What unpopular AFL opinions do you have? (Part 1 - cont in Part 2)

[calyam]

I think the AFL can support 22 teams easily and has the talent to do so.

Do explain

Think of it this way during the 70s and 80s the best talent in the country were spread across 30 teams in three separate 'elite' competitions. These days the best talent is spread across 18 teams with a handful of AFL quality players running around in the state leagues. So 22 teams would still include greater depth that what was once considered normal.

 

[A Swallow]

Think of it this way during the 70s and 80s the best talent in the country were spread across 30 teams in three separate 'elite' competitions. These days the best talent is spread across 18 teams with a handful of AFL quality players running around in the state leagues. So 22 teams would still include greater depth that what was once considered normal.

The issue now though, is that people expect a much higher standard in all aspects due to the concentration of talent in 16 national teams for so long - and now 18. If you diluted it to 22 people would find the drop in average output very noticeable.
Not completely against it, it would just take a long time to implement and for people to get used to.

 

[Gydafud]

I want 34 round seasons with home & away matches played against each team with larger lists to accommodate extra and mid-week games. Don't care about the quality due to "talent pool" as scrappy games are fun too.

 

[WestCoast05]

BRING BACK THE BIFF !!!

 

[chiwigi]

The issue now though, is that people expect a much higher standard in all aspects due to the concentration of talent in 16 national teams for so long - and now 18. If you diluted it to 22 people would find the drop in average output very noticeable.
Not completely against it, it would just take a long time to implement and for people to get used to.

I've never understood this argument, what are you diluting? Fewer athlete types? What? There will still be plenty of stars and there will still be plenty of journeymen. Apart from the stars, most players contribution is to a contest, spread the stars out and you could have more even contests. Please don't try and tell me there are not better footballers NOT playing AFL than your typical 2 years and done draftee.
A greater number of playing spots will allow mature players a pathway into the game instead of the absurd rookie system and post draft scrap heap.

 

[RearNaked]

BRING BACK THE BIFF !!!

Doesnt every straight male want this but the game is getting pussyed up because we need to include girls and gays ..

Waiting to be called a sexist homophobe

 

[Damon_3388]

I've never understood this argument, what are you diluting? Fewer athlete types? What? There will still be plenty of stars and there will still be plenty of journeymen. Apart from the stars, most players contribution is to a contest, spread the stars out and you could have more even contests. Please don't try and tell me there are not better footballers NOT playing AFL than your typical 2 years and done draftee.
A greater number of playing spots will allow mature players a pathway into the game instead of the absurd rookie system and post draft scrap heap.

Are there really another 180-odd genuine national league standard footballers around? I don't think so. There's barely enough as it is, that's why so many young players get/keep list spots based on a skeric of potential, and why so many MOR "middle aged" recycled types are being re-drafted or padding out lists at their 2nd and 3rd clubs.

 

[Damon_3388]

Doesnt every straight male want this but the game is getting pussyed up because we need to include girls and gays ..

Waiting to be called a sexist homophobe

I watch combat sports for fighting (MMA is my favourite sport), and football for football. There's no need to link the two.

Has zero relation to gender, sexuality or "hardness" (does anyone with a brain give a shit about that after high school, by the way?), either.

 

[timtamWB]

Doesnt every straight male want this but the game is getting pussyed up because we need to include girls and gays ..

Waiting to be called a sexist homophobe

You're not a sexist homophobe. You're just an idiot.

 

[WestCoast05]

Doesnt every straight male want this

Nope, go read the tribunal thread. Seems ppl are always calling for harsher penalties.

 

[Hipster Doofus]

Doesnt every straight male want this but the game is getting pussyed up because we need to include girls and gays ..

Waiting to be called a sexist homophobe

Lol.
How is it back there in the 50's.

 

[sataris]

The main people against it were the players, they hated it.

They're entertainers. Who gives a stuff what they want?

