Why has the AFL become so defensive recently?

[le dominateur]

St Kilda just attacked in relentless waves on the weekend, it was great to watch

 

[greatwhiteshark]

a number of things;
players are more professional now a lot fitter don't get as tired so the game doesn't open up as much.
coaches are more tactical now and put effort into stopping other teams scoring just as much as scoring themselves, when both teams do with it results in a reduction in total scores.
The restrictions on what forwards can do is much stricter, look at any game from the 80's and you'll spot dozens of free's to forward with hands in the back, a slight push, goals crumbed from blocking a player from making an attempt.
then there's all the extra free's nowadays around the ground that slows down play.

What extra free's???
Free kicks have been significantly reduced to make the game more free flowing as far as I know.
In my opinion by not paying the free kicks which they don't now as they just call play on for pretty much everything this has caused the scrum situation we now have to watch. By paying the free kicks the game will move quicker, the ball will spread quicker and it will be a better spectacle.
But for some reason the game now is pretty much without rules.
You can now tackle players when they do not have possession yet, you can scrag and hold back a player trying to run freely after the ball, you can now tackle head high and it's the player with the ball who is at fault, you can now be first to the ball and be penalised.
It goes on and on.

 

[greatwhiteshark]

a number of things;
players are more professional now a lot fitter don't get as tired so the game doesn't open up as much.
coaches are more tactical now and put effort into stopping other teams scoring just as much as scoring themselves, when both teams do with it results in a reduction in total scores.
The restrictions on what forwards can do is much stricter, look at any game from the 80's and you'll spot dozens of free's to forward with hands in the back, a slight push, goals crumbed from blocking a player from making an attempt.
then there's all the extra free's nowadays around the ground that slows down play.

What extra free's???
Free kicks have been significantly reduced to make the game more free flowing as far as I know.
In my opinion by not paying the free kicks which they don't now as they just call play on for pretty much everything this has caused the scrum situation we now have to watch. By paying the free kicks the game will move quicker, the ball will spread quicker and it will be a better spectacle.
But for some reason the game now is pretty much without rules.
You can now tackle players when they do not have possession yet, you can scrag and hold back a player trying to run freely after the ball, you can now tackle head high and it's the player with the ball who is at fault, you can now be first to the ball and be penalised.
It goes on and on.

 

[AG]

Goal posts are taller these days

 

[SJ]

Getting numbers back and stuff like using zones just makes sense tactically, when you think about it, it's amazing that they took so long to come into the game. I guess you also need players with elite fitness to implement it properly. I often find it quite funny watching older games, whilst entertaining the coaching is just so primitive when you see blokes like Ablett or Lockett just allowed a paddock of free space to move into one on one.

Not really.

Basically impossible to do with semi-professional athletes and limited interchanges.

 

[mcgarnacle]

When you consider football (sokka) went through a similar defensive phase in the 80s and 90s, I'd put it down to the transition of out-and-out professionalism in the AFL........players, coaches, support staff, etc. there is now more time to dedicate to strategy.

coaches in particular have made huge advancements in structures and systems and are conditioning players to be able to play to these structures. in the past, the game used to be a collection of one-on-one contests with the tweaks being changes of these one-on-one match-ups on a whiteboard. the game was much more open.

sokka has now gone the other way. in order to beat defensive play, many young coaches have developed more attacking systems and structures based on possession, playing out from the back, passing, speed, movement and ultimately, skill. this might be the evolution in the AFL. just need to to give it time.

introducing a lower interchange quota will help with this. it will make it harder for the midfield rotation to continually run hard intervals in a match for 10' before being replaced for a breather for a few minutes before doing it all again. A midfielders game has turned into a 2.5hr training session with x number of sets of x number of interval runs. the computer nerds in the box have all the data to relay to coaches - how many intervals a player has run over a specific period of time, the speed of those intervals, the distance of those intervals, the time between each interval, etc. a drop off in the data has them hooked for a breather and they get to go again after a recovery on interchange.

 

[something]

I think the introduction of 2 new teams over the past few years hasn't helped the average and neither has the malaise of some bottoms teams (Melbourne, St Kilda, Demons et al). On the other hand some top 8 teams like the Swans rarely kick a mighty score so that brings it down as well. I guess you could say the overall skill level of the AFL has been pretty low the past few years until nowish as teams finally get their stuff together and the Suns + GWS come of age.

