State of play

[smashbox gill]

I seem to be the only person in the world that ******* loves the game as it is now.

I agree with you! im sick of all these bandaid solutions. The games fine leave it as it is!

 

[Geronimo#]

I agree with you! im sick of all these bandaid solutions. The games fine leave it as it is!

I tend to disagree. And agree with the pies supporter who posted that when they won the flag he didn't care what it looked like. I was the same except we lost 2.....
16 on the ground would help with the congestion and the quality of the players on the ground as often its the last players picked who are the worst kick.
I still think that if forwards and backs had to start forward and back at ball ups/stoppages the game would look great.
90s football was great. Big full forwards and full backs who didn't have to be fit but use their size and strength. Small forwards and high marking athletic types.
I rekon if you could pick one player to play every position it would be Fyfe. Fyfe is awesome to watch but a team full of him coached buy Ross Lyon would be terrible to watch. Win every game though!

 

[yeahmate]

Not a fan of changing the rules, but the congestion is getting out of hand. Like the idea of changing current umpire interpretations so that third man in can be penalised for in the back if they jump on players already tackled on the ground and also the idea of throwing the ball up quicker after a tackle and not letting scrums form so much. Might be all that's needed to free things up a bit (although could result in lots of ball ups...).

 

[kickazz]

Cam Mooney has had his say on things:

http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au...s-is-harming-afl/story-fnjuhrq4-1227441891054

Even the difference from 2007 to 2010 was enormous. As a key forward, I went from a player who could lead out from inside 50 from a player streaming through the middle to spending most of my time up on the centre wing logos waiting for the quick kick, because teams had employed the full ground press.

 

[Hazey1977]

The genus with this approach is its simplicity.Easy to officiate.Easy for the punters to understand.No grey areas.Might just work.

VFA tried it,they had smaller grounds. I really think it is worth a try.

16 on the ground, 3 bench and each club having a reserves team with the same setup (might need to increase squads by a couple) that played before each seniors game. How good would that be for following the youngsters at your club and getting more value for money from a day at the footy?

 

[JackFlash]

They had the Hawthorn V Footscray preliminary final from 1985 on the "Winners" the other night, i usually don't watch old games, but i couldn't help noticing how much better the game was. The skill level was vastly superior, i doubt players from either side today would get a game in 1985 and that includes all the Hawks stars of 2015! I saw pin point 40-50 metre passing, slick handball, pack marking and dead eye dick shots at goal! I watched a good, tough, open game of footy. On top of that they were all on the ground not getting rotated around like a revolving door every five minutes! The skill level of Hardie and Hawkins for example was extraordinary and the goal kicking of Beasley puts these blokes today to shame! The Hawks had Mew, Ayres, Dipper, Tuck, Brereton and Dunstall, i know the game has changed, but not for the better. Some drastic action is required. Drop the rotations to 80 per game. Some of these blokes go off the ground less than 5 minutes into the first QTR, for some bizarre reason players go off if they score a goal! WTF do they do that? If you score a goal are you not buoyant about it? Are you not more confident? don't you want to do it again immediately? No...off they go to the bench and towel down because the poor dears are tired or there is some master plan in place that nobody understands including the friggin' coaches!

So what do they do? 80 rotations? Last man touches it and it's a free kick between the arc? 16 a team?
Why do commentators say the era of the power forward is gone forever? Why should Franklin be the last player to reach 1000 goals? It's all bollocks.

 

[JackFlash]

Coaches were almost pointless until the late 1980's.

Well, someone better have a word to John Kennedy and Ron Barassi because i'm pretty sure those blokes revolutionised football in the 60's and 70's. Hafey and Jeans must have had some idea?

 

[Jack Bradley]

Footy was definitely better to watch when it was less congested and more man to man, flowing. Brought value to the Power Forward Full Forwards. I miss a good Fraser Gehrig G-train spectacle. G train vs Rutten or Glass... Wowee. Who remembers in the 05 prelim when G train and Barry Hall crossed paths for a few seconds. Felt like the world was about to explode. Such power.

was it over 9000?

 

[shumo]

The problem with footy today is that increasing fitness levels and modern day tactics (zone defence etc.) have permanently changed the way the game is played - having all the players in one half of the field is not going to go away. There's not really any solution to it. Any way in which the game is changed, like capping interchanges, is just going to produce negative effects down the line.

e.g. Fewer interchanges will put a premium on fitness. Which means that more people are going to be drafted for the athletic ability, rather than their footballing ability. Does anyone really want that?

 

[bkozican]

If I read any more comments about rule changes...I'm going to lose the plot. A few comments about 5 stoppages should equal a free kick. I read one that all out of bounds should be a free kick...

If the umps payed free kicks how they have been payed for 150+ years we will be fine. Dropping the ball is no longer a rule. For you new age fans, I will explain it for you. If you grab the ball and dont dispose of it via handball or kick....wait for it....its a free kick, amazing huh. "He tried" is a irrelevant. If the umps got onto this quickly it will make teams have to keep players back and stop repeated stoppages = the game will open up alot more.

I went to the freo v carlton game and tbh the game was actually boring to watch. The whole game just had a snooze fest feel about it. The main problem with footy at the moment is skills imo. Skills arent up to scratch. You see mistakes that juniors dont make. Players cant hit loose targets at 20-30 mtrs on the chest.

 

[Hazey1977]

The main problem with footy at the moment is skills imo. Skills arent up to scratch. You see mistakes that juniors dont make. Players cant hit loose targets at 20-30 mtrs on the chest.

It would be interesting to look into the reasons for this with some solid research principles, after all clubs are spending more & more on footy depts, but the skills, I agree, are shocking a lot of the time. Missing 5m handpasses, 15m kicks is criminal!

Maybe with 18 teams the talent is spread too thin and blokes who previously wouldn't be on a list now are?

Maybe the increased fitness of players and zone defence leaves players with less time to settle and make an effective disposal?

I'm sure there's a lot more people our there with a lot better ideas, so please feel free to share them?

 

[bkozican]

It would be interesting to look into the reasons for this with some solid research principles, after all clubs are spending more & more on footy depts, but the skills, I agree, are shocking a lot of the time. Missing 5m handpasses, 15m kicks is criminal!

Maybe with 18 teams the talent is spread too thin and blokes who previously wouldn't be on a list now are?

Maybe the increased fitness of players and zone defence leaves players with less time to settle and make an effective disposal?

I'm sure there's a lot more people our there with a lot better ideas, so please feel free to share them?

Pressure in game is an obvious reason. Also think that the game has gotten so far away from being a sport that players are now getting worried about their future employment. Footy is a confidence game and alot players seem down in the dumps at the moment...the bottom teams are clear examples

 

[Maddog1980]

Change the points for a win from 4 to 6pts if you score over win by more than 6 goals. Or some sort of penalty if the losing team doesn't score more than 6 goals. I don't know what the right mix of incentives or penalties should be however by playing with this type of scenario you actually won't change the game of football itself, just motivate teams to play a more attacking focussed brand of football.

Anyway that's my two cents.

Hah! Darcy, Richo and BT waxing about this just now Ess v Port