2014 Non-Crows AFL Discussion

[SugarShane]

Has anyone tried to get one of the chants going?

Sat near the Richmond cheer squad on Saturday night, they had a few chants (maybe 3 at most) but nothing was actually that good. The old "Richmond clapclapclap" seemed about as good as theirs gets too, and was probably the only one their whole squad chipped in for.

They had one which was shouted in quick short bursts, and then they spell Richmond at the end. It made me laugh every time because all their other lines were about 4-5 syllables long, then the spelling out at the end takes that bit too long and just sounds dumb.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

I wouldn't trust the people around me to spell Adelaide correctly

 

[Crow54]

I wouldn't trust the people around me to spell Adelaide correctly

Well, it's much easier to spell than Port Adelaide - Est. 1870.

 

[AFC3000]

Anyone looking to go to Ports last home game at AO? no? good, me either, but those bandwagoners who do want to...

"The club will also launch a special 12-hour offer online tomorrow, allowing supporters to purchase a 2014 membership for $50, which gives access to the game, a membership pack and priority access to finals ticketing and 2015 memberships."

Thats right, one game memberships.

Also don't miss the "special edition of Never Tear Us Apart before the first bounce." that has AFL 360 dramatic music, pre-game speeches "secretly" recorded and player readings of the creed from different camera angles to slow music all over it.

 

[RossFC]

"The club will also launch a special 12-hour offer online tomorrow, allowing supporters to purchase a 2014 membership for $50, which gives access to the game, a membership pack and priority access to finals ticketing and 2015 memberships."

Everyone on the Port board is against them doing it. We won't defend Port on this matter.
Same goes for the pre game entertainment vs Sydney 2 weeks ago.

We are falling into the trap you guys fell into early in the season.

 

[hey shorty]

A one game membership ?? Surely that isnt serious.

 

[AFC3000]

Everyone on the Port board is against them doing it. We won't defend Port on this matter.
Same goes for the pre game entertainment vs Sydney 2 weeks ago.

We are falling into the trap you guys fell into early in the season.

I was having a joke about it but having a read over there I agree that it would be pretty disappointing to miss out on a finals ticket because someone with a 1 game membership has the same priority as someone with an 11 game membership.

I remember Collingwood giving away a jumper or hat and scarf plus ticket and "membership" to your game at AAMI last year for a few dollars more than it would of cost to get that ticket by itself, I'm guessing they do that at other grounds and I know they do them around their blockbuster games. So probably something we will all have to get used to, makes the membership ladder pretty meaningless though, until they release the final results in the different categories that is.

 

[footy4ever]

Anyone looking to go to Ports last home game at AO? no? good, me either, but those bandwagoners who do want to...

"The club will also launch a special 12-hour offer online tomorrow, allowing supporters to purchase a 2014 membership for $50, which gives access to the game, a membership pack and priority access to finals ticketing and 2015 memberships."

Thats right, one game memberships.

Also don't miss the "special edition of Never Tear Us Apart before the first bounce." that has AFL 360 dramatic music, pre-game speeches "secretly" recorded and player readings of the creed from different camera angles to slow music all over it.

I have goosebumps.

 

[Iron]

Substandard tealster troll attempt...

Are you sure that isn't the standard? I'm yet to see a much better attempt.

 

[fabs33]

Sure, it would be nice - but it's not going to happen unless the AFL bite the bullet and make rules demanding it. Trying to force coaches to revert back to it by making the players more and more fatigued to the stage where the coach just throws his hands in the air and says "**** it, you can all just stand still in your position" is simply not going to work. No coach would be the first to do it - because they'd get absolutely slaughtered by the other team who would outnumber the players holding their position at a ratio of 10:1 at every contest.

So, since that's not going to happen, what is going to happen? If the AFL continues to implement rules where following the play to every contest becomes simply too fatiguing to actually do, there are only two possible outcomes I can see. Either clubs will focus on recruiting endurance athletes far more than they do now (where they are generally either absolute top draft picks because they're also good footballers, or they're project players), or the alternative option which is that coaches will have their players follow the ball as much as possible, and then all go and flood the backlines for a rest when they can't sprint anymore.

In the mean time, we'll have far uglier football than we've ever had - endurance athletes who aren't skilled will become the primary midfielders, inside and out. Players on the brink of exhaustion will be making skill errors left and right. The majority of clean possession will come not on the back of a skillful handball or a contested mark, but on one player having slightly more staying power than his opponent and managing to finally burn him off.

What absolutely will not happen will be the coaches asking their players to hold position over the ground. We all moved on from that for a reason - it makes it extremely difficult to actually win games of football against teams willing to break position.


