AFL players moving to American Football

[Aussie in exile]

I honestly think if the NFL thought any AFL player was capable of playing NFL at top level they would sign him.
Because they haven't suggests to me they don't.
Off course the NFL could be wrong.

 

[Furn2]

The NFL has more injuries that he AFL which makes sense considering sitting for long periods is the number 1 cause of injury in the workplace.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

The NFL has more injuries that he AFL which makes sense considering sitting for long periods is the number 1 cause of injury in the workplace.

Too much muscle, too big too strong

Human body isn't supposed to function like that, people aren't meant to be God-like

 

[calyam]

I honestly think if the NFL thought any AFL player was capable of playing NFL at top level they would sign him.
Because they haven't suggests to me they don't.
Off course the NFL could be wrong.

I doubt they have spent much time scouting Union or League but I'm guessing that might change now. I'm sure there are some scouts that would be on the look out for punters given our prior success.

 

[Boxhead182]

Do any of you blokes play Gridiron in Australia? I do here in Vic

 

[ydraw]

As a comparison, it's like saying some bloke in the NFL that couldn't run a 3km time trial in under 15 minutes can make the transition to the AFL.

There's a reason why the US AFL draft combine is targeting basketballers and not American footballers.

To be fair, the main reason the AFL draft combine is targeting basketballers is that most clubs are looking for blokes 6'8" or taller to play as ruckmen. They don't invite many 5'11" point guards to those combines. There are plenty of 6 foot guys to pick from in Australia already. But America, with it's much larger population, is a better source of ridiculously tall Athletes. And most of those ridiculously tall athletes gravitated to basketball rather than NFL as youngsters for obvious reasons.

 

[Ogopogo]

I gain all my information through another source

Telepathy?

 

[Ogopogo]

Spoken like someone who doesn't understand the technical side of it. The battles between O Line and defensive front 7, hand work from edge rushers, running game, battles between receivers and secondary, athleticism, hits, all of it I find more entertaining along with the fact that you rarely get an officiating mistake, better camera work and replays, better analysis etc.

To each their own. I understand the NFL game quite well, but find the AFL to be far more entertaining.

 

[Ogopogo]

Just to make a point about the NFL marketing machine: how many Australians watch the Canadian Football League? I suspect virtually zero. Nowhere near the same amount of hype.

 

[Damon_3388]

Just to make a point about the NFL marketing machine: how many Australians watch the Canadian Football League? I suspect virtually zero. Nowhere near the same amount of hype.

What exactly does this "prove" about the NFL?

 

[Elvis]

AFL skills and athleticism just don't compare with the top talent in the NFL. It's crazy to think that any of our footballers could make a meaningful transition to NFL in anything but special teams.

Let's pick just one test to highlight the discrepancy. At the NFL combine, and the AFL draft testing they perform the exact same test - the vertical jump. For the AFL draft, in the entire history of that this has been tested, the best result has been 88cm. We'll touch upon who scored that in a min.

At this years NFL draft combine the best result was by a guy called Chris Conley. He scored a vertical jump of 114cm. You may also wanna check out a guy called Byron Jones who scored 113cm, and whilst there check out his broad jump video on youtube.

Now Chris is a wide receiver and is 188cm and 97kg. It's not unreasonable to think that an AFL player could reach a similar body shape. Lets pick Kade Kolodjashnij who is 190cm and 85kg. I pick him cos at the 2013 AFL draft testing he topped the testing with a score of 79cm. We are talking about a 35cm difference - yes there are age differences for when the tests are conducted, but the difference in resuls is stark. Again from an AFL perspective Dean Towers is impressive with a vertical jump result of 85cm which was the best results from the 2012 tests. Dean is 189cm and 87kg. NicNat has a few mentions in this thread - his result was 78cm. Even with his record "running" vertical jump results, Natanui scored 102 cm, still well short of Conley's standing 114cm.
As mentioned earlier, the best result in the AFL draft test was 88cm - the guy was Marvin Baynham - an undrafted African American kid invited to the draft testing and broke the AFL record!

AFL players are great athletes in their own right, but to think that they have meaningful transferable athletic qualities for the NFL is stretching things a fair bit I would suggest. This is not a poor reflection on the qualities or athleticism it takes to play our game which are highly honed for what is required for AFL, but it is an entirely different proposition to think they can compare with a sport designed for short, sharp, powerful bursts and highly specialised positions.

 

[Ogopogo]

What exactly does this "prove" about the NFL?

I have spent enough time in this thread, I will end it here.

To each their own but, IMHO, Australia has got a better sport.

 

[Damon_3388]

To each their own but, IMHO, Australia has got a better sport.

That's great, but it's not what the thread is about, or what anyone is trying to argue for/against.

 

[ZeroGlass]

All this time I thought I watched the NFL because I loved it, turns out it was marketing all along. Don Lane lied to me.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

Just to make a point about the NFL marketing machine: how many Australians watch the Canadian Football League? I suspect virtually zero. Nowhere near the same amount of hype.

or quality, plus they are different games

 

[Spook]

Spoken like someone who doesn't understand the technical side of it. The battles between O Line and defensive front 7, hand work from edge rushers, running game, battles between receivers and secondary, athleticism, hits, all of it I find more entertaining along with the fact that you rarely get an officiating mistake, better camera work and replays, better analysis etc.

Yea that's all entertaining stuff I agree; for a whole 6 seconds every 3 minutes

 

[Furn2]

AFL skills and athleticism just don't compare with the top talent in the NFL. It's crazy to think that any of our footballers could make a meaningful transition to NFL in anything but special teams.

