How would you improve the overall quality of the AFL? [Serious responses only]

[edgie]

How about, in order to address backwards kicks and killing the clock, teams man up and play a forwardline?

Revolutionary thought, I know.

 

[The King!]

Cold hearted response

Cut some vic teams

 

[Vindicater]

1). Pay umpires more and make them full professionals that train and live the footy as much as the players do. This will go along way towards enticing people to become umpires which will mean the quality will improve due to competition of spots.

2). Either extend or diminish the draw. with current number of teams the year needs to be either 17 (play each team once rotating home games) or 34 (each team twice, one home, one away) games long.

3). Play the Grand Final at the home ground of the highest ranked team from the minor premiership. With today's tactics and planning the home ground advantage a Melbourne team get is huge if they play an interstate team.

4). Set a draft rule that 1st rounders get an automatic 5 year contract, 2nd rounders get 3 years, 3rd rounders and beyond get the usual 1 year. Enforce this rule. Players ARE NOT ALLOWED to play for any other team in that period of time. Players are restricted free agents between year 2-5 and then unrestricted after that.

 

[living_in_syd]

Nrl final in a golden pooint. Sadly much more entertainer than yesterday seeing hawthorn win again...

 

[Vindicater]

Full time umpires will not fix them making mistakes, they will always make mistakes and always will. I am not opposed to making them full time but it won't change that they will make mistakes.
Umpires make mistakes because all the rules are not simply anymore, they all have sub rules to the main rule with a bunch of what ifs next to them. This is why umpires struggle.
The rules are the issue not the umpires.

Making them full time however will mean they have longer to work on understanding the rules (confusing as they are) and making the best judgement calls they can in as short a time as possible.

Also making it a full time job and giving it a massive pay rise will entice more people to want to be umpires which means we will get a larger pool of potential umpires to choose from. With more choices comes better chances of getting good ones.

 

[Balony_pony16]

Get serious about reducing subs to bring fatigue back into the game, high contact/in the back needs a rethink (see how rugby manages it), lesson hands in the back...bring back monster forwards who the Zac Dawsons will never forge a career playing against them

 

[Crawb]

Maybe the AFL should stop turning the competition into the EPL. With the AFL's free agency/drafting rules the teams on top upon its introduction were always going to stay up there.

 

[Mitchell54]

2) Introduce an NFL style 'coaches challenge' on umpire decisions
There is nothing that infuriates and frustrates fans more than a bad umpire decision going against them. It severely tarnishes the product.

In the NFL, a coach can 'challenge' an umpires decision twice per half (maximum 4 times per game), with certain restrictions. For example, if a coach challenges a call and is unsuccessful, they lose a time out (which can be quite crucial in the NFL).

For such a system to work in the AFL, there would need to be sufficient risk involved, in order to ensure a coaches challenge is only used in legitimate circumstances.

My suggestion would be that up to 10 seconds after an umpires decision, a coach can challenge that call. If the challenge is unsuccessful, the opposition team gets the football and a 25m penalty from the spot of the call in question. A coach would have two challenges per game, total. If they successfully use both challenges, they could get a third.

There would be a video review umpire at every stadium, just like the goal review system.

3) Backwards kicks do not result in a mark.
We have already seen this rule trialed in preseason competition in recent years, and I personally feel that it helps to keep the game free flowing and attacking. It totally removes the 'killing clock' aspect from games that are common at the end of quarters/end of games, and also rewards teams who play an exciting and fast paced brand of football.

Strongly disagree with both of those.

 

[Mick39]

Maybe the AFL should stop turning the competition into the EPL. With the AFL's free agency/drafting rules the teams on top upon its introduction were always going to stay up there.

There is no draft in the NRL. There is a bigger free agency culture in that code.

Since 2007, there has been 7 different NRL premiers. Only 4 in the AFL.

 

[Pavlovs Cat]

16 teams would help the standard of games. Less 30+ wins more close games.

Undo Demetriou's mistake.

 

[numchuks]

Less teams. See you dogs, saints and norf.

Axe Geelong.

AFL is supposed to be a national competition representing the major capital cities.

No more hick town yokels.

 

[Purple_Blood93]

Thing is, we would get there, it would just take longer than say Hawthorn or West Coast lol

 

[Docker Alyssa]

16 teams would help the standard of games. Less 30+ wins more close games.

