Analysis 2017 = Weak year?

[cartwright]

Well, both games this weekend have been shithouse

 

[JayJ20]

With Bulldogs winning the premiership, could be argued 2016 was the weakest year in the last decade or two.

Yep. When the 7th side wins 15 games, it shows how weak the competition actually was

 

[VictorianCrow85]

It will be a Geelong vs West Coast Grand Final. I'm willing to bet my house in Morwell on it.

Good call

willing to take that bet

I bet he's not so keen right about now..

 

[Shade]

Its been pathetic ive wanted to knock off work early to watch some of these games only to deliver up pure and utter shit

 

[Saint12]

It will be a Geelong vs West Coast Grand Final. I'm willing to bet my house in Morwell on it.

What's a house in Morwell worth these days

 

[Deep]

Well, both games this weekend have been shithouse

Oh I don't know.

Who doesn't like Sydney with all their unwarranted concessions cop a flogging?

 

[cartwright]

Oh I don't know.

Who doesn't like Sydney with all their unwarranted concessions cop a flogging?

Granted, I'm not complaining about that
But these games feel like they're round 13

... not finals

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Weak and even.

The bottom 6 or so best 22 players at each club are weaker. There's less depth to go around atm.

I am enjoying the season greatly.

Now that they're over the Swans, I expect the Cats to go on and win the flag essentially on the back of one player. That's not to say there aren't other good players at Geelong but take Danger out and there is no way Geelong are in their current position.

In years gone by Geelong had Ablett, Selwood, Corey, Bartel, Ling, Chapman, Johnson, Mooney, Scarlett, Enright, Taylor, Ottens, Harley and Milburn to win flags and they needed every one of them to get it done (in '09 and '11 at least) and in '08 they couldn't get it done.

 

[DERIBERATE]

Love weak years. 97, 98, 17, love all of them

 

[JoondalupJ]

I actually think that the competition is stronger this year.
Let's have a look at each side compared to last year.

Adelaide - Improved
Brisbane - Improved
Carlton - Improved
Collingwood - Remained the same
Essendon - Improved
Fremantle - Improved
Geelong - Remained the same
Gold Coast - Remained the same
GWS - Remained the same
Hawthorn - Regressed
Melbourne - Improved
North Melbourne - Regressed
Port Adelaide - Improved
Richmond - Improved
St Kilda - Remained the same
Sydney - Regressed
West Coast - Remained the same
Western Bulldogs - Regressed

I'd say 8 sides improved. 6 sides stayed the same. 4 sides regressed. Even the sides that regressed were pretty competitive this year. Sides like Essendon, Richmond, Adelaide and arguably Port improved drastically from last year.

The competition as a whole is actually stronger this year than it was last year. The ladder, percentage and win-loss record is reflective of that.

That's only if you are talking in terms of results and numbers , there is always results and numbers even in the Boolamakanka seconds comp. Doesn't mean the games and play has improved does it?
When I say the game has dropped in standard that means the matches themselves, and how teams win and lose,
games, this season is all over the place last night a horror of standard for a final, Sydney capitulate after being called the stone cold killer "come back side"of unbelievable heights after being whacked for 6 games.
Well yesterday they looked like a rag tag impossibility, let themselves and every one else including their fans down.
Now tonight the Eagles at this point in time, I just checked the score , they were ten goals down, isn't that wonderful, I guess they'll get some junk time goals in the last to make it look respectable , but they have no grunt.

Eagles may have stayed the same. As you said. You said Freo improved , yeah?

You say Geelong improved. Well against Richmond they didn't .
Giants were rabble last weekend, tonight they'll be kings , but have a look at the crap they are beating up on.
And what did you say? they stayed the same? Well last week they would be regressing, this week wow, for now!

The game results always tell a story of what happened during the year, but it certainly does not tell how the games were either great or good or garbage, and how one team is dynamite one week and may as well have stayed home the next.

No consistency died this year.

