AFL.com.au is a disgrace

Sep 25, 2010
1,760
1,906
AFL Club
Fremantle
Telstra pays for all the hosting of the content as a trade off. Back in early 2000's this made sense for the AFL to cost cut, as the AFL was in debt. With the Billion dollar rights deals these days, it really is antiquated that the AFL haven't cut ties with being a Telstra vehicle in terms of web presence.

I think with AD's discussions about the AFL having it's own media arm/distribution division, will be when they unleash a proper website free of bullshit ads and the tie to Telstra. They may still banner promote their major sponsors but it won't be PPC ads.
 
Sep 27, 2012
28,076
55,169
Hawks heartland
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Bushrangers Tottenham Hotspur
Another problem! I can't move forward in the broadcast guide or change locations on my phone . Seems to work OK via my laptop but it's stuck on round 1 on my phone :mad:

The only benefit of their ties with Telstra as far as I can see is that you get the Smart Replay free as a free download if you are a Telstra customer (however given how pathetic it is it's debatable how much of a benefit this is).
 
Last edited:

caitsith01

Norm Smith Medallist
Sep 21, 2007
7,798
9,577
Earth
AFL Club
Geelong
Another excellent feature is that it resets the broadcast guide to Victoria-Melbourne every single time you go to it. Really awesome work.
 

Colin D'Cops

Brownlow Medallist
10k Posts Essendon Player Sponsor 2011
Nov 24, 2007
13,156
949
AFL Club
Carlton
Have a look at the conclusion of "Damo's" most recent article -
Damian Barrett said:
Unfortunately, under rules which reflect standards demanded of footballers in 1924 and not 2014, Fyfe cannot win the 2014 Brownlow Medal for he is now considered a player who is "not fair".

And that is unfair.
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-04-01/brownlow-unfair

Primary school stuff. Staggers me how these guys get jobs.
 

estibador

purple haze
Mar 2, 2007
43,121
61,293
AFL Club
Fremantle
Other Teams
Liverpool, Cowboys, Packers, Scorchers
Have a look at the conclusion of "Damo's" most recent article -

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-04-01/brownlow-unfair

Primary school stuff. Staggers me how these guys get jobs.

He makes a fair point (haha geddit?)

The fairest portion of best and fairest is a remnant of days when the only way to get suspended was to commit a proper thug act, but now we have guys getting suspended on all sorts of minor technicalities that change from week to week.
 
Sep 9, 2009
2,109
2,952
AFL Club
Geelong
Another excellent feature is that it resets the broadcast guide to Victoria-Melbourne every single time you go to it. Really awesome work.
At least you can get the guide up! I was trying to use the broadcast guide for the Cats v Lions game from the match centre last week, kept getting the "out of bounds" page. Which is a nice footy-centric touch, but doesn't actually help me when I'm trying to find out who is calling the game.
 

Jamurp

Norm Smith Medallist
Apr 26, 2011
8,001
11,161
AFL Club
Melbourne
Worst web player I've come across, diabolical website in general. Then again, the AFL are always behind in technology, SD broadcasts and not even forking out cash for a camera on the goal line.
 

Tyzza_07_09_11

Team Captain
Jun 6, 2016
422
874
Geelong
AFL Club
Geelong
Other Teams
MelbourneStars, Triple Eight Racing
Random question but does anyone know a way to remove the video progress bar on afl.com.au match replays? Blocks the score board making it difficult to follow.

Have done the obvious moving cursor off the screen and all but it won’t go away 😢
A8E4A9F9-5B65-408B-960B-2FF6669B1E59.jpeg
 
Jul 29, 2009
2,329
4,507
Melbourne
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
The most disgraceful example of any form of streaming I've ever seen today. No matter what browser/device/internet connection I try - the GWS v Nth Melb radio stream has literally dropped out 100 times in the first three quarters on every station available and keeps throwing back to 10 minutes before. Have reset all settings on computer and phone/reset internet connection - the lot. Just a disgrace.
 
Even as just a basic news place, the AFL website seems to have gotten worse this year.

Structure seems to have become a jumble with news stories in two different sections on the front page and the 'see all news' option way down the page. Style makes no sense at all.
Yep. Even when teams are released or that bloody game centre, it’s almost as though they deliberately make it s**t. Horrendous style and structure.
 
Agree with all posts I've read. The most amateur national sporting comp website in existence. Simple things like team selections, ladder, injury reports should be obvious finds but they're hidden away while shitpoor media pieces dominate the page. Staggering that it seems to be getting worse each year.
 

deanc

Norm Smith Medallist
Jun 13, 2014
5,808
7,535
Waverley
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Tasmania
It's almost as if every year they get a new 15-year old work-experience kid to fix it and he says 'Yeah! My mate showed me this really cool way of coding pop-ups and skins and sh!t!'.


Agree, the AFL website has always been a bit of a dogs breakfast.
But they must have someone involved that at least knows marketing, considering the borderline deceitful headlines I get caught out on almost every preseason:

"Star Crows player suffers season ending injury!"

Gee, I think, wonder who that is - then click on the link to discover it's actually an AFLW Crows player....


Really, for the benefit of 'ALL supporters' the AFLW should have their own exclusive section, as it must be
just as frustrating for AFLW fans to scroll through or click on the various generic headlines looking for their news/info.
 
Last edited:

Kuuz

Norm Smith Medallist
May 5, 2014
6,199
12,419
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Melbourne Victory TSM
The AFL.com.au redesign is a travesty.

The web developer that was engaged completely forgot the basics for any home page - being focus on the core functions of the site and capture what the user wants to see first.

Literally the things that people look for in their first snapshot of the site: (1) the teams, (2) the next matchday/matchweek fixtures/scores, (3) the ladder, (4) main headlines and maybe (5) a few videos.

They literally just have (1) and (4) in that first snapshot. The ladder is nowhere to be seen and the matchday fixtures are in that stupid popup menu in the bottom right. Not to mention, the articles take up 90% of the openshot of the home page.

Just awful.

Just makes no sense. They've actually made the website worse from the previous version.

The popup matchday on the bottom right to me signifies that the web dev prioritised flashy code over efficient function. From a web dev perspective, its cool to code. From a home page UI design perspective, its counter-intuitive and over-engineered.
 
Last edited:
Back