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

[RUNVS]

Matty Richardson would be considered better than Dusty if he played in a Dynasty team. He is criminally underrated due to playing in the shittest era of our club.

I feel like if Joel Selwood was drafted to Melbourne he would not be rated half as much as he currently is.

Where a player is drafted is a huge factor in how they are rated at the end of their careers, even if they would have been just as good in the poor team as they were in the great team.

 

[Morro]

I feel like if Joel Selwood was drafted to Melbourne he would not be rated half as much as he currently is.

Where a player is drafted is a huge factor in how they are rated at the end of their careers, even if they would have been just as good in the poor team as they were in the great team.

I agree. Finals shouldnt define a players status if they never played in them haha

 

[p4p1]

The problem is I don't think anyone is going to care.

Hence SOO likely being a flop.

Hope I am wrong.

I don't think it will be a flop. I think a lot of people will still watch and it will be commercially successful. I just don't think anyone will care about the result.

 

[RUNVS]

I don't think it will be a flop. I think a lot of people will still watch and it will be commercially successful. I just don't think anyone will care about the result.

I really want to see it as I really want to see our game played at the highest possible level. Yes we have the Grand Final, but given a bit of time to train together, and play a few games together so they gell fully even the Western Australian team would wipe the floor with the Grand Final team, and the Victorian team, well the premiership winning team would lose by 50 points.

We must be one of the few sports that does not get to see our game played at the highest possible level.

 

[GOHORCS]

I’ve seen some dumb shit written on this site over the years, but ignoring the actual racism directed at Goodes and pretending he just brought it up because some fans didn’t like the way he played is up there.

I guess Eddie, Newman, Bolt and the Girl who all had large pockets of Australia backing them in after they’d clearly racially vilified him didn’t happen at all in your world.

I haven't ignored the terrible experience that adam probably faced every day of his life. My family barrack for the swans and I watched and respected him. He changed and he was booed. Some of it may have been racist but the timing coincided with my lost respect. Hence my unpopular opinion.

 

[GOHORCS]

Yep. Plus Chris Judd was way way dirtier than Goodes ever was and yet no one was booing him.

Goodes went from the star to the heel. He lowered himself. The booing was a terrible experience he didn't deserve. I wish he didn't become the fallen champion in my eyes.

 

[Wallaby]

I really want to see it as I really want to see our game played at the highest possible level. Yes we have the Grand Final, but given a bit of time to train together, and play a few games together so they gell fully even the Western Australian team would wipe the floor with the Grand Final team, and the Victorian team, well the premiership winning team would lose by 50 points.

We must be one of the few sports that does not get to see our game played at the highest possible level.

No team sport is played at the highest possible level. Any competition has a number of teams, and the best teams play off for the prize. There has never been a game played between the 'Best 22 soccer players in the World' or the best cricketers or the best basketballers. The best players play for different clubs and different countries. And because they play and train all year round, the best club teams are generally better than the best national teams.

The current FIFA 'Best XI of 2025' contains players from Morocco, France, Spain, Ecuador, Netherlands, Italy, UK plus a couple of others. Good luck with getting all of them on the field at one time.

The closest is probably the NFL All-Star game, where the teams are chosen from only two places (AFL and NFL conferences), but even then, if the best 2 QBs come from the same conference, only one can play. Plus, the game is played at an exhibition level, equivalent to pre-season scratch match intensity, because no one wants to be hurt in a meaningless friendly.

Rugby League SOO is probably the closest in a serous competitive sense, but even then, there are a few English and New Zealand players who would deserve to be in the game if it was the 'Best of the Best'.

 

[GhostofJimJess]

Goodes career started in 1998 and he didn't get booed until around 2013, 15 years into his career. Hmmmm wonder what happened there?

Also he got booed everytime he got the ball. Like everytime - I'm 100% certain it wasn't just because he was a "flog".

It was one of the most disgraceful things I can remember in not just modern AFL, but Modern Australian history. We need to acknowledge it and stop downplaying it. It was clearly racism.

Yeah, it clearly started after he called out that teenage Collingwood supporter after she racially abused him in that Friday night Indigenous Round game. Even re-watching that very game, there was no booing beyond the normal feral Magpie stuff before that incident.

 

[Rich01]

Adam Goodes was an awesome player who became a dirty stager and was underhanded in his latter years. He played the race card as the response for the criticism which then brought out a few racists and then appeared to prove him 'right'.
Loved him, then hated him.
Always arrogant which is great when you are a champion but he couldn't handle being beaten and resorted to the staging and kidney punches. When this drew the ire of fans he couldn't fathom that it was because he had become the dirty villian of the team and concluded it must be racism.

Hmmm it’s weird that stadiums don’t constantly boo Ginnivan like they did Goodes.

Get your hand off it, the mouth breathers didn’t booGoodes because he staged.

 

[RUNVS]

I am going to say something now that is genuinely unpopular.

I admittedly didn't see him play that much as I only saw the last few years of his career and I was a kid at the time, but nothing in Wayne Carey's stats indicate he was an all time great. He was a key forward who, for the time at least, didn't kick that many goals.

 

[HeathySure]

I am going to say something now that is genuinely unpopular.

I admittedly didn't see him play that much as I only saw the last few years of his career and I was a kid at the time, but nothing in Wayne Carey's stats indicate he was an all time great. He was a key forward who, for the time at least, didn't kick that many goals.

As someone who despises him with a passion, this is wrong, He is an all time great, probably top 20 of all time. He played Centre Half Forward and i would guess without looking he probably would have the highest average of goals of any CHF that ever played.