Let's pick just one test to highlight the discrepancy. At the NFL combine, and the AFL draft testing they perform the exact same test - the vertical jump. For the AFL draft, in the entire history of that this has been tested, the best result has been 88cm. We'll touch upon who scored that in a min.

At this years NFL draft combine the best result was by a guy called Chris Conley. He scored a vertical jump of 114cm. You may also wanna check out a guy called Byron Jones who scored 113cm, and whilst there check out his broad jump video on youtube.

Now Chris is a wide receiver and is 188cm and 97kg. It's not unreasonable to think that an AFL player could reach a similar body shape. Lets pick Kade Kolodjashnij who is 190cm and 85kg. I pick him cos at the 2013 AFL draft testing he topped the testing with a score of 79cm. We are talking about a 35cm difference - yes there are age differences for when the tests are conducted, but the difference in resuls is stark. Again from an AFL perspective Dean Towers is impressive with a vertical jump result of 85cm which was the best results from the 2012 tests. Dean is 189cm and 87kg. NicNat has a few mentions in this thread - his result was 78cm. Even with his record "running" vertical jump results, Natanui scored 102 cm, still well short of Conley's standing 114cm.
As mentioned earlier, the best result in the AFL draft test was 88cm - the guy was Marvin Baynham - an undrafted African American kid invited to the draft testing and broke the AFL record!

AFL players are great athletes in their own right, but to think that they have meaningful transferable athletic qualities for the NFL is stretching things a fair bit I would suggest. This is not a poor reflection on the qualities or athleticism it takes to play our game which are highly honed for what is required for AFL, but it is an entirely different proposition to think they can compare with a sport designed for short, sharp, powerful bursts and highly specialised positions.

Yeah who would have thought a 23 year old with absolutely zero need for endurance would have a higher vertical leap than a bunch of 17 year olds that need to do a minimum 14 beep test to get drafted.

 

[TheOz]

Yea that's all entertaining stuff I agree; for a whole 6 seconds every 3 minutes

But dude, the stuff that happens off the field in between plays is where all the interesting tactical stuff plaigirising Ancient Greek and Roman battle tactics that modern day people who don't happen to be wife beating or dog torturing thugs would never understand happens, it's why the Greeks used the ask madden option at Thermopylae.

 

[base615]

Just to make a point about the NFL marketing machine: how many Australians watch the Canadian Football League? I suspect virtually zero. Nowhere near the same amount of hype.

How many watch the NEAFL?

 

[base615]

Yea that's all entertaining stuff I agree; for a whole 6 seconds every 3 minutes

I take the humorous point. There can be a lot of stop / start in the game and this isn't for everyone, although this is reducing as hurry up offences become more popular and higher pass / run ratios mean that more of the game is actually spent playing as a result of receivers getting out of bounds.

My point a few posts ago about better replays etc help with this as there's a lot more ability to analyse certain plays when there are gaps in play. When you're actually at the game as well you can go for a piss or grab a beer without missing much of the game unlike AFL where everyone saves it up for the quarters.

I actually like the short playing time. I tend to watch a lot of games on Game Pass using condensed mode and you can watch a game, one play after another non-stop, in about 35 minutes. This is great as I can watch the Bears games (and maybe a couple of others) live, but I can finish the week having watched every single game in the league on condensed without having to devote a huge amount of time to it. With AFL it's an entire weekend's worth of watching to do the same which pisses the wife off.

 

[swiftdog]

I always find the line of "only x amount of actual game time in y amount of minutes" amusing considering our nation's fondness for cricket. I imagine test cricket would be batting at a pretty similar sort of ratio.

 

[bluemoon86]

Hayne's runs in the NFL preseason games reminded me of Robbie Gray, although Gray is a bit shorter and leaner.

 

[JoondalupJ]

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/a...-could-do-it-too/story-fnp04d70-1227501234121

While this article screams of a desperate attempt to sell papers (Cyril Rioli ffs), is their realistically a current AFL player that could make it in a non punting role? Obviously if say a Jonathan Brown, Barry Hall, Nat Fyfe etc were born in the USA and started playing at a young age they have a shot. But a guy currently playing AFL doing a Jarryd Hayne and transitioning without any prior experience in gridiron? Are there any credible candidates?

No Rugby League blokes can go, and be totally capable in that gridiron stuff, because they are tough and very strong and even when they are not wearing protective gear they still charge each other like bloody Brahmam bulls, gridiron is so stop start a good big world class Rugby player could probably teach the yanks to leave the bulldust behind and play real body contact. Not that the yanks don't have body contact , but it doesn't walk in the same street as Rugby.
I follow Aussie rules but I've watched both the others and there is no where to hide on a rugby ground.
Gridiron is more about the commentators. And the ads.

 

[JoondalupJ]

I'd pay huge coin to see Gaz JR and Dangerfield as running backs with their agility speed and strong hips. Add Griffen in there too!!!

Travis Cloke at tight end. Can catch and would also be a good blocker

Yes and Abblett senior out there breaking Yankee bones. I'd like to see that!

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

No Rugby League blokes can go, and be totally capable in that gridiron stuff, because they are tough and very strong and even when they are not wearing protective gear they still charge each other like bloody Brahmam bulls, gridiron is so stop start a good big world class Rugby player could probably teach the yanks to leave the bulldust behind and play real body contact. Not that the yanks don't have body contact , but it doesn't walk in the same street as Rugby.
I follow Aussie rules but I've watched both the others and there is no where to hide on a rugby ground.
Gridiron is more about the commentators. And the ads.

You are so delusional. The contact in AF is harder than in Rugby