see what happens with ruckman whether they will become even more Important or completely redundant.

I guess that's one of the questions I have, does free flowing equal a better game, does it get to a point where the game could be too free flowing

Where do you stop? In 15 years time would 16-a-side not be free flowing enough and would people want 14-a-side (it will be interesting to follow t20 crickey over the next 5 years for that answer)

Is there any non negiotables! I mean once guys learn to kick a round ball the game will become more free flowing because the ball will be easier to read and bounce straight (obviously an exaggeration) but seriously what are the non negiotables that make Aussie Rules Aussie Rules

[bennymacca]

Agree Benny, I think less numbers would see the game go back to look for athletes rather than footballers.

Would be interesting to see what happens with ruckman whether they will become even more Important or completely redundant.

I guess that's one of the questions I have, does free flowing equal a better game, does it get to a point where the game could be too free flowing

The other thing we need to be careful of is not looking through rose coloured glasses at the games in the 80s and 90s.

Nowadays we only see the best games. And they look great. But so do the best games from today.

The amount of coverage is also crazy these days. If a shit game happens, it gets picked apart.

If a shit game happened on a bog heap at moorabbin in the 80s it would have gotten a paragraph in the paper and thats it.


Having said that I would love to see a game with lots of contests but not too many stoppages.

I also think that despite things never changing like umpiring etc, the game is in pretty good shape. the best teams are still very good to watch. The bad teams are shite and thats probably more to do with the dilution of talent because of the expansion teams than anything else.