 

[WCE_phil]

Are there really another 180-odd genuine national league standard footballers around? I don't think so. There's barely enough as it is, that's why so many young players get/keep list spots based on a skeric of potential, and why so many MOR "middle aged" recycled types are being re-drafted or padding out lists at their 2nd and 3rd clubs.

There are significantly better players playing amateurs than in the state level leagues in WA in particular because it pays much better than the wafl does. You'll also find that the top 50-100 players in both the wafl and sanfl are better than all bar a few draftees in their first couple of years. The afl currently has a very backwards way of searching for elite talent. The best comparison would be the NFL whereby you have teams that have been very good at assessing and reaching the pinnacle through assessing mature age players and others who have been successful through the drafts. How you spend your picks is up to you.

Something that AFL clubs currently are absolutely shithouse at (bar 1-2 exceptions) is assessing mature talent. List managers and recruiting departments needs to realise that every club gets draft picks every year and that as well as the next years bunch of 18 year olds the talent pool is every player on every other clubs list and every playing list in the country. Currently clubs aren't going hard enough at other teams players or at mature age players in general. This will change in time and more clubs or larger list sizes would support these ideas.

Where do we get extra teams from? Which areas could support a side / another side? Adelaide and perth could probably handle 1 more each. Tasmania maybe. Where does team 4 come from? Personally i would run with 21, every team has 1 bye a year and you play a 20 round season. Home one year, away the next etc.

 

[Damon_3388]

There are significantly better players playing amateurs than in the state level leagues in WA in particular because it pays much better than the wafl does. You'll also find that the top 50-100 players in both the wafl and sanfl are better than all bar a few draftees in their first couple of years. The afl currently has a very backwards way of searching for elite talent. The best comparison would be the NFL whereby you have teams that have been very good at assessing and reaching the pinnacle through assessing mature age players and others who have been successful through the drafts. How you spend your picks is up to you.

Something that AFL clubs currently are absolutely shithouse at (bar 1-2 exceptions) is assessing mature talent. List managers and recruiting departments needs to realise that every club gets draft picks every year and that as well as the next years bunch of 18 year olds the talent pool is every player on every other clubs list and every playing list in the country. Currently clubs aren't going hard enough at other teams players or at mature age players in general. This will change in time and more clubs or larger list sizes would support these ideas.

Where do we get extra teams from? Which areas could support a side / another side? Adelaide and perth could probably handle 1 more each. Tasmania maybe. Where does team 4 come from? Personally i would run with 21, every team has 1 bye a year and you play a 20 round season. Home one year, away the next etc.

The dynamics of the AFL are totally different to the NFL though.

First of all, they have a minimum entry age (21 years old, or three years out of high school) for the NFL. They also have the massive college football system, which is nothing like anything we have in Australia. It's higher stakes, has and makes way more money, and probably provides a better development platform for 18-21 year olds for its sport than our professional league does. The NFL itself has 31 of its 32 teams under private ownership, so pretty much every team is in "win now" mode, to make money and increase the team's value for the owner, and increase the value of the league (which also has a big revenue-sharing model).

If AFL clubs don't draft young players, and leave it up to the state leagues to develop them, there'd be a big drop off in talent and development and even players staying in the game or pushing for that next level.

If for the 2017 season, you could name 22 squads of 44 players (968 players), all over the age of 21 at the start of the year (so, anyone born 31/12/1995 or earlier), you'd be scraping up and naming some very, very average footballers who really aren't national league standard. Might be an interesting task for someone to undertake, if they have the time and knowledge, but I doubt it would be easy or (if implemented in reality) result in a better standard of footy across the AFL.

 

[ioppolo]

The US has more than 10x our population.

 

[Sinjin Smith]

Ben Dixon is good on the recruit.

Scrap that, he is absolutely shocking and Mick puts him to shame.

Dixon is fake and contrived in everything he does on that show.

