Why we love the SANFL
Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 3:03 pmHaving a ball, keeping it
Chip Le Grand
04apr06
FOOTBALL may have gone mad. For a proper diagnosis, we will need to wait a few weeks and see whether the early symptoms abate. But on the evidence of the seven games before last night's match, the game is heading towards a place far removed from what the AFL's laws of the game committee intended.
Kicks are up by 10 per cent from last year's season averages and handballs are up by 15 per cent. Teams, on average, touched the ball 33 more times at the weekend than they did last year. Yet inside 50s have not budged, fewer goals were kicked and a smaller percentage of possession was contested.
In simple terms, the game is faster and more furious but going nowhere. For evidence of this, look no further than Fremantle's loss to Hawthorn on Sunday.
Fremantle had 371 possessions and took 170 marks - more than any team in VFL/AFL history. Yet for all the damage Fremantle did on the scoreboard, it may as well have spent two hours practising circle work.
Hawthorn's tactics were splendidly simple. It instructed all six defenders to play in their positions and ignore their opposing forwards when they ran up the field in search of kicks. Aaron Sandilands dropped back, as ruckman are wont to do, and occasionally a wingman dropped into the defensive 50 as well.
And there they waited.
When Fremantle got the ball, it went forward with ease. With loose men everywhere, it had no problems chipping the ball around and retaining possession. It was all too easy. Then it arrived 70metres from goal and had nowhere to go.
Like the big, bad wolf, it huffed and puffed beyond the 50m arc and couldn't budge one brick. The Dockers bombed the ball long, which is the same as a wolf trying to scoot down the chimney. To the surprise of no-one, they finished the game out of breath and 22 points behind. Rarely has so much work been done for so little gain.
Elsewhere, strange things were afoot. Richmond had 331 possessions against the Western Bulldogs but kicked the ball long only 30 times. Carlton had 361 touches along the way to beating Melbourne.
Geelong had 150 handballs. As coach Mark Thompson said yesterday: "If you ended up with 130 handballs in a game of football six years ago you would be angry as buggery."
For now, the AFL is neither angry nor concerned. A league spokesman pointed out that high possession counts and uncontested styles of play are typical of early rounds. As the season progresses, the AFL expects normal transmission to resume.
The league is happy with the way the teams have adapted to the rule changes. The television figures for Thursday night's season opener were strong and first round attendances have been sound despite the unavailability of the MCG.
In announcing the new rules, the AFL's intention was to create a more continuous style of play and more contests for the ball.
Stoppages have been reduced from last year's average of 49 to 43 and clearances are up, which is what the laws of the game committee intended. But the more continuous nature of play has had no impact on scoring, with 26.8 goals scored on average per match last weekend compared with 27.9 goals last year.
The bigger concern is the percentage of contested possession. Last season, only 34.6 per cent of possessions were hard won. Last weekend, that number slipped back to 33.2 per cent.
For a snapshot of how football is being played, consider Byron Schammer's stats for Fremantle on Sunday. Schammer is only 176cm tall, short even by midfield standards. Yet he took 13 marks.
Not that long ago, Stewart Loewe would take 10 marks in a game of football and be judged best on ground. Now we have Schammer pulling down three more marks than Aaron Sandilands. Only they are gifts instead of grabs. This, if nothing else, shows the way in which the value of possession has cheapened. If football was an economy, its inflation rate would rival the Weimar Republic.
It is premature to sheet all this back to the rule changes entirely. Perhaps the style of games we saw over the weekend were the result of too many coaches having too long to think about what the rule changes might mean.
There is the view, held by Swans coach Paul Roos and Adelaide's Neil Craig, that the evolution of ball sports worldwide is towards more defensive, possession-rich games, and that AFL is heading the same way.
But whatever the reason - and it will take a month or two to work things out - the game did not stand still over summer. The pre-season was a taste of things to come and now it is here for everyone to see. The easiest thing in modern football is to get a kick. The hard thing is making it count.
Chip Le Grand
04apr06
FOOTBALL may have gone mad. For a proper diagnosis, we will need to wait a few weeks and see whether the early symptoms abate. But on the evidence of the seven games before last night's match, the game is heading towards a place far removed from what the AFL's laws of the game committee intended.
Kicks are up by 10 per cent from last year's season averages and handballs are up by 15 per cent. Teams, on average, touched the ball 33 more times at the weekend than they did last year. Yet inside 50s have not budged, fewer goals were kicked and a smaller percentage of possession was contested.
In simple terms, the game is faster and more furious but going nowhere. For evidence of this, look no further than Fremantle's loss to Hawthorn on Sunday.