Sorry, not trying to have a go at you here - I'm just a little testy on this issue because the AFL has literally spent an entire decade now making the game frustrating as hell to watch by implementing rules to "limit congestion" without actually making a rule that deals with it directly. The new HTB interpretations around 8 years ago designed solely to reduce stoppages by forcing players into making poor decisions that allow their opponent to gain possession of the ball, when forcing a draw would be the better option, is a great example. The AFL hates stoppages because it gives everyone a chance to get around the ball. So what do they do? They change the interpretation of a rule so that stoppages are harder to get by requiring any player who ends up on top of a ball to make every possible attempt to get it out - even if that means giving it straight to an opponent. This is undesirable, of course, so now we have a situation where the players adapt and start loitering off the ball, waiting for their opponent to pick it up so they can tackle them and win the free kick. So what happens next? The ball winners start learning to lead with their head to prevent being tackled, and we end up with Lynch stretchered off the ground with a broken neck. Way to go AFL - that is 100% on your shoulders and you should be ashamed of it. And that's before we even look at some of the horrible leg injuries that have been caused entirely by the rule changes above, where players are now leading with their head, and other players adapted by sliding in feet first to win the ball instead. Those terrible leg injuries - those are your fault, AFL. You did it. It was you.

If the AFL actually had some guts and some conviction they'd just create a rule about congestion. No more than x players around the stoppage. Hell, they already have it in the centre square area for centre clearances. If they really believe that congestion is that big a blight on the game (it's not) then they should deal with it directly. But instead, they just keep trying to sneak rule changes through the back door which they give round-about justifications for, but which are clearly being introduced in the hope that players will be too tired to make it to every contest. And each time, coaches and players just find ways to adapt to it and continue to congest the area - and we end up with an uglier spectacle, and just as much congestion as before.

And that's before we even get to the question of how moronically negligent it is to deliberately fatigue the players. What is the effect on the likelihood of injury - both soft tissue injuries, because of extra wear and tear, and also impact injuries due to players being too fatigued to properly protect themselves? Did anyone at the AFL actually do a study on it before deciding it was what they wanted to do? What are the long-term health impacts for players being pushed to the brink of exhaustion more and more often each game? The AFL appears to use "less congestion" as a justification for doing anything whatsoever. It doesn't matter how ugly the spectacle becomes, how much the fans, players, coaches, commentators and everyone else hates the rule changes, it doesn't even matter if the rule changes are directly responsible for career-ending injuries. As long as congestion is lowered, everything's hunky dory.

Here's an idea, AFL - why don't you just kneecap every AFL player? That'll reduce congestion as well.

Quality rant!

It's the sort of sledgehammer some of the AFL heads should be whacked with.

 

[6BTS]

Fyfe decision upheld. Not sure why Freo challenged in the first place. With this suspension the AFL won't suffer the embarrassment of potentially the player to poll the most Brownlow votes misses out because of an "accident" in the heat of play. There wasn't a chance on Earth this was getting overturned.

 

[Tex200]

Fyfe decision upheld. Not sure why Freo challenged in the first place. With this suspension the AFL won't suffer the embarrassment of potentially the player to poll the most Brownlow votes misses out because of an "accident" in the heat of play. There wasn't a chance on Earth this was getting overturned.

I think all they were going for was a reduction to 1 game - not an overturn

 

[6BTS]

I think all they were going for was a reduction to 1 game - not an overturn

Ah, okay, I stand corrected.

 

[Glenno23]

I think all they were going for was a reduction to 1 game - not an overturn

Yep, spot on. Trying to argue that the ruling of it being "intentional" was wrong and that it was "reckless"

Carnage for fantasy this week. Fyfe, Harvey, Beams, JPK, SJ and co all MIA and all very popular

 

[ruscy002]

Yep, spot on. Trying to argue that the ruling of it being "intentional" was wrong and that it was "reckless"

Carnage for fantasy this week. Fyfe, Harvey, Beams, JPK, SJ and co all MIA and all very popular

Stung on every single one of them

 

[Bacon8]

Stung on every single one of them

I only have 4/10 midfielders available.
Luckily, I'm crap and have been knocked out.

 

[little graham]

That barret doesn't proof read his own work.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-08-22/sliding-doors-round-22

Rekons Port showed signs of a resurgence last week against Gold Coast while saying how bad Gold Coast are. Most decent judges thought if Port had turned the corner they would annihilated gold coast, especially with the injuries GC got in the game.

 

[manureid]

That barret doesn't proof read his own work.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-08-22/sliding-doors-round-22

Rekons Port showed signs of a resurgence last week against Gold Coast while saying how bad Gold Coast are. Most decent judges thought if Port had turned the corner they would annihilated gold coast, especially with the injuries GC got in the game.

Yeh, but we thrashed them in the waterpolo.

 

[little graham]

Yeh, but we thrashed them in the waterpolo.

GC are probably the second worse side in the league in the last 6 weeks, if they won last week (nearly did) they would of been the 3rd worse side.

Barrett is dick!

 

[little graham]

Is there a coach with such an exemplary record over a long period as time, who speaks as much trash as Malthouse?

 

[Glenno23]

Nice to see Gibbs tackle Wingard after he faked he was going right. No left footer ever goes right and its just a refreshing change to see someone not fooled by it!

Shits me no end when our players fall for that fake from a leftie.....

Our players can't do it, as we have no lefties getting a regular gig......

 

[Sir Vlado]

Carlton are more allergic to physical contact than we are, which is really saying something. Lazy football team.

 

[little graham]

They listed the players Carlton have out. Most of that large group would walk in to most teams.

 

[Tyls83]

Carton are gonna seriously play Port back into form here.

 

[Sir Vlado]

They look like they're seriously going through the motions here. They've had enough of this season.