No Opposition Supporters 2018 General AFL Discussion

Tedeski

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No idea why anyone thought West Coast would be a bottom four side

Any team with McGovern Hurn Yeo Gaff Shuey Naitanui LeCras and Kennedy will do damage, especially with the Perth factor.
Le Cras was the reason for me. I figured if they signed him for another year then they were desperate. He was terrible for 2 years but has found something downhill this year.
 

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caesar88

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Le Cras was the reason for me. I figured if they signed him for another year then they were desperate. He was terrible for 2 years but has found something downhill this year.
He’s a gun in Perth, or against bottom sides. Like the rest of the Eagles. I hope they’re in the top four because I consider them less of a threat than Vic sides like Hawthorn and Richmond and even Geelong.
 

bedford

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It's not a binary discussion with a right and a wrong Bedford. I wasn't have a crack at you. The game has changed, and many feel as you do.

I hate a lack of forward structure as much as anyone. It's a constant discussion on these boards.

Mobile Full fowards have been thing now for decades, though. There's no magic switch.

Defenders have a right to defend as well. And really apart from setting zones like netball and stopping freedom of movement around the ground - which i think really would destroy football - how do you stop players from creating 2 on ones, and rebounding?

With so many goals coming from deep in defence, the days of a man standing still 30m out from goal are gone.

We've lost Plugger one out in the goal square. In it's place we've got waves of attack with 10 or more players moving together to create a goal. In opposition we have 10 players moving with them to stop them.

How did this happen? Professionalism.

An increased professionalism has always changed tactics in sports. And those changes were always permanent.

Zone defence didn't always exist in basketball, team defense didn't always exist in Soccer. In AR it's no different.

A lot of the yearning for how it was in older periods is a yearning for a return to simpler days when there was little to no actual strategy in footy.

It was forcings back. Everyone stayed in their positions and bombed it long. The game was uncomplicated. If all teams played along with this notion that there is only one way to play that's fine. But they didn't.

Teams like the Hawks in the 80's ran at defences with handpasses. Teams like West Coast in the early 90s set up defensive structures where everything built off half back. Teams like the Swans created presses between the arcs, teams like the Saints employed floods, teams like North crushed the forwadline down to create the Pagan paddock (no fwd structure at all), teams like Essendon developed a devastating short kicking game, teams like Brisbane went man on man, teams like the Hawks went zonal...

On and on. Evolution.

Going back to the 80's style of footy, coaches worked out that unskilled disposals were an opportunity to gain possession and hurt the other side. They built team strategies to force turnovers, and make opponents to hold the ball.

It's a done thing. Having the league create an offside or zones etc will only lead to other opportunities for coaches to devlop winning formulae.
I hope you enjoyed that disgusting crap last night, the game at the moment is dead.
 

Tuco

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I hope you enjoyed that disgusting crap last night, the game at the moment is dead.
I recant.

Modern footy is broken.

I attended the game with 3 non-AR friends. They walked out chooding a pub over the awful quality of the game.

I stuck to the end, but who can blame them.

What we have is wet weather footy every week.
 
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The King!

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I think the media can flog a dead horse
But **** me the footys been shit this year

We are awful to watch

cats gws was a joke just about every Friday nights been awful

Good games few and far between
 

S120

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I think the media can flog a dead horse
But **** me the footys been shit this year

We are awful to watch

cats gws was a joke just about every Friday nights been awful

Good games few and far between
The year started well too, which is interesting, only a month ago the media was singing a very different tune about how attacking the game is and how a FF might be able to kick 100 this year. But the quality of football is certainly dreadful right now.
 

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The King!

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The year started well too, which is interesting, only a month ago the media was singing a very different tune about how attacking the game is and how a FF might be able to kick 100 this year. But the quality of football is certainly dreadful right now.

I presume it will open up as the year goes maybe I’ve just been unlucky

But try to watch 3-4 games a week and finding it a struggle
 

Tuco

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So your agreeing . Seriously I'm not going next week.
Pretty much.

Basically, I'm a traditionalist in the sense I see massive changes as a bad thing. I hate rule changes.

I also stand by the thrust of my argument about how we got here, and also how we'll never get back to some Gold Standard of ye olde footy.

But I'm not happy with footy right now.

Last night was disgusting.

I'm now seeing a reset. Tactics have adjusted again, and defence is winning. We're back to the Flood of 2004/2005.

All the tactics surrounding absorbing pressure and rebounding are beginning to fall apart.

Teams aren't spreading at the moment.

Teams who play on are being punished.

Because teams have removed their forwardlines there is nothing to attack to.

I think tactics will change again, as coaches will see they need to stretch the game again. But we're in for some shitty footy until they figure that out.

Look at us, we step off our mark to attack and get nowhere. And half our 'dash' is defenders who are running and kicking us into turnovers.

We have a lot of teams that try to score off their defensive arc, and it's getting bloody hard to do that. We rebound from even deeper allowing oppositions to dominate inside 50's (usually).

I haven't looked but I bet Coast to Coast goals are dropping right off across the League. And they only came to prominance from the quick kickin changes.

Footy took a long time to get over those flooding tactics in the 00's. They had to allow fast kick ins etc. And ironically I think the umpiring has brought us back to this shizen state.

The ball only moves now when umps close their eyes and let throws go, or when they pay holding with bugger all prior.

More umps = more frees = resets = more thinking time. More delays while they ceremonially point to where they'll run after a bounce/throw up etc.