Sorry the comp is barely a shadow of itself , what I meant was the AFL game itself , I meant the wins and losses' you cannot judge in terms of football quality, how good or bad it was, results show only the quality good or bad whose won and whose lost.
And the finals have shown us a few non quality duds .
The football this season is down in standard, BUT, the finals??
Hell teams making the finals, and even a top side 4 e.g. Giants and Crows, how can you tell what kind of side will turn up against Richmond on the MCG, next week, when they looked like rabble last week.
Then this week they play a DUD and who knows they could become a repeat of the the Giants at Adelaide oval,
all over again.
Sydney actually prove it, they wallop Essendon who were a year or 3 too early, then play like weak mongrels against Geelong , who, well they could fold up too, kings today rabble last weekend this is a bad season, nothing to do with changing of the guard, the comp is stitched up, by the GWS/GC17 debacle.
The finals have shown us this year, with a diluted player pool, just how mediocre our Aussie footy league has become. Too many sides, too few elite footballers (FOOTBALLERS!!!! you know??)
Have produced a shitty final series this year. Below standard.
Hope the next two weeks has something worth watching , I have turned Sydney off yesterday, and stopped watching Giants/ Eagles whimper , at half time, tonight, it was all over.
What a terrible weekend this was for footy, and what a stupid bunch of pea brains running the AFL and having that game destroying bye after the H&A.

Don't use the word improve , regress or plain shit house , about this season , its been down in standard, and you can't play keepings off forever either . Sooner or later you have to compete as real footballers.
And Scott using Clarko's formula , for not letting Sydney get near the ball???
Well precision teams last a while , then you have to refuel that team with people just as good, where do we find that with around 100 real elite footballers being spread around the two new disasters GWS /GC17 and their affiliates , that Dim and Gil have given us.

This weekend we should all be ashamed of. Not worth the TV set. Fair dinkum , something needs to change .

We've let a dictatorship (AFL) screw our game and in doing that , they killed what was entertainment and love. I've been a football fanatic all my living days, and its nearly stopped being Aussie rules! Worst final series I've seen.

 

[Hobbes]

I actually think that the competition is stronger this year.
Let's have a look at each side compared to last year.

Adelaide - Improved
Brisbane - Improved
Carlton - Improved
Collingwood - Remained the same
Essendon - Improved
Fremantle - Improved
Geelong - Remained the same
Gold Coast - Remained the same
GWS - Remained the same
Hawthorn - Regressed
Melbourne - Improved
North Melbourne - Regressed
Port Adelaide - Improved
Richmond - Improved
St Kilda - Remained the same
Sydney - Regressed
West Coast - Remained the same
Western Bulldogs - Regressed

I'd say 8 sides improved. 6 sides stayed the same. 4 sides regressed. Even the sides that regressed were pretty competitive this year. Sides like Essendon, Richmond, Adelaide and arguably Port improved drastically from last year.

The competition as a whole is actually stronger this year than it was last year. The ladder, percentage and win-loss record is reflective of that.

i'd say that Fremantle hasn't improved, Melbourne hasn't improved, and GC has regressed. Probably harsh on Sydney though.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

I actually think that the competition is stronger this year.
Let's have a look at each side compared to last year.

Adelaide - Improved
Brisbane - Improved
Carlton - Improved
Collingwood - Remained the same
Essendon - Improved
Fremantle - Improved
Geelong - Remained the same
Gold Coast - Remained the same
GWS - Remained the same
Hawthorn - Regressed
Melbourne - Improved
North Melbourne - Regressed
Port Adelaide - Improved
Richmond - Improved
St Kilda - Remained the same
Sydney - Regressed
West Coast - Remained the same
Western Bulldogs - Regressed

I'd say 8 sides improved. 6 sides stayed the same. 4 sides regressed. Even the sides that regressed were pretty competitive this year. Sides like Essendon, Richmond, Adelaide and arguably Port improved drastically from last year.

The competition as a whole is actually stronger this year than it was last year. The ladder, percentage and win-loss record is reflective of that.

Geelong have improved on the back of Mitch Duncan who was lost last year with the arrival of Danger.

Gold Coast have gone backwards.

GWS regressed slightly.

 

[Mercy Seat]

Commentators have been spruiking this glorious even year as it keeps viewers watching close games.

Personally, I long for the days when we saw some of the best football ever played.

North in the late 90s, Dons early 00, Brisbane, Geelong, Hawthorn. Sure they blitzed opposition but to me at least, there is something magical about watching a sport you love played the best way it possibly can.

I get a similar buzz watching Barcelona play, or Golden State. The Australian test team of the mid 00s. Can you imagine what we'd lose if the great sporting clubs of different codes were made to be worst for the sake of competition..?

This year is all a little meh for me.

 

[The_Flying_Egg]

With Bulldogs winning the premiership, could be argued 2016 was the weakest year in the last decade or two.

