Opinion What unpopular AFL opinions do you have? - Part 2

[TheWoodenSlug]

There are 17 too many teams in the league tbh.

 

[iameviljez]

Footscray - Good list - playing poorly.

I think you're severely overrating Footscray.

We tend to get blinded by Footscray's 2016 flag, without taking into account how they played out of their skins in September to come from nowhere, and how losing Morris, Picken, Hamling and M Boyd since has affected the club, as well as Tom Boyd's loss of form.

Their forward line in particular is toothless. Through the 2016 finals, the goals came from Picken, Tom Boyd, Stringer, Tory Dickson, Clay Smith. For various reasons, none of those players have had an impact in 2018.

Have a look at the forward six they lined up with in Adelaide on the weekend:


That is a bottom-of-the-table forward line any day of the week.

 

[BattlerGM]

I think you're severely overrating Footscray.

We tend to get blinded by Footscray's 2016 flag, without taking into account how they played out of their skins in September to come from nowhere, and how losing Morris, Picken, Hamling and M Boyd since has affected the club, as well as Tom Boyd's loss of form.

Their forward line in particular is toothless. Through the 2016 finals, the goals came from Picken, Tom Boyd, Stringer, Tory Dickson, Clay Smith. For various reasons, none of those players have had an impact in 2018.

Have a look at the forward six they lined up with in Adelaide on the weekend:
View attachment 500767

That is a bottom-of-the-table forward line any day of the week.

Agree that it's not a strong forward line. But I disagree that I'm severely overrating their list. Subjective.

 

[Moody Blue]

Mark Robinson is a quality journalist.....

 

[Scotland]

Well not really. Considering the game is where it's at, clubs have many different departments. Membership department is another example.

Footy dept, football program, high performance groups, heads of football operations - all bullshit.

Footy clubs are footy clubs. Fans don't go along to support anything except the team playing football. Membership depts, medical depts etc. are all byproducts. You can't run an AFL club without them, but all the secondary depts in the world all filter back to the aim of having 22 blokes run around kicking a Sherrin on the weekend. That is the 'core function' in modern speak.

No one wants to hear Alan Richardson crapping on about how he's 'pleased the president has high expectations of the footy dept'. Are you going to start winning games of footy soon or aren't you?

 

[Baird]

Pendlebury is still a top 5 mid in the league

 

[Luv_our_club]

Footy dept, football program, high performance groups, heads of football operations - all bullshit.

Footy clubs are footy clubs. Fans don't go along to support anything except the team playing football. Membership depts, medical depts etc. are all byproducts. You can't run an AFL club without them, but all the secondary depts in the world all filter back to the aim of having 22 blokes run around kicking a Sherrin on the weekend. That is the 'core function' in modern speak.

No one wants to hear Alan Richardson crapping on about how he's 'pleased the president has high expectations of the footy dept'. Are you going to start winning games of footy soon or aren't you?

I disagree.

The high performance manager... handling injuries and training loads.. win premierships. "Jack" Russel at the Hawks was critical to our 3 peat.

Heads of footy ops, like Balme at the Tigers, maintain culture, oversee trades and drafting, and mentor/supervise coaches. Fagan is the coach of the Lions, because he was such an amazing ops manager..... he is perhaps the first head coach not recruited from the coaching ranks.

CEOs, Presidents.... it all adds up. Look at the Cat's and Sydney... there is a clear link between back office and how the 22 perform.

 

[B4Bear]

There are too many victorian teams .

The league would be way better without at least 3

There would be better quality games because of better quality lists .

Also the vic teams will have to travel interstate more making the comp more even and fair

**** off at least 3 vic teams .

Hardly an unpopular opinion amongst blow-in interstate flogs.

Carry on...

 

[Major Colvin]

I know certain interstate clubs don't like being called soulless franchises, but I do it all the same.

 

[Smithdogmaddog]

Carlton are on the right track.

 

[Quivorir]

Carlton are on the right track.

Lol. How so?

 

[Colonial]

I know certain interstate clubs don't like being called soulless franchises, but I do it all the same.

Thats not unpopular around here. Stay on topic.

We may be small but we hang around and dont go skiing.

Isnt your club beholden to the AFL these days.
Welcome fellow franchise follower.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[Smithdogmaddog]

Lol. How so?

Large amount of young top end talent. Plus two first round picks in this years super draft.

Long term vision, reminds me of Hawthorn 2003 at the present moment. Had already got Hodge and Mitchell then in 2004 added Franklin, Roughead & Lewis.

They’ve already got the key position players sorted in Marchbank and Curnow now they just need two more midfield guns to go with Cripps and Dow.

 

[Luv_our_club]

Rance, when he is too late to impact a marking contest, regularly makes the forward really earn it.... in a potentially dangerous way... with swinging arms to the head.

This is backman craft 101. But he should pay the price of having a reputation for it. His late arm swings at the forward's head can no longer been seen as accidental.

 

[Hard Ball Get]

Darling was always going to become an excellent footballer. It just proves 99% of Bigfooty are either losers trolling or have no idea.

 

[Wickzki]

Carlton are on the right track.

Agree. Too little quality in the 24-30 bracket and injuries to key players make our problems look far worse than what they are. I'm still excited for 2020 and beyond.

 

[Smithdogmaddog]

Agree. Too little quality in the 24-30 bracket and injuries to key players make our problems look far worse than what they are. I'm still excited for 2020 and beyond.

Carlton are still paying the price for mistakes of the past but the last 3 years have been good in terms of list management.