*sigh*

Maybe if players just started kicking straight from set shots coaches would be rewarded for putting them in range of the goals.
 

S120

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I presume it will open up as the year goes maybe I’ve just been unlucky

But try to watch 3-4 games a week and finding it a struggle
Yeh I'm at about 3 games a week too and it's a ******* grind. I assume it will turn too, I wouldn't be rushing to make big changes, it's just hard to watch right now.

I’d hate to see zones in where umps are Pinging players for crossing lines etc


Maybe we need to reduce rotations more as that is a manageable rule
I never want to see zones, that changes the fabric of the game too greatly. I'd rather continue watching what I'm seeing than see zones.
 

The King!

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Yeh I'm at about 3 games a week too and it's a ******* grind. I assume it will turn too, I wouldn't be rushing to make big changes, it's just hard to watch right now.



I never want to see zones, that changes the fabric of the game too greatly. I'd rather continue watching what I'm seeing than see zones.

Agree on all that

Zones makes it a different sport
 

The King!

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IF THEY STARTED PAYING HOTB THEN THERE WOULDN'T BE AS MUCH CONGESTION TO BLOODY START WITH! The ******* Dogs were given a free pass to drop the ball in a tackle at it was play on and since then it has been the same. AFL trying to protect their bs.

Incorrect disposal is not even a rule

And I will include us JPK dropped it when tackled. Every mid does
 

Tuco

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Ironically, Richmond are a lot like us, good pressure style, solid back 6, genuine targets, they're a long kicking team, plenty of x-factor - just more maturity, and more pace.

And that pace means they get fwd 50 entries fmspreading from handpasses, while we get circle work and turnovers.

I don't think we'd need to reinvent the wheel to get our team to their level.

More pace in the midfle. And a proper FF would help.
 

Tuco

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IF THEY STARTED PAYING HOTB THEN THERE WOULDN'T BE AS MUCH CONGESTION TO BLOODY START WITH! The ******* Dogs were given a free pass to drop the ball in a tackle at it was play on and since then it has been the same. AFL trying to protect their bs.
True. But devil's advocate, more HOTB also encourages more tackling pressue as frees are genersted. You're better off tackling than picking it up.

Same way protecting the head was exploited by some scummy tacticians to be a get out of jail free card cheap free.

Come to think of it, is the ducking = no free adding to congestion. A lot of mids relied on that crap?
 

SilentHunter_

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True. But devil's advocate, more HOTB also encourages more tackling pressue as frees are genersted. You're better off tackling than picking it up.

Same way protecting the head was exploited by some scummy tacticians to be a get out of jail free card cheap free.

Come to think of it, is the ducking = no free adding to congestion. A lot of mids relied on that crap?
But I am not saying to reward them unconditionally around a stoppage. It is just that they don't reward the tackler at all these days. It is dumb. Players are now just encouraged to drop the ball because they know they'll get away with it. This is the reason there's even more congestion around stoppages! Coaches don't want the ball coming out easily - they hate opposition clearances and so more numbers to the ball is the logical option. Reward the tackler, ping them for incorrect disposal and viola the game will be a lot more open. It isn't rocket science.
 

Jack2Jack

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The coaches have to take some responsibility for the state of the game. Teams are playing absolute rubbish, scrappy brands of football...seem to have reached a point where they think 4 points is all anyone cares about. The sport is supposed to be entertainment and you're supposed to enjoy sitting down and watching, I know watching us feels more like a choir these days, at least you can turn the other games off.
The AFL will change the rules and bastardise/ruin the game further, if the coaches don't start implementing game styles that people want to watch. There's only a couple of coaches/teams you seem to want to play good footy that excites fans and makes people want to watch them play.
There is absolutely NO need for all the congestion around the stoppages atm. I'd wager if a team were to go away from that, they'd probably find themselves doing quite well with their players ready to go in dangerous positions, as about 8 of the players standing around the ball are effectively useless and doing nothing more than filling space anyway...let clubs put them there.
 

Bloodied52

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The coaches have to take some responsibility for the state of the game. Teams are playing absolute rubbish, scrappy brands of football...seem to have reached a point where they think 4 points is all anyone cares about. The sport is supposed to be entertainment and you're supposed to enjoy sitting down and watching, I know watching us feels more like a choir these days, at least you can turn the other games off.
The AFL will change the rules and bastardise/ruin the game further, if the coaches don't start implementing game styles that people want to watch. There's only a couple of coaches/teams you seem to want to play good footy that excites fans and makes people want to watch them play.
There is absolutely NO need for all the congestion around the stoppages atm. I'd wager if a team were to go away from that, they'd probably find themselves doing quite well with their players ready to go in dangerous positions, as about 8 of the players standing around the ball are effectively useless and doing nothing more than filling space anyway...let clubs put them there.
Since when have coaches thought about anything more than the 4 points.

I think the reality is an eighteen team comp over stretches the talent pool. A 14 team comp would strengthen the quality of the playing stocks.

The Gold Coast will not work, irrespective of the investments. It should merge with Brisbane, play three home games a year at Carrara and the rest at the gabbatoir.

While GWS lacks fans, Sydney is large enough to sustain two teams.

There are far too many Melbourne based clubs. I would amalgamate 6 of the nine into three new teams and keep three existing teams.

Relatively few people give a rats about Norf, Saints, Dees and Bulldogs. That would be four. Carlton is a perennial failure and Essendon continues to bring disgrace on the comp. That would be the other two. Richmond, Hawthorn and Collingwood would remain.
 
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