Time to Scrap %. Points For Only.

Aug 25, 2005
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Can someone please explain to me how a high scoring game is a better game? Its taken as an article of faith by so many, but the only winners I can see are boradcasters geting more ad breaks.
Personally I don't think it is.

But a game where teams are attempting to score heavily, as opposed to clogging up the game and doing everything they can to stifle free flowing play is, in my opinion, a good thing.

Players taking risks, backing themselves, instead of being safe - is a good thing.

The scoring shouldn't be manufactured, however.
 
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Personally I don't think it is.

But a game where teams are attempting to score heavily, as opposed to clogging up the game and doing everything they can to stifle free flowing play is, in my opinion, a good thing.

Players taking risks, backing themselves, instead of being safe - is a good thing.

The scoring shouldn't be manufactured, however.

My question is what are the AFL doing,???

Seems to me its year on year bandaid solutions to appease the PA, the media money, stadium deals, & keeping the balls in the air financially.
To what end?
 

Fryman

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Can someone please explain to me how a high scoring game is a better game? Its taken as an article of faith by so many, but the only winners I can see are boradcasters geting more ad breaks.
Would be nice to see a forward kick 100 goals again.

Winning the Coleman with 40 odd goals seems pretty ordinary to me.
 

Mudman85

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Nothing will ever work to even up the comp until there is a truly uncompromised fixture. Play the bottom 3 teams twice and you will no doubt get higher %, higher points for, higher points differential. It’s really all a measure of the same thing. Focus to win every game you play and then you don’t need to worry about %.
 
Feb 23, 2009
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Not the best suggestion OP, for reasons mentioned in this thread. Ground differences, conditions, winning margins ignored, etc.

Percentage is actually something that works reasonably well in our game over the course of a season as a differentiator. IMO there's no real need to change that to encourage higher scores.

Being able to defend and defend well is a perfectly legitimate fundamental of the game. You cant punish defensive teams on the ladder because you don't like the style.

If I wanted to encourage high scoring, I'd drop a player from the field to open things up and reduce interchanges a bit more.
 
Feb 23, 2009
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I don't agree with the proposal as it's impacted by weather too much. But I will say this, people who obsess over the rules and their implementation, non-implementation, changing etc. are focusing on the wrong issue. The problem is, as the OP said, the coaches. Coaches have made the game congested and clogged because they choose where players go. You really think it's the umpiring which leads to flooding and a swarm around the footy? No, it's coaches. You really think it's the rules which encourage players to play the chip mark chip mark possession game? No, it's the coaches. We could have the same game with the same rules and the same players but with different coaching philosophies and have games where scoring is much higher.

Ultimately you could tweak the rules or how teams are ranked or whatever but the fundamental issue is that coaches focus more on not losing than winning and that coaches are obsessed with control, control of the ball, control of their opponent and control of their own players. I've seen games played in the pristine conditions of Docklands which are utterly boring defensive snoozefests. You can't tell me that's just the rules.
100% this.
Leave the game alone and let the tactical side evolve naturally. The more you try and control it the worse the game gets as a spectacle.
 
Aug 25, 2005
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Not the best suggestion OP, for reasons mentioned in this thread. Ground differences, conditions, winning margins ignored, etc.

Percentage is actually something that works reasonably well in our game over the course of a season as a differentiator. IMO there's no real need to change that to encourage higher scores.

Being able to defend and defend well is a perfectly legitimate fundamental of the game. You cant punish defensive teams on the ladder because you don't like the style.

If I wanted to encourage high scoring, I'd drop a player from the field to open things up and reduce interchanges a bit more.

I see a few problems with that...

As per the premise of the OP, it doesn't matter what you implement on-field - coaches will counter it. They will always be working to reduce scoring as their priority, to reduce the flow of play, to restrict the creativity of players, and to eliminate 1 on 1s. Basically, all the good stuff.

On-field changes do * all ultimately, other than rip at the fabric of the sport.

It's treating the symptom, not the cause.

Secondly, the OP isn't about punishing defensive teams as such - it's about encouraging coaches to put more emphasis on attacking. You still need to defend to win the game.

