TOPIC:

I have been basically bored by the AFL this year. There seems to be a predicability about results whereas I thought there were more upsets and close results last year. Todays AFL games were a classic example. The Geelong V North game was at least close on occasions but the other two games were embarrasingly one sided to the point that if you had a mercy rule you would have used it on Gold Coast and St Kilda. There have been 14 games this season where the margin has been 10 goals or more, 2 of these were over 100 points. Many more games have been decided by between 5 - 10 goals . Not that many matches have been in doubt in the last quarter. People are going to be more increasingly reluctant to part with their hard earned to watch such non competitive football. At the midpoint of the season we are in a situation where 7 teams finals chances are already cooked and several of these teams are basket cases.
Again stresses the point that 18 teams are far too many in the competition. The standard is dropping and will continue to drop unless the VFL (oops AFL) makes some hard decisions and I'm not talking about banning polo shirts

I think that the AFL is suffering the same issue that the ARL is being confronted by! As the available pool of talent reduces due to more alternatives being available, sporting and other, the gap between the teams gets bigger but also the gap within teams gets bigger, more b and even c graders being in the squads.

Some teams manage this by being able to attract the free agents and recruiting players within a band with of skill/ability, if you have a very narrow gap between your best and worst it is easier to teach and implement game plans. The Suns, Brisbane St kilda have to wide a gap and no matter how much the commentators laud players they are fundamentally c grade or b- at best.

Sydney is able too narrow the game by being able to use the academy process which is why WCE and F are putting so much effort into it!

Good points Grump, I also think the talent is thin because there are too many teams in the AFL. They have not taken the hard decision of culling the number of teams based in suburban Melbourne and are now starting to reap the consequences.

mikeh wrote: Good points Grump, I also think the talent is thin because there are too many teams in the AFL. They have not taken the hard decision of culling the number of teams based in suburban Melbourne and are now starting to reap the consequences.

mikeh I don't know whether you had a chance to watch a replay of the 1986 SOO. Part of the problem is the ridiculous way that the umpires are adjudicating the games. In the SOO when there was a pack of 3 or 4 there was a whistle and a bounce down. Who wants to watch a poor man's version of rugby when you are supposed to be watching aussie rules?

swan42 wrote:

mikeh wrote: Good points Grump, I also think the talent is thin because there are too many teams in the AFL. They have not taken the hard decision of culling the number of teams based in suburban Melbourne and are now starting to reap the consequences.

mikeh I don't know whether you had a chance to watch a replay of the 1986 SOO. Part of the problem is the ridiculous way that the umpires are adjudicating the games. In the SOO when there was a pack of 3 or 4 there was a whistle and a bounce down. Who wants to watch a poor man's version of rugby when you are supposed to be watching aussie rules?

Every year they replay the old SOO games reminds me how backwards football has gone under the full time coaches & umpires who have collectively destroyed it by trying to justify their positions with absurd "tactics" and adjudications!
It is a very simple game when played the correct way and not trying to reinvent the wheel of the fabric of Australian Rules Football.

Beasley Hutton wrote:

swan42 wrote:

mikeh wrote: Good points Grump, I also think the talent is thin because there are too many teams in the AFL. They have not taken the hard decision of culling the number of teams based in suburban Melbourne and are now starting to reap the consequences.

mikeh I don't know whether you had a chance to watch a replay of the 1986 SOO. Part of the problem is the ridiculous way that the umpires are adjudicating the games. In the SOO when there was a pack of 3 or 4 there was a whistle and a bounce down. Who wants to watch a poor man's version of rugby when you are supposed to be watching aussie rules?

Every year they replay the old SOO games reminds me how backwards football has gone under the full time coaches & umpires who have collectively destroyed it by trying to justify their positions with absurd "tactics" and adjudications!
It is a very simple game when played the correct way and not trying to reinvent the wheel of the fabric of Australian Rules Football.

True those SOO tuesday afternoon games were the best quality footy I have ever seen. Class players demonstrating their skills without all the negative tactics that make the game like Rugby as you say.

mikeh wrote:

Beasley Hutton wrote:

swan42 wrote:

mikeh wrote: Good points Grump, I also think the talent is thin because there are too many teams in the AFL. They have not taken the hard decision of culling the number of teams based in suburban Melbourne and are now starting to reap the consequences.

mikeh I don't know whether you had a chance to watch a replay of the 1986 SOO. Part of the problem is the ridiculous way that the umpires are adjudicating the games. In the SOO when there was a pack of 3 or 4 there was a whistle and a bounce down. Who wants to watch a poor man's version of rugby when you are supposed to be watching aussie rules?

Every year they replay the old SOO games reminds me how backwards football has gone under the full time coaches & umpires who have collectively destroyed it by trying to justify their positions with absurd "tactics" and adjudications!
It is a very simple game when played the correct way and not trying to reinvent the wheel of the fabric of Australian Rules Football.

True those SOO tuesday afternoon games were the best quality footy I have ever seen. Class players demonstrating their skills without all the negative tactics that make the game like Rugby as you say.

I challenge anyone to watch an AFL match where they have no personal investment in the teams participating and you will see many, many occasions in every quarter where the umpires refuse to pay free kick after free kick and as a consequence there will be more and more rugby type mauls.

AFL a total snoozefest. 7000 at a game yesterday.

Swan I must admit I watch most games but it is out of interest to see how WA players are going! Watching Matt De boer play the way he should have been allowed to, Coniglio even Josh Kelly, Conica and Rance with the 33 from peel, Mitch Duncan and Menegola and so on more abt the players than the game.

Grump wrote: Swan I must admit I watch most games but it is out of interest to see how WA players are going! Watching Matt De boer play the way he should have been allowed to, Coniglio even Josh Kelly, Conica and Rance with the 33 from peel, Mitch Duncan and Menegola and so on more abt the players than the game.

In my opinion watching two hours of Sky News's Outsiders programme is on a par with watching ANY AFL game these days.