Autopsy 16-minute quarters: which teams are winners and losers from this?

[hawkman]

Funnily enough it was only 6 points a game higher on Rd 1 2019; i.e. not much difference at all.

Accuracy was a factor in that. Last year round 1 accuracy was 49.7% (not including complete misses), this year it was 56.6%

This years accuracy would have seen 7 more points per team last year
Last years accuracy would have seen a further 6 points less per team this year

As for what was the cause of the accuracy increase it could have been any of shorter quarters, no crowds, less pressure, more free kicks given in front of goal

 

[Werewolf]

If the players want to do 20% less work, they can take 20% pay cuts!

 

[Seeds]

I will stop going to games if they reduce the qtrs. Its just no longer worth the effort of dragging the kids into the city if the game is too short.

This could be a genuine jumping the shark moment for the afl.

 

[Seeds]

How exactly are we going to compare game day performances from the past if the qtrs are shorter. Concepts like record score and best wins just become meaningless. Less game length means its harder to see a big come from behind victory.

 

[Seeds]

As soon as virus is over we need to protest.

this is the end of the game we love.

 

[Do the Dew]

As soon as virus is over we need to protest.

this is the end of the game we love.

The issue is that the AFL isn’t transparent at all with their decisions. They simply state what they’re doing and rarely give a reason as to why they’re doing it. This infuriates fans because we’re blindsided and disregarded in the process.

I wish they’d come out and state exactly why they’re implementing shorter quarters (because I think that’s what they’ll do next year). Outline reasons behind decision making, and set a list of objectives/KPIs for the rule change that can be measured against. At least then we’d have some transparency and access to the success of the given rule change or not.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[HTT]

I don't know where the need for shorter quarters even came from. Seemed to just pop up out of nowhere as a problem I didn't know existed. The AFL doesn't seem satisfied unless they've made at least 2 adjustments to the game each year.

A bunch of people at AFL house looking to justify their jobs. Now it’s looking like there’s going to be a bunch of cutbacks expect a raft of new, needless rule changes to be suggested.

 

[Freshwater]

How exactly are we going to compare game day performances from the past if the qtrs are shorter. Concepts like record score and best wins just become meaningless. Less game length means its harder to see a big come from behind victory.

I agree with all your posts. We need you to convince that Geelong mafia because it’s better from a Geelong fan.
Craig Hutchinson, Gerard Whately, Steve Hocking, Chris Scott and Patrick Dangerflog seems to be all pushing this crap. And they are all over competition committee’s and media influencers.

 

[Maurice Mitchell]

A study of the types of injuries sustained these days would be interesting. My assumption is that there would be more collision injuries these days. If that’s case, it’s another argument for less interchange.

Honestly, I don’t understand why people seem to prefer players coming off the ground, recharging, thus, getting to more contests which keeps the congestion going and requires them to hammer into each other like battering rams again and again with greater and greater force each year. I think that brutal style of play is ok in sports like the rugby codes because you can see your opposition at all times and you can brace yourselves. On the rare occasion where a rugby player gets hit by surprise is when a teammate sets them up with a hospital pass that doesn’t allow time to brace after catching it.

This is not Australian Rules Football. Fatigue was always a part of the game and therefore players had to pace themselves; they couldn’t get to every contest, they stayed in their positions more. It wasn’t like soccer, where they all charge forward on the counter attack.

Well, it is these days and the sport is poorer for it. And if they want to shorten the game further, collision injuries will only increase.

I would like to see a return to ‘football smarts’ and athletic ability rather than big bodies crashing in. Would Barry Cable even be drafted these days? Rightly so, a Legend in the Hall of the Fame. One of the most skilful players to have ever played; along with Matthews and Bartlett, they were clearly the outstanding on ballers of their era but at 5’6”, would he even be looked at these days?

I can’t believe how many times I saw the ball turned over in round 1 from terrible, terrible kicking. Top players as well as average, landing passes at the feet of teammates from 20-25 metres. Is it lack of skill or too much congestion or inferred/perceived pressure? I don’t know, but it’s not the game I grew up loving and I reckon if injury statistics back up my presumption about collision injuries then the game needs to go back to fatigue rather than ‘bull at the gate’ battering rams.

 

[JohnZ]

I will stop going to games if they reduce the qtrs. Its just no longer worth the effort of dragging the kids into the city if the game is too short.

This could be a genuine jumping the shark moment for the afl.

How exactly are we going to compare game day performances from the past if the qtrs are shorter. Concepts like record score and best wins just become meaningless. Less game length means its harder to see a big come from behind victory.

As soon as virus is over we need to protest.

this is the end of the game we love.

Did you protest when the VFL/AFL changed the length of Quarters from 25min + 1min per goal to 20min plus stoppage?

SMH

 

[hawkman]

Did you protest when the VFL/AFL changed the length of Quarters from 25min + 1min per goal to 20min plus stoppage?