However you wouldn't hear the phrase 'gee they can't afford a blowout here as it could really hurt their percentage' any more.

Good defensive teams are what has ****ed the game. Good defensive players however, have always been and still are fantastic to watch.

Watching a good defensive player ply their craft should not be 'punished' or artificially negated with s**t on-field changes. This is tantamount to choreography.

It's the team defence that has made the game so s**t to watch. Watching 18 guys stand in zones, forcing stoppage after stoppage, and 10 on 10 marking contests is just rubbish. That's what team defence is.

Forcing the coaches to adjust their priority away from the 'defence first' mentality is the key IMO.


Think about the logic of the AFL saying they want more 'Dusty moments', and in the meantime they are providing the tools, resources and incentive to 18 Professional coaches and their coaching departments to spend every waking moment doing every thing they can to stop 'Dusty moments' from occurring!! And they are doing NOTHING to address the real issue which is that there is zero incentive for coaches to NOT try to snuff 'Dusty moments' from the game.
 
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I see a few problems with that...

As per the premise of the OP, it doesn't matter what you implement on-field - coaches will counter it. They will always be working to reduce scoring as their priority, to reduce the flow of play, to restrict the creativity of players, and to eliminate 1 on 1s. Basically, all the good stuff.

On-field changes do fu** all ultimately, other than rip at the fabric of the sport.

It's treating the symptom, not the cause.

Secondly, the OP isn't about punishing defensive teams as such - it's about encouraging coaches to put more emphasis on attacking. You still need to defend to win the game.

However you wouldn't hear the phrase 'gee they can't afford a blowout here as it could really hurt their percentage' any more.

Good defensive teams are what has f’ed the game. Good defensive players however, have always been and still are fantastic to watch.

Watching a good defensive player ply their craft should not be 'punished' or artificially negated with sh*t on-field changes. This is tantamount to choreography.

It's the team defence that has made the game so sh*t to watch. Watching 18 guys stand in zones, forcing stoppage after stoppage, and 10 on 10 marking contests is just rubbish. That's what team defence is.

Forcing the coaches to adjust their priority away from the 'defence first' mentality is the key IMO.


Think about the logic of the AFL saying they want more 'Dusty moments', and in the meantime they are providing the tools, resources and incentive to 18 Professional coaches and their coaching departments to spend every waking moment doing every thing they can to stop 'Dusty moments' from occurring!! And they are doing NOTHING to address the real issue which is that there is zero incentive for coaches to NOT try to snuff 'Dusty moments' from the game.

The problem with all this is that team defence is what wins games. That’s why everyone does it.

Teams prefer to win over getting a good percentage or a high score.

Teams trying to attack would lose to teams playing team defence more often than not.
 

deskc

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They are getting rid of other long standing traditions in the game so this should go too. Its the only sport in the world that uses % on a ladder. Just stupid backwards tradition
 
Aug 25, 2005
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They are getting rid of other long standing traditions in the game so this should go too. Its the only sport in the world that uses % on a ladder. Just stupid backwards tradition
I don't necessarily think it's stupid - however it is totally counter productive to what the AFL is actually trying to achieve.

% is literally the 2nd most important metric in the H&A season. After Wins, it determines your spot on the ladder.

It literally was THE difference between Geelong and West Coast getting the double chance.

So the question is, as you point out, is it still a relevant measurement, given the AFL is potentially doing immense damage to the game whilst trying increase scoring and promote free flowing play?

It's just seems futile and counter productive when all the important key metrics are based on low scoring.
 
I don't necessarily think it's stupid - however it is totally counter productive to what the AFL is actually trying to achieve.

% is literally the 2nd most important metric in the H&A season. After Wins, it determines your spot on the ladder.
1st most important is wins and the best way to get those currently is playing team defence.
 

queensberryrules

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Aug 16, 2019
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The Bubble Gummers should be banned from the footy, however, Gil sees them as the future fan base, so such an idea could materialise.

At least ban them from BF which should never become a tackle free zone.
 
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