AFL 2026

[gadj1976]

I still think the best players will always be footballers, not athletes. List fillers, sure, they AFL might go for the fitness freaks. But, how many kids do you see that dominate the 2km time trial at the draft combine, go on to become elite footballers?

As for the media commentary, they also included players like Levi Ashcroft & Matt Rowell in that group. I'm not the biggest Matt Rowell fan, but my god is he a lovely kick up to 40m, both sides. Couple this with his ball winning ability and he will play in the AFL until his mid 30's.

Since the rule changes that occurred this year? That's the big unknown!

[wenchbarwer]

I still think the best players will always be footballers, not athletes. List fillers, sure, they AFL might go for the fitness freaks. But, how many kids do you see that dominate the 2km time trial at the draft combine, go on to become elite footballers?

As for the media commentary, they also included players like Levi Ashcroft & Matt Rowell in that group. I'm not the biggest Matt Rowell fan, but my god is he a lovely kick up to 40m, both sides. Couple this with his ball winning ability and he will play in the AFL until his mid 30's.

Since the rule changes that occurred this year? That's the big unknown!

A smart coach will work out how to circumvent the new rule changes, then we'll have another load of them to interpret. It's all cyclical with the AFL, you just end up with the same problems you started with.

[DOC]

Just watched Chris Scott’s presser specifically about Tyson Stengle, and I found myself saying bullshit.

He was saying he did not know when he would return and that he is not across those type of things.

“ I don’t have a problem with the media speculating, but they are speculating with less information than I have — and I have less information than other people at the club have, who probably have less information than the AFL have,” Scott told journalists at Kardinia Park when questioned on Stengle.”

I then read Fox Footy story regarding it and it happens that he may be telling the actual truth, because if a player fails a drug test then he CANNOT be told,

“” What we just saw there (from Scott), and I think not accidentally, was the illustration of the absurdity of the AFL’s Illicit Drug Policy as it relates to senior coaches,” Whateley said.

“That policy was unveiled last month, and it includes a clause that there’s a $250,000 fine should a senior coach be brought into the loop on the specific information on the breach of the Illicit Drugs (Policy). The changes were the president, the footy manager and CEO can know — and we know that the club doctor and psychologist are the point figures.”

I can’t imagine he wouldn’t know, unless the Footy Manager and the CEO are morons but he can’t say he knows as they will be fined.

“But, if the senior coach is brought into that loop, it comes with a quarter of a million dollar fine. I’m told there was guffawing in the briefing when that was unveiled. I think Ken Hinkley described it best as being ‘typical’, the AFL’s attitude towards senior coaches.

“He said it was ‘crazy’ that players come to their senior coaches for everything, and there’s nothing a coach wouldn’t do to help his player. But, when it comes to potentially the biggest crisis in a player’s life, the coach is specifically excluded.

“What would’ve been interesting today, is if Chris Scott had sat there and illustrated that he did know precisely what was going on with Tyson Stengle, would that have left Geelong open to a quarter of a million dollar fine?”

[gadj1976]

I still think the best players will always be footballers, not athletes. List fillers, sure, they AFL might go for the fitness freaks. But, how many kids do you see that dominate the 2km time trial at the draft combine, go on to become elite footballers?

As for the media commentary, they also included players like Levi Ashcroft & Matt Rowell in that group. I'm not the biggest Matt Rowell fan, but my god is he a lovely kick up to 40m, both sides. Couple this with his ball winning ability and he will play in the AFL until his mid 30's.

Since the rule changes that occurred this year? That's the big unknown!

A smart coach will work out how to circumvent the new rule changes, then we'll have another load of them to interpret. It's all cyclical with the AFL, you just end up with the same problems you started with.

This isn't cyclical - it's been heading toward this for years and will keep evolving.

Whilst I'm on that - another rule to speed the game up that I forgot about - kicking in from full back without the flags being waved. And removing the kick to yourself before you can run outside the square. All designed to speed the game up. And 99% have not made the game easier to watch, nor umpire.

[bertiebeatle1]

William Houghton paying $1.01 to be sacked today as chair of the appeals board

[Booney]

What rule changes do you think have impacted these numbers?

Whilst not a rule per se the length of the games and the length of the season meaning there's simply more opportunity to be injured.

[wenchbarwer]

What rule changes do you think have impacted these numbers?

Whilst not a rule per se the length of the games and the length of the season meaning there's simply more opportunity to be injured.

Remove the 37 byes for each team, problem solvered.

[mighty_tiger_79]

perhaps sports scientists need to take a back seat as well.

[whufc]

I know the rationale behind the constant rotations is around managing fatigue and obviously there is a correlation between fatigue and injuries.

However, the continuous stop/start nature of rotations can't be amazing for muscles.

Maybe slow and steady wins the race so to speak when it comes to preventing injuries. The old podgy midfielder who crawls around all game was doing something right haha. Those blokes never got injured.

[carey]

Has anyone seen umpiring standards as poor as they are right now in the AFL?

This is meant to be the country’s premier competition 'A multi-million dollar industry' not local amateur footy. Yet the level of officiating we’re seeing at the moment is simply the worst I've ever seen, it's a disgrace.