The problem a lot of people make is they connect the Gibbs and Murphy rebuild with the current one. They forget Carlton played in finals and even won a final under Ratten. This is a completely seperate rebuild.

 

[____]

Two teams in South East Queensland is more sustainable than two teams in Sydney, Gold Coast are more viable than GWS. People forget that before the Suns came in the AFL were trying to move North to the Gold Coast, if that move had've eventuated there would be a 16 team comp with no Giants. Also back in the channel 10 days Lions games in Brisbane would get bigger tv ratings than Swans games in Sydney. All saturday night games were shown live or near-live on Channel 10 in QLD, while any non-Swans Saturday night game was shown at near midnight in NSW. Also the Suns have sold out games at Carrara, the Giants have not sold out games at Spotless except when playing the Swans or the 2016 Prelim. While I think both expansion teams will be okay long term, Suns are more viable hence why the AFL bought them in before they did GWS. Also in an average sports pub in Brisbane or Gold Coast while NRL would obviously get big screen and commentary, there will usually be a small screen showing the AFL. I've been to a "sports" bar in Southern Sydney that literally only had NRL on multiple screens and one of horse racing. The A-League finals was also on that night as well.

Having pick 1 (especially as a result of receiving the wooden spoon rather than a trade) is overrated. The last two pick ones to win a premiership were as a result of trades (Tom Boyd to GWS and Freo trading pick 1 to Hawthorn which resulted in them getting Luke Hodge).

Also the draft does not create an even competition, a well enforced salary cap does. NRL allows all juniors to pick their teams and NRL have had 12 different premiers since 2001, no team going back-to-back or legally doing a two-in-three, and every team making a prelim since the Lions have last won a final nine years ago. AFL in comparison have had 9 different premiers since 2001, two teams threepeating and another winning three-in-five, have two teams not making finals since the end of 2009, three not win a final since 2009 and only 13/18 teams make a prelim in the last 10 years. While the NRL system isn't completely perfect, the evenness of that comp on-field can't be argued.

I also don't mind Sunday twilight 4.40pm games, as long as they are not interstate. I reckon they are better than Friday night games to attend, although I would be willing to cop Friday games if we become competitive again as I know it is good for the club. Having said that 4.40pm Sunday shouldn't be a Fox exclusive slot.

Clash jumpers are good for the game as not everyone has good eyesight. Matches between Carlton v Essendon, Carlton v Richmond, Melbourne v Richmond, Bulldogs v Carlton etc. needs to have the away team in a clash jumper.

 

[Blackhawk42]

Mid-season trading is going to destroy any last remnants of club loyalty, and as such affect supporter loyalty as time goes on. I genuinely believe it is absolutely the worst thing possible for the game and I fear how backwards it could all go over the next 20 years. The second a star player requests a trade mid season from a struggling side is the exact moment a lot of supporters will ultimately throw in the towel. if Carlton were to lose Patty Cripps it would be a difficult one for fans to accept, but imagine if it could happen in a few weeks time. If I followed the Blues I would see no reason to even bother watching or attending another game for the rest of the year. This is an extreme example, but I fear that's the way it will go.

 

[Luv_our_club]

Mid-season trading is going to destroy any last remnants of club loyalty, and as such affect supporter loyalty as time goes on. I genuinely believe it is absolutely the worst thing possible for the game and I fear how backwards it could all go over the next 20 years. The second a star player requests a trade mid season from a struggling side is the exact moment a lot of supporters will ultimately throw in the towel. if Carlton were to lose Patty Cripps it would be a difficult one for fans to accept, but imagine if it could happen in a few weeks time. If I followed the Blues I would see no reason to even bother watching or attending another game for the rest of the year. This is an extreme example, but I fear that's the way it will go.

Worse would be mid season loans. Carlton loan Crips to West Coast, North, or the Crows so they can chase a flag in 2018, in exchange for good draft picks. Sounds like tanking to me, and if those other teams that get Cripps went on to win the flag there is an * over that season. Plus, the fixture is far too unequal and uneven for players to start swapping teams midstream.

 

[Knox Harrington]

1) Essendon were harshly done by punished too hard in the drugs scandal.

2) young players should be allowed to pick and choose where they want to play and each club should get say three picks each per year. After that the remaining players go in a draft.

3) father son rule should be dropped to only one game. Sons should be allowed to follow their fathers footsteps. There would be draft pick bidding if a club didn't choose to pick them as one of their alotted players above

4) the salary cap would control the even spread of talent.

5) abolish all free agency.

 

[Cold Sober]

Darling was always going to become an excellent footballer. It just proves 99% of Bigfooty are either losers trolling or have no idea.

Darling is a beneficiary of our game becoming non contact, he's not as scared to go for the ball. Greatest example of this is Cotchin, his own supporters knew he played the game 5 rows back, a la Priddis, now they call em hard at it players, no nothing about football, who's dreaming.

 

[Proper Gander]

Dons and Blues should amalgamate

Saints and Dees should amalgamate

Bullies and North should amalgamate.

I agree this is an unpopular AFL opinion. Some argue North and Dons should amalgamate.

I think that’s crap.

The first thing I was concerned about was the “Saints and Dees” bit though. If there are other matches in your repertoire; I can’t guarantee I will agree but I will hear you out.

 

[Underdog]

Darling is a beneficiary of our game becoming non contact, he's not as scared to go for the ball. Greatest example of this is Cotchin, his own supporters knew he played the game 5 rows back, a la Priddis, now they call em hard at it players, no nothing about football, who's dreaming.

Can you say that again in English?

 

[Cold Sober]

Can you say that again in English?

heck off idiot