Whoever wins the Premiership this year will have less wins than the 19 the Dogs had

 

[King Brown]

Commentators have been spruiking this glorious even year as it keeps viewers watching close games.

Personally, I long for the days when we saw some of the best football ever played.

North in the late 90s, Dons early 00, Brisbane, Geelong, Hawthorn. Sure they blitzed opposition but to me at least, there is something magical about watching a sport you love played the best way it possibly can.

I get a similar buzz watching Barcelona play, or Golden State. The Australian test team of the mid 00s. Can you imagine what we'd lose if the great sporting clubs of different codes were made to be worst for the sake of competition..?

This year is all a little meh for me.

It'll be back, these even years are pauses until the next great powerhouses emerge. My pick is GWS and Bulldogs, but who knows really.

 

[crazywildhorse]

I think weak year is a fair call. A lot of really scrappy games and inconsistent football. It's like everyone went to the Bulldog's once in a generation bender and forgot to set alarms. Adelaide probably deserve the flag on the basis of being the only side to have put in a consistent performance. But seriously, could we see them winning the way they are playing against any of the other premiers from the last decade?

 

[Goggin Our Best]

I think its a very average year standard wise - doesnt mean you dont get excited if your teams still in with a chance

You look at Rich v Geel - one of the GF possibilities - well if you use Fremantle as a measuring stick - Freo beat Richmond at the MCG and Freo had Geel on their knees at KP - 3 goals up at 3qtr time - and lost by under a kick

Very ordinary year

 

[PumpyChowdown]

Poor overall standard of footy this year. Adelaide wouldn't have even cracked the top 4 in years gone by.

 

[TooBlue14]

I think its a very average year standard wise - doesnt mean you dont get excited if your teams still in with a chance

You look at Rich v Geel - one of the GF possibilities - well if you use Fremantle as a measuring stick - Freo beat Richmond at the MCG and Freo had Geel on their knees at KP - 3 goals up at 3qtr time - and lost by under a kick

Very ordinary year

Try Adelaide v GWS. Carlton beat GWS by a kick and had Adelaide on their knees with 10 minutes to go but failed to finish off their excellent come back with late chances.

 

[The Drug]

2017 was a pretty average year in my opinion. Sure, lots of close games, but that doesn't matter much to me. I prefer to just enjoy footy without stressing over the result. Perhaps a well deserving GF winner, the Crows/Tigers/Cats/Giants might redeem the season a little. I prefer it when the best teams overall, not just the luckiest on the day, win finals.
- Too even. I think it's fun to watch super-teams like 2015 Hawks and 2011 Pies/Cats dominate the season, this year no team won less than 5 games or more than 15, or broke 140% much less 160%. Just not enough variety. Boring. The point of equalization is to make the competition fair - not necessarily even.
- Also umpire bias has been worse than ever, and the standard of footy hasn't really improved that much since hitting rock bottom in 2014 and 15. Two teams have still yet to combine for 250 or more points this season, whereas we saw five such games last year, and one every week or two in the early 2000s. And no team scored higher than 163. Again, I like variety in scoring. (But still not too much, look at 2011, 159-21 and 197-32 scorelines)
- Not to mention Melbourne missing out on the finals by the smallest ever margin.

 

[Johnny_Dogg4]

Most of the top 8 teams have gone backwards compared to last year apart from Richmond. And slightly Adelaide

Port can't beat top 8 teams.

 

[StonesThrow]

Poor overall standard of footy this year. Adelaide wouldn't have even cracked the top 4 in years gone by.

Look I agree it is a weaker year, but this is nonsense. Adelaide really stepped up from last year, where they just missed top 4.

In a few of their losses they looked really poor, but apart from that they played a pretty high quality game.

 

[crazywildhorse]

Look I agree it is a weaker year, but this is nonsense. Adelaide really stepped up from last year, where they just missed top 4.

In a few of their losses they looked really poor, but apart from that they played a pretty high quality game.

Adelaide fans need to stop being so touchy. The only thing that have made you a top four quality is consistentcy. You've been good, but not amazing.
If your lot wins the flag, which I hope they do, it will still be a great achievement.

 

[BOMBERS 4 LIFE!!!!]

Apart form Port vs WC the rest of the games have been shite.

 

[Mitchemx]

Hard to quantify exactly how weak one year is to another, but it was certainly the most even season I can recall, the lowest quality of football and the worst opening 2 weeks of a finals series I can remember.