Some of the decisions over the weekend were baffling at best. When an umpire blows the whistle and both teams stop and look around in confusion, that says everything. Right now, it genuinely feels like a lottery at the highest level of footy there is. Disgraceful.

At almost any other level of football, when a whistle goes, players instinctively react and move with the play, they'll literally head down and sprint back to get numbers back. In the AFL at the moment, it's just a pure Lotto were both side just look at the umpire and in some cases laugh! Literally laugh.

With the cost of attending games, food and drink etc at the moment and the standard of umpiring at the minute I can see people simply not attending games. and losing interest in the greatest game in the world.

Rant over.

[Lightning McQueen]

Has anyone seen umpiring standards as poor as they are right now in the AFL?

This is meant to be the country’s premier competition 'A multi-million dollar industry' not local amateur footy. Yet the level of officiating we’re seeing at the moment is simply the worst I've ever seen, it's a disgrace.

Some of the decisions over the weekend were baffling at best. When an umpire blows the whistle and both teams stop and look around in confusion, that says everything. Right now, it genuinely feels like a lottery at the highest level of footy there is. Disgraceful.

At almost any other level of football, when a whistle goes, players instinctively react and move with the play, they'll literally head down and sprint back to get numbers back. In the AFL at the moment, it's just a pure Lotto were both side just look at the umpire and in some cases laugh! Literally laugh.

With the cost of attending games, food and drink etc at the moment and the standard of umpiring at the minute I can see people simply not attending games. and losing interest in the greatest game in the world.

Rant over.

I'm the last bloke to bag umpires but I totally agree with you, it is as bad as it is ever been. Of course the rules make it more challenging but I see so more poor interpretatons of the rules, it's the difference between someone who has played the game vs someone who has scientifically studied the rules.

I only watch games once my SGM starts coming into to play. I've deleted all of my betting apps now so I doubt whether I'll watch too much more moving forward.

[dedja]

Has anyone seen umpiring standards as poor as they are right now in the AFL?

This is meant to be the country’s premier competition 'A multi-million dollar industry' not local amateur footy. Yet the level of officiating we’re seeing at the moment is simply the worst I've ever seen, it's a disgrace.

Some of the decisions over the weekend were baffling at best. When an umpire blows the whistle and both teams stop and look around in confusion, that says everything. Right now, it genuinely feels like a lottery at the highest level of footy there is. Disgraceful.

At almost any other level of football, when a whistle goes, players instinctively react and move with the play, they'll literally head down and sprint back to get numbers back. In the AFL at the moment, it's just a pure Lotto were both side just look at the umpire and in some cases laugh! Literally laugh.

With the cost of attending games, food and drink etc at the moment and the standard of umpiring at the minute I can see people simply not attending games. and losing interest in the greatest game in the world.

Rant over.

I'm the last bloke to bag umpires but I totally agree with you, it is as bad as it is ever been. Of course the rules make it more challenging but I see so more poor interpretatons of the rules, it's the difference between someone who has played the game vs someone who has scientifically studied the rules.

I only watch games once my SGM starts coming into to play. I've deleted all of my betting apps now so I doubt whether I'll watch too much more moving forward.

Nailed it, and I nearly don’t blame the umps themselves. They appear to be taught as robots, interpretating the Laws in a purely legal sense, without any feel whatsoever for the game, it’s as if the AFL is run by lawyers

Add in the farcical review system, when all these Law changes are supposedly to speed up the game, yet we have a clown show when play has moved on for nearly a minute, but then pulled up to reverse a correct decision by a goal umpire. It makes umpiring almost impossible when they’re not given the licence to actually umpire.

Remove the review system, it’s comically based on 1980’s tech anyway, and just let the umps do their job. If they make a mistake, then so be it. The AFL need to be up front about poor decisions and do the hard yards to help umpires be better if the situation dictates that, or acknowledge a job well done, rather than the current farce of denying that anything needs to be changed because it’s all sweet.

Empower them to take control of the game rather than delegate to a 3rd party who is clumsily using ‘science’ rather than being in the heat of the action on the ground.

Having so many umps on the field doesn’t help, with seemingly the furthest one away making a decision overriding the closest.

The best barometer of whether the umpiring has been good has always been when afterwards you say to yourself … didn’t really notice them. The AFL has created a situation where the umpires are now part of the action, attention is actively drawn to them rather than being in the background, just doing their job.

Yep, umpiring is at a low point, but I don’t purely blame those out there on the ground.

[Jimmy_041]

You blokes need to get on the Koolaid

[wenchbarwer]

If you look closely enough, you'll notice there is no soul behind those eyes.

This is what happens when let lawyers run the show.

[Jimmy_041]

Here is a good start

The AFL, including the clown Dillon, should read the Laws of Australian Football, because I doubt any of them have ever read them.

More specfically, this Clause:

18.6 HOLDING THE BALL
18.6.1 Spirit and Intention
The Player who has Possession of the Football will be provided an opportunity to dispose of the football before rewarding an opponent for a Legal Tackle.