SMH

With 25 min the clock only stopped for a score. When they went to 20 min the clock also stopped once the ball crossed the boundary. It took only a minute or 2 of the quarters.
A lot of games had 21 or 22 minute quarters which is taking at least 6 or 7 minutes off a normal quarter

 

[Luv_our_club]

I will stop going to games if they reduce the qtrs. Its just no longer worth the effort of dragging the kids into the city if the game is too short.

This could be a genuine jumping the shark moment for the afl.

So true.

The AFL ground is too big. You often have to look at the scoreboard to watch what is happening on the oppo wing or oppo forward line.... unless you have great seats. If quarters are 16 mins... and then add longer quarter time breaks... why would you attend? (except a deep love of club). It is not like basketball or soccer where you are basically on top of the players the whole game.


And it is the size of the crowd that makes the game of AFL. I have always believed this. If the AFL make such changes they are flirting with disaster.

 

[ziad]

Media gets its cash from advertising - 16min allows more advertising - media commentry is jusy infomercials. Commentators just read the script of get sacked.

 

[BigPond101]

I think the aim of players like Dangerfield is to gradually get it down to 12 minute quarters like their beloved basketball

 

[FootyJunkie]

Bring back 25min qtrs

 

[Consolaçao]

Trust me, the AFL have thought this through. It's actually a very easy one for them.
After going through a 2020 without footy, in which the very existence of the clubs and the game are being brought into question, next summer Gil will announce 16 minute quarters on a trial basis, in doing so 'managing' some of the opposition.
Obviously, having been starved of action, and eager to support their clubs and the game, the football supporting public will be out in force in 2021. Crowds and TV ratings will be up, club memberships will break records, goodwill in general will be through the roof.
The upshot of all this is that Gil will take all this as undeniable evidence of the popularity of 16 minute quarters and announce midway through the season that 'the fans have spoken, and 16-minute quarters are here to stay'! The compliant AFL media will ensure that any calls to return to 20-minute quarters are dismissed as reactionary garbage from the idiot fringe.
This might sound hyper cynical, but I think we've all followed the AFL long enough to get an idea of the way they work.

 

[doppleganger]

The reason why the changed it was because the game has continually elongated with all of the stoppages.

A 20min quarter with time on used to mean 28-30min quarter length.

But as coaches used congestion and stoppages as a tactic the actual quarter length now pushed up to well over 30min.

The actual quarter length using the 16min quarter + time on was still ~ 25 minutes.

25-30 minute quarters are what playing length should be, not that big a deal really.

Games were getting too long and quite frankly were tough to watch if your team wasn’t involved.

 

[Lsta062]

It felt like I was just getting into the quarter at times and it was already 5 mins until it ends. If anything it showed how it did not work.

 

[Billy ray]

18. It will be 18

 

[Werewolf]

18. It will be 18

They trialled 18 minute quarters some time ago in the preseason competition

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

I think the aim of players like Dangerfield is to gradually get it down to 12 minute quarters like their beloved basketball

He's one of the biggest flogs in the game.

A great player who is a complete w***er.

 

[Billy ray]

They trialled 18 minute quarters some time ago in the preseason competition

Its like the half time break thing. Go with ambit claim and be happy to meet half way. Granted they made no change to half time break in end but in this case they will and 18 is where they will land

 

[Luv_our_club]

The reason why the changed it was because the game has continually elongated with all of the stoppages.

A 20min quarter with time on used to mean 28-30min quarter length.

But as coaches used congestion and stoppages as a tactic the actual quarter length now pushed up to well over 30min.

The actual quarter length using the 16min quarter + time on was still ~ 25 minutes.

25-30 minute quarters are what playing length should be, not that big a deal really.

Games were getting too long and quite frankly were tough to watch if your team wasn’t involved.

I don't have proof, but I will say that the adds between goals are now longer and this has made the quarters longer.

Often there is the add and then also the "brought to you by" stinger. In the recent past, the players and umpires were not in their positions after a goal waiting around for the green light to bounce the ball like we have now.

 

[Luv_our_club]

Trust me, the AFL have thought this through. It's actually a very easy one for them.
After going through a 2020 without footy, in which the very existence of the clubs and the game are being brought into question, next summer Gil will announce 16 minute quarters on a trial basis, in doing so 'managing' some of the opposition.
Obviously, having been starved of action, and eager to support their clubs and the game, the football supporting public will be out in force in 2021. Crowds and TV ratings will be up, club memberships will break records, goodwill in general will be through the roof.
The upshot of all this is that Gil will take all this as undeniable evidence of the popularity of 16 minute quarters and announce midway through the season that 'the fans have spoken, and 16-minute quarters are here to stay'! The compliant AFL media will ensure that any calls to return to 20-minute quarters are dismissed as reactionary garbage from the idiot fringe.
This might sound hyper cynical, but I think we've all followed the AFL long enough to get an idea of the way they work.

G. Whately on AFL 360 quoted Winston Churchill... "Never waste a good crisis".

He said it gleefully.

 

[Soberian Tiger]

18 minutes seems likely.

4 per quarter plus 30 seconds time on.

AFL XXXX