Utter bullshit... That magically, with less teams, you'd get better product. Doesn't anyone else remember the 80s and 90s blowouts for at least 25-50% of games in the then 12-16 team arrangement?

========

I agree that kicking backwards should always be play on. The risk of a forward pressure act causing turnover in back half would stop teams doing it almost completely and it would destroy the ugliness of "killing time".

I'd also note that the removal of sub and reduction in interchanges also will make games tighter and more desperate thus more about footy nous.

 

[Matt Stevic]

Utter bullshit... That magically, with less teams, you'd get better product. Doesn't anyone else remember the 80s and 90s blowouts for at least 25-50% of games in the then 12-16 team arrangement?

Quoted for truth. And there's another side to it- with less teams, less kids would be picking up the game when they're young, therefore creating less AFL standard players.

 

[numchuks]

Home grounds for all teams. (No ground sharing between five teams and one ground)

Draft picks handed out based on a teams results over 5 years, not just the single one.

Means a club would have to tank for 5 consecutive years to ensure the no.1 draft pick, which would be unfeasible and eliminate tanking.

Would also mean that teams that had an unusual shoot up the ladder ie. North in 07, would not lose out on a high draft pick, as that season would be balanced against the 4 s**t ones before it.

And champion teams that have an off year due to injuries ie. Hawthorn 09, would not be rewarded with a high draft pick, as it would be balanced against the premiership years before it.

Fairer system overall.

 

[DrEvil_]

How about a relegation system?

 

[living_in_syd]

I reckon the nrl do it right with extra time for golden goal. In afl we come back next week lol and the tv dollars..

 

[kickazz]

Unfortunately, the V/AFL will never do this but:
-Start again from scratch with 2x Perth, 2x Adelaide, 6x Victorian, 1x Brisbane, 1x Sydney team
-Every team plays each other twice
Addresses a couple of the major issues (draft inequity, too many teams, especially Victorian teams ) at once.

This really is how the AFL should be. Elite 12 team comp. There would still be plenty of talent too them fill strong state league sides

 

[Richo83]

I actually think the AFL is fine. The patriots, seahawks and packers seem to dominate every year in a 32 team NFL competition, and the cardinals are always up the top of the MLB. So it's not as if periods of domination is only found in the AFL.

But I do find it crazy that the league doesn't have professional umpires. The coaches challenge system would suck though, I like the NFL but the challenges slow down the game way too much IMO. And we already have goal review technology anyway, sure, it's currently rubbish, but it could easily be fixed without a coaches challenge.

One challenge I'd make is have more umpires and give them all an area to umpire in so that umpires don't make calls from 100 meters away. And have two goal umpires at each end.

To me the biggest reason why there's such a large gap in the league is that sport has become more complicated. You can't buy a premiership anymore, it takes a lot of factors like recruiting, drafting, sports science, psychological help and mentoring, marketing, tactics, strategy etc. These requirements didn't exist as much 20 years ago. And the game has become so much more tactical, meaning that a good coaching staff means so much. Sure, the draft and the salary cap have helped the league become more even, but there's so many areas which a club can stuff up. The league has become more professional meaning that you need to do a lot right. Sides like Carlton, Brisbane, Essendon etc. are either doing one thing wrong or a number of things wrong. I've said it before and I'll say it again, purely looking at the on-field product ignores the fact that clubs thrive and fail based on their off-field structures, and there's a number of clubs with either poor off-field structures, not enough talented people involved in the off-field aspects or both.

 

[SportsCentre]

Penalise 3rd man in on tackles, prevent the scrums from forming.

 

[the_interloper]

Just do what the NFL does, that's usually the response in these sort of threads.

 

[loki04]

Everyone plays each other once is my biggest wish for the comp. Obviously won't happen because of the tv deals but I can dream.

Agree on kicking backwards but maybe just start with a play on for kicking backwards into the defensive 50. Switches on the wing which go backwards I dont have an issue with.

Runners I never notice and aren't a huge issue imo.

Not sure on the umpire review system either and I would limit it to one review per game if ever implemented. Scott brothers would review the first free kick of the game probably.

Watch Hawks games more closely they use runners to block space through the corridor.

 

[twotooto]

It does seem like there is more of a disconnect between fans and the AFL. I think one of the main reasons is because the AFL, or, as I like to call it, ALF, is a corrupt bastard who loves the folding stuff.