I've had decent sessions with Ben Dixon, Fraser Brown and Marc Mercuri. Fraser Brown was a ripper, With Mercuri I had no idea who he was after how many shots and we were crapping on about classic games when I started going on about the 99 prelim with Kouta and one of my mates tapped me on the shoulder and told me who he was.......he didn't care and was fantastic, Dixon was a campaigner of a bloke one of the rudest pricks I've met.

 

[Bokonon]

Think of it this way during the 70s and 80s the best talent in the country were spread across 30 teams in three separate 'elite' competitions. These days the best talent is spread across 18 teams with a handful of AFL quality players running around in the state leagues. So 22 teams would still include greater depth that what was once considered normal.

I like your conclusion but not your reasoning. What actually happened at that time was the state leagues outside Victoria were r*ped for talent for the VFL. WA dealt with it by pushing for a team in the VFL. SA tried to insulate it's comp and did manage some resrictions for a time on their players being recruited. Eventually the AFL came about. Get this is gunna annoy someone so please be gentle, it's my memory not research.

 

[Established1870]

I like your conclusion but not your reasoning. What actually happened at that time was the state leagues outside Victoria were r*ped for talent for the VFL. WA dealt with it by pushing for a team in the VFL. SA tried to insulate it's comp and did manage some resrictions for a time on their players being recruited. Eventually the AFL came about. Get this is gunna annoy someone so please be gentle, it's my memory not research.

That's exactly what happened and anyone who tries to say it wasn't like that is a complete and utter flog.

But the reason it did happen was because the VFL had money whereas the SANFL and the WAFL didn't.

 

[TheCotchyBear]

I've had decent sessions with Ben Dixon, Fraser Brown and Marc Mercuri. Fraser Brown was a ripper, With Mercuri I had no idea who he was after how many shots and we were crapping on about classic games when I started going on about the 99 prelim with Kouta and one of my mates tapped me on the shoulder and told me who he was.......he didn't care and was fantastic, Dixon was a campaigner of a bloke one of the rudest pricks I've met.

Just made me dislike him even more mate haha.

 

[Jade]

Marcus Bontempelli is quite possibly THE most overrated player in the game right now.

Not that he's a bad player, he's a cracking young kid - but some of the commentary around him is Cyril-esque.

Wait, scratch that, Cyril actually has runs on the board.

 

[Quivorir]

Stringer is up there too. Both good to great players, no doubt both will be stars but holy shit give it a rest.

 

[Jade]

Stringer is up there too. Both good to great players, no doubt both will be stars but holy shit give it a rest.

Yeah it's a bit rich.

Don't get me wrong, would love either of them, but geezus, calm the **** down, this isn't exactly Judd and Ablett here.....

 

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

Marcus Bontempelli is quite possibly THE most overrated player in the game right now.

Not that he's a bad player, he's a cracking young kid - but some of the commentary around him is Cyril-esque.

Wait, scratch that, Cyril actually has runs on the board.

He's fourth in the coaches' votes despite a slow start due to off-season hip surgery. He has pulled us over the line numerous times this year alone. He is playing considerable time in the middle and when our midfield looks to be holding its own has played centre-half forward to good effect as well. He's 20.

What's not to rate?

 

[Cynic]

Yeah it's a bit rich.

Don't get me wrong, would love either of them, but geezus, calm the **** down, this isn't exactly Judd and Ablett here.....

Watch a Carlton game with Jack Silvangi playing.

 

[Jade]

He's fourth in the coaches' votes despite a slow start due to off-season hip surgery. He has pulled us over the line numerous times this year alone. He is playing considerable time in the middle and when our midfield looks to be holding its own has played centre-half forward to good effect as well. He's 20.

What's not to rate?

Oh don't get me wrong, I rate him. Kid can play, no doubt. Do not make the mistake of 'over-rated' meaning 'do not rate'.

But he's hardly the first young kid to look better than many of his peers.