 

[SJ]

What extra free's???
Free kicks have been significantly reduced to make the game more free flowing as far as I know.
In my opinion by not paying the free kicks which they don't now as they just call play on for pretty much everything this has caused the scrum situation we now have to watch. By paying the free kicks the game will move quicker, the ball will spread quicker and it will be a better spectacle.
But for some reason the game now is pretty much without rules.
You can now tackle players when they do not have possession yet, you can scrag and hold back a player trying to run freely after the ball, you can now tackle head high and it's the player with the ball who is at fault, you can now be first to the ball and be penalised.
It goes on and on.

Yeah free kicks are down on historical averages.

Very quick chart showing scores and frees over times from AFL Tables:

 

[Slax]

St Kilda just attacked in relentless waves on the weekend, it was great to watch

Essendon's defence was about useful as a wet paper bag too.

The main factor I see is that players are much fitter. This means that they can run further and for longer, so we no longer get the tiring that we used to towards the ends of each quarter which allowed for a number of easier goals to be scored. I'm actually all for a proper cut in the number of rotations in the game, 120 was a joke compromise as it didn't really do much, bring it down to 60, scrap the sub rule and then see the impact it has. Scoring will increase overnight.

 

[SJ]

Essendon's defence was about useful as a wet paper bag too.

The main factor I see is that players are much fitter. This means that they can run further and for longer, so we no longer get the tiring that we used to towards the ends of each quarter which allowed for a number of easier goals to be scored. I'm actually all for a proper cut in the number of rotations in the game, 120 was a joke compromise as it didn't really do much, bring it down to 60, scrap the sub rule and then see the impact it has. Scoring will increase overnight.

I'm not convinced it would happen overnight - I think in the short term the coaches would try to clog up contests. But in the long term I think the game would become more positional.

 

[Slax]

I'm not convinced it would happen overnight - I think in the short term the coaches would try to clog up contests. But in the long term I think the game would become more positional.

I agree on the coaches immediate reaction, but as the fitter and better skilled teams start to rip games apart in the latter stages of each quarter you'd see a change in game plan.

Also for those who talk about playing a loose man in defence, it is nothing new, clubs have done this for years and it didn't stop Dunstall, Lockett and Ablett kicking 100 goals a season. Just ask Peter Caven about being a loose man in defence, he has wonderful memories of it.

 

[MF]

The AFL's not being defensive, you're being defensive.

 

[MarkT2]

The real question is - why did Australian football (in the VFL at least) become so attacking between 1970 and 2000. Up until that point, average scores per game were below 90 points, for 100 years of football. Then there was a brief explosion of scoring. Now it has returned to the long term average.

The average of 100 points per team per game is an anomaly in Australian football history.

The era of 100 goal full forwards? Not sure about the chicken & egg though.

 

[TedDougChris]

I think the introduction of 2 new teams over the past few years hasn't helped the average and neither has the malaise of some bottoms teams (Melbourne, St Kilda, Demons et al). On the other hand some top 8 teams like the Swans rarely kick a mighty score so that brings it down as well. I guess you could say the overall skill level of the AFL has been pretty low the past few years until nowish as teams finally get their stuff together and the Suns + GWS come of age.

Came into say this. Adding the two extra teams and the first few years of teething problems they've had as they get their lists up to the magical 50 - 100 games, combined with the impact that these two teams have had on sides rebuilding, as well the impact of sanctions for Carlton, Essendon, Adelaide etc - and you've got your decrease....

 

[Lost_Deputy]

Global warming

 

[Borussia Teeth]

Why take things to 5 decimal points?

 

[Bardo State]

Forward lines are much more congested. Leading out from the square straight at the player with the ball is basically impossible with modern zoning, much to the detriment of the key forward. Had it so much easier in the 90s-mid 00s.

 

[Ron The Bear]

I think the introduction of 2 new teams over the past few years hasn't helped the average

Scoring in matches involving GC & GWS has been slightly above the competition average (except for 2012 when there was a slight deficit).

I don't think players removing themselves from the ground immediately after scoring a goal is doing the spectator any favours. Today's game is largely a creation of the coaches.