ALF isn't really interested in improving the game unless it involves making more money.

There needs to be LESS rule changes and more consistency in the application of the rules and regulations, particularly with reference to things like tribunal decisions.

He continually manipulates outcomes and creates rule changes on the fly. It's really quite farcical.

There needs to be more transparency. On several occasions over the last couple of years, ole ALFie has completely butchered the handling of some big issues. Instead of making a stand and being open and transparent, they tried to conveniently sweep certain issues under the carpet, whilst at the same time trying to appear all white knight and benevolent over other issues that didn't deserve the time of day - apply the drug testing regime to ALF and make him submit to regular drug tests.

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I think the core fan is being disillusioned because of all of the changes. Just leave the game alone for 5 minutes.

You could make the umpires full time professionals, but as has been said already in this thread, the problem is because the idiots upstairs keep changing the rules. They also change focus on certain decisions during the week, according to what they perceive as popular opinion.

For example, the head high, head first, he said she said rule is an absolute debacle. What is a free kick one week isn't the next(often even mid round). The next week it's something else entirely. No wonder the umps always cop it. Very difficult to maintain consistency for an umpire.

-----------------

Regarding the broadcasts. Again, as already alluded to in this thread, there does seem to be a bit of a boys club. IMO, there needs to be less ex-players and more professional, trained broadcasters. Definitely have some ex-players but change the balance a bit.

 

[loki04]

It does seem like there is more of a disconnect between fans and the AFL. I think one of the main reasons is because the AFL, or, as I like to call it, ALF, is a corrupt bastard who loves the folding stuff.

ALF isn't really interested in improving the game unless it involves making more money.

There needs to be LESS rule changes and more consistency in the application of the rules and regulations, particularly with reference to things like tribunal decisions.

He continually manipulates outcomes and creates rule changes on the fly. It's really quite farcical.

There needs to be more transparency. On several occasions over the last couple of years, ole ALFie has completely butchered the handling of some big issues. Instead of making a stand and being open and transparent, they tried to conveniently sweep certain issues under the carpet, whilst at the same time trying to appear all white knight and benevolent over other issues that didn't deserve the time of day - apply the drug testing regime to ALF and make him submit to regular drug tests.

-----------------

I think the core fan is being disillusioned because of all of the changes. Just leave the game alone for 5 minutes.

You could make the umpires full time professionals, but as has been said already in this thread, the problem is because the idiots upstairs keep changing the rules. They also change focus on certain decisions during the week, according to what they perceive as popular opinion.

For example, the head high, head first, he said she said rule is an absolute debacle. What is a free kick one week isn't the next(often even mid round). The next week it's something else entirely. No wonder the umps always cop it. Very difficult to maintain consistency for an umpire.

-----------------

Regarding the broadcasts. Again, as already alluded to in this thread, there does seem to be a bit of a boys club. IMO, there needs to be less ex-players and more professional, trained broadcasters. Definitely have some ex-players but change the balance a bit.

They have softened the game far too much with killing the bump off, over zealous suspensions for tackles and rough play, double GF suspensions, I know a lot of people who used to be meh on RL and love AR who have now switched stance. Sure you don't want to see stupid acts of thuggery but the pendulum has swung too far now.

There are no longer "Villians" in footy people love to hate oppo stars/thugs Wacko jacko/Cappper nutters etc, also less players of the "Hero" type like Carey, Lockett, Dunstall, Ablett snr.

 

[RobbieGray17]

1. Simplify the rules for consistency, I understand umpiring will never be perfect, but 8.5 errors average a game is too high.
2. get rid of the Brownlow, Umpires need to focus more on the game.
3. Backwards kicking in defensive half is play on.
4. Relocate the weakest Melbourne teams, 1 to NT (Darwin and Alice Springs), 1 to Tasmania, or even 1 to NZ for extra growth to the game.
5. Something in place to stop powerhouse teams staying powerhouse teams and winning premiership after premiership by retiring players and continually drafting in the best players in the competition. FA is s**t for some melbourne teams, its not so bad for WA,SA teams for the go home factor.
6.Reduce the season to 19 games, each team plays once, and each team has two clash games that can change over time.

Port: Adelaide, Dockers/North
Collingwood: Essendon, Carlton.....