18.6.2 Free Kicks - Holding the Ball: Prior Opportunity
Where a Player in Possession of the Football has had Prior Opportunity, a field Umpire shall award a Free Kick if that Player does not Correctly Dispose of the football immediately when they are Legally Tackled.

18.6.3 Free Kicks - Holding the Ball: Incorrect Disposal
Where a Player in Possession of the Football has not had Prior Opportunity, a field Umpire shall award a Free Kick if that Player elects to Incorrectly Dispose of the football when Legally Tackled.

For the avoidance of doubt, a Player does not elect to Incorrectly Dispose of the football when:
(a) the Player genuinely attempts to Correctly Dispose of the football;
(b) the Legal Tackle causes the football to be dislodged from the Player’s possession.

18.6.4 Free Kicks - Holding the Ball: No Genuine Attempt
Where a Player in Possession of the Football has not had Prior Opportunity, a field Umpire shall award a Free Kick if the Player is able to, but does not make a genuine attempt to Correctly Dispose of the football within a reasonable time when Legally Tackled.

18.6.5 Free Kicks - Holding the Ball: Diving on Top of the Football
A field Umpire shall award a Free Kick against a Player who dives on top of or drags the football underneath their body and fails to immediately knock clear or Correctly Dispose of the football when Legally Tackled.

We could probably name 10 - 20 incidents from the weekend when they did not correctly apply Rule 18.6.2 - 18.6.3

I watched 3 games of AdFL on Saturday. The umpires in all 3 games correctly applied the Rules.
Why is it so hard for the AFL umpires to do it correctly.

[Booney]

What happened to being driven forward in the tackle?

[am Bays]

Here is a good start

The AFL, including the clown Dillon, should read the Laws of Australian Football, because I doubt any of them have ever read them.

More specfically, this Clause:

18.6 HOLDING THE BALL
18.6.1 Spirit and Intention
The Player who has Possession of the Football will be provided an opportunity to dispose of the football before rewarding an opponent for a Legal Tackle.

18.6.2 Free Kicks - Holding the Ball: Prior Opportunity
Where a Player in Possession of the Football has had Prior Opportunity, a field Umpire shall award a Free Kick if that Player does not Correctly Dispose of the football immediately when they are Legally Tackled.

18.6.3 Free Kicks - Holding the Ball: Incorrect Disposal
Where a Player in Possession of the Football has not had Prior Opportunity, a field Umpire shall award a Free Kick if that Player elects to Incorrectly Dispose of the football when Legally Tackled.

For the avoidance of doubt, a Player does not elect to Incorrectly Dispose of the football when:
(a) the Player genuinely attempts to Correctly Dispose of the football;
(b) the Legal Tackle causes the football to be dislodged from the Player’s possession.

18.6.4 Free Kicks - Holding the Ball: No Genuine Attempt
Where a Player in Possession of the Football has not had Prior Opportunity, a field Umpire shall award a Free Kick if the Player is able to, but does not make a genuine attempt to Correctly Dispose of the football within a reasonable time when Legally Tackled.

18.6.5 Free Kicks - Holding the Ball: Diving on Top of the Football
A field Umpire shall award a Free Kick against a Player who dives on top of or drags the football underneath their body and fails to immediately knock clear or Correctly Dispose of the football when Legally Tackled.

We could probably name 10 - 20 incidents from the weekend when they did not correctly apply Rule 18.6.2 - 18.6.3

I watched 3 games of AdFL on Saturday. The umpires in all 3 games correctly applied the Rules.
Why is it so hard for the AFL umpires to do it correctly.

This post is useless with out the definitions of prior opportunity on p 15 of the Law book https://play.afl/sites/default/files/2026-02/Laws%20of%20Australian%20Football%202026.pdf
and how those are applied at AFL level and then at community level

Prior Opportunity: a designation to a Player in Possession of the Football who:
(a) is balanced and steady; or
(b) attempts to evade or fend an opponent; or
(c) has taken a Mark or been awarded a Free Kick; or
(d) has driven their head into a stationary or near stationary opponent.

The problem is in AdFl the instructions from Rowston are to only pay HTB as a last resort has to be stone cold motherless caught with the ball. Whereas the AFL blokes are instructed to pay HTB to avoid repeat stoppages as much as possible and keep the game flowing.

The biggest problem is how the AFL umpires are told to interpret the laws for the TV product.

[Jimmy_041]

Yesterday

One minute to go

GWS player gets the ball in the back 50 / runs 6 steps and gets correctly tackled by the North forward.
The ball is not dislodged by the tackle.
No attempt to correctly dispose of the ball - he just let's the ball go
Play on

[am Bays]

Yesterday

One minute to go

GWS player gets the ball in the back 50 / runs 6 steps and gets correctly tackled by the North forward.
The ball is not dislodged by the tackle.
No attempt to correctly dispose of the ball - he just let's the ball go
Play on

Hooray an AFL umpire applying the AdFL interpretation....

[wenchbarwer]

What happened to being driven forward in the tackle?

Cannot remember the last time I saw this paid!