Fremantle had 371 possessions and took 170 marks - more than any team in VFL/AFL history. Yet for all the damage Fremantle did on the scoreboard, it may as well have spent two hours practising circle work.
Hawthorn's tactics were splendidly simple. It instructed all six defenders to play in their positions and ignore their opposing forwards when they ran up the field in search of kicks. Aaron Sandilands dropped back, as ruckman are wont to do, and occasionally a wingman dropped into the defensive 50 as well.
And there they waited.
When Fremantle got the ball, it went forward with ease. With loose men everywhere, it had no problems chipping the ball around and retaining possession. It was all too easy. Then it arrived 70metres from goal and had nowhere to go.
Like the big, bad wolf, it huffed and puffed beyond the 50m arc and couldn't budge one brick. The Dockers bombed the ball long, which is the same as a wolf trying to scoot down the chimney. To the surprise of no-one, they finished the game out of breath and 22 points behind. Rarely has so much work been done for so little gain.
Elsewhere, strange things were afoot. Richmond had 331 possessions against the Western Bulldogs but kicked the ball long only 30 times. Carlton had 361 touches along the way to beating Melbourne.
Geelong had 150 handballs. As coach Mark Thompson said yesterday: "If you ended up with 130 handballs in a game of football six years ago you would be angry as buggery."
For now, the AFL is neither angry nor concerned. A league spokesman pointed out that high possession counts and uncontested styles of play are typical of early rounds. As the season progresses, the AFL expects normal transmission to resume.
The league is happy with the way the teams have adapted to the rule changes. The television figures for Thursday night's season opener were strong and first round attendances have been sound despite the unavailability of the MCG.
In announcing the new rules, the AFL's intention was to create a more continuous style of play and more contests for the ball.
Stoppages have been reduced from last year's average of 49 to 43 and clearances are up, which is what the laws of the game committee intended. But the more continuous nature of play has had no impact on scoring, with 26.8 goals scored on average per match last weekend compared with 27.9 goals last year.
The bigger concern is the percentage of contested possession. Last season, only 34.6 per cent of possessions were hard won. Last weekend, that number slipped back to 33.2 per cent.
For a snapshot of how football is being played, consider Byron Schammer's stats for Fremantle on Sunday. Schammer is only 176cm tall, short even by midfield standards. Yet he took 13 marks.
Not that long ago, Stewart Loewe would take 10 marks in a game of football and be judged best on ground. Now we have Schammer pulling down three more marks than Aaron Sandilands. Only they are gifts instead of grabs. This, if nothing else, shows the way in which the value of possession has cheapened. If football was an economy, its inflation rate would rival the Weimar Republic.
It is premature to sheet all this back to the rule changes entirely. Perhaps the style of games we saw over the weekend were the result of too many coaches having too long to think about what the rule changes might mean.
There is the view, held by Swans coach Paul Roos and Adelaide's Neil Craig, that the evolution of ball sports worldwide is towards more defensive, possession-rich games, and that AFL is heading the same way.
But whatever the reason - and it will take a month or two to work things out - the game did not stand still over summer. The pre-season was a taste of things to come and now it is here for everyone to see. The easiest thing in modern football is to get a kick. The hard thing is making it count.
Honestly terms creeping into football ie "the fast break"are in my opinion along with the overall controllling factor of TV rights and ratings contributing to the downfall of the game as we have known it... (I am only referring to the AFL here).... FFS fast break is basketball not a fargin football term - just like that farce before the opening of the Final for the NAB cup where they introduced the players individually and the fireworks etc all displaying what a media whore the afl has become.... how much more do we want to americanise our great game? geez even cornsey has been known to say the Crows supporter may need to have some official friggin cheer squad to find some voice at the game (sorry i thought barracking was apart of supporting your team) ... (remember that idea a copule of years ago to have the Rod Stewart song played at Aami throughout the game - what a joke) The reason why I will always support local footy is that the integrity has remained over the years... still great to see the one on one contests and the big tackles, crowd particiapation etc.. not to mention real value for money.. another thing that gets right up my nose is that the AFL seem to be breeding "clones" ..... i really believe sadly the big full forward and fullbacks are a thing of the past.. seems like all on the field are between 75 - 90kgs light and super athletic... personally I love the fact that blokes that aren't necessarily built to be elite athletes can show their stuff in the local state comp! (sorry if im not explaing my self too well here, but hopefully you can get my drift)...... Give me our gritty brand of SANFL anyday over what is becoming more and more what a lot of people say the "articifical football league" 