 

[RUNVS]

As someone who despises him with a passion, this is wrong, He is an all time great, probably top 20 of all time. He played Centre Half Forward and i would guess without looking he probably would have the highest average of goals of any CHF that ever played.

That is the thing though. Over their careers, and Buddy's career was considerably longer than Carey's, so more seasons where he was older and producing less as a result, Buddy averaged 3.0 goals across his career while Carey averaged 2.7

Goals wise Barry Hall had 2.6 goals across his career while Carey was 2.7, but Hall got his goals in an era where it was much harder for key forwards to kick goals.

I am not saying Carey was bad, but I think he was a top 10 player of his era, but he had a very good PR team that elevated his reputation a bit more than it deserved (again, still think he was a top 10 player of his era).

Also that is just CHF's from the Swans since I know Sydney's list well. Plenty of CHF's from other clubs too.

 

[HeathySure]

That is the thing though. Over their careers, and Buddy's career was considerably longer than Carey's, so more seasons where he was older and producing less as a result, Buddy averaged 3.0 goals across his career while Carey averaged 2.7

Goals wise Barry Hall had 2.6 goals across his career while Carey was 2.7, but Hall got his goals in an era where it was much harder for key forwards to kick goals.

I am not saying Carey was bad, but I think he was a top 10 player of his era, but he had a very good PR team that elevated his reputation a bit more than it deserved (again, still think he was a top 10 player of his era).

Also that is just CHF's from the Swans since I know Sydney's list well. Plenty of CHF's from other c

CHFs were not the main scorers in those days. FFs were. Your Barry Hall comparison is oranges and apples. Carey's influence won premierships. Hall was a cog. Buddy is an all time great too, probably top 20 as well, but as much as it pains me to say it, Carey was better

 

[RUNVS]

CHFs were not the main scorers in those days. FFs were. Your Barry Hall comparison is oranges and apples. Carey's influence won premierships. Hall was a cog. Buddy is an all time great too, probably top 20 as well, but as much as it pains me to say it, Carey was better

I know people say that and I don’t think they are lying but it is still hard to grasp just looking at his stats since for the era they were not that great.

 

[HeathySure]

I know people say that and I don’t think they are lying but it is still hard to grasp just looking at his stats since for the era they were not that great.

Stats dont tell the whole stary. There were some people on BF trying to make a case for Sav Rocca being in the hall of fame because of his stats, but he would barely make it in the best 50 players of the year in any year he played and doesn't belong anywhere near the HOF and i say that as a Collingwood supporter,
I suggest you go look at some of the best of Carey on YouTube and that might tell you a better story

 

[RUNVS]

Stats dont tell the whole stary. There were some people on BF trying to make a case for Sav Rocca being in the hall of fame because of his stats, but he would barely make it in the best 50 players of the year in any year he played and doesn't belong anywhere near the HOF and i say that as a Collingwood supporter,
I suggest you go look at some of the best of Carey on YouTube and that might tell you a better story

The problem with highlights packages is they really can make a lot of players seem like the best of their era. The best thing to do I suppose is watch some random North Melbourne game of the mid 90’s and see how Carey goes in it.

 

[peetoo]

Whatever side. No one will change their mind on the Goodes episode

 

[FreddyTwoShoes]

The problem with highlights packages is they really can make a lot of players seem like the best of their era. The best thing to do I suppose is watch some random North Melbourne game of the mid 90’s and see how Carey goes in it.

I saw a lot of Carey back then.
Oppo teams spent an inordinate amount of planning and effort to curb his influence just so they could compete with north in those days.
His greatness (as a player) went way beyond stats.

 

[Obzerva]

That is the thing though. Over their careers, and Buddy's career was considerably longer than Carey's, so more seasons where he was older and producing less as a result, Buddy averaged 3.0 goals across his career while Carey averaged 2.7

Goals wise Barry Hall had 2.6 goals across his career while Carey was 2.7, but Hall got his goals in an era where it was much harder for key forwards to kick goals.

I am not saying Carey was bad, but I think he was a top 10 player of his era, but he had a very good PR team that elevated his reputation a bit more than it deserved (again, still think he was a top 10 player of his era).

Also that is just CHF's from the Swans since I know Sydney's list well. Plenty of CHF's from other clubs too.

On the PR aspect, it wouldn’t have taken much PR as I feel like in the Carey NM era, NM were the Friday night team a lot.

It was a lot of exposure.

 

[RUNVS]

On the PR aspect, it wouldn’t have taken much PR as I feel like in the Carey NM era, NM were the Friday night team a lot.

It was a lot of exposure.

I wonder how much of an effect that had, especially when great players of other teams got less exposure. This was back in an era too where not all games were broadcast.

 

[Do the Dew]

Brisbane will completely crash in season 2026 due to Neale's recent indiscretion.

 

[sabso]

Brisbane will completely crash in season 2026 due to Neale's recent indiscretion.

Or they’ll get a massive compo package from the afl

 

[GhostofJimJess]

Brisbane will completely crash in season 2026 due to Neale's recent indiscretion.

Or the other 40-ish players on the list won't give even the foggiest of a shit and still be as competitive as they otherwise would've been.

They'll be fine.

 

[sabso]

Or the other 40-ish players on the list won't give even the foggiest of a shit and still be as competitive as they otherwise would've been.

They'll be fine.

Fair amount of salary cap freed up though

 

[Do the Dew]

Or the other 40-ish players on the list won't give even the foggiest of a shit and still be as competitive as they otherwise would've been.

They'll be fine.

Hence why the opinion is unpopular.