AFL is on the decline - the younger generation is just not that into you

[iameviljez]

When was the last time you saw someone from a poor suburb tearing it up on the MCG?

There's plenty, you just don't know it because private schools offer any city kid with an ounce of footy talent a full scholarship and that becomes their "recruited from".

 

[iameviljez]

lol at skills being worse today. jason castagna would be one of the top skilled players in the 80s. just getting the ball to spin the right way puts you in the top 10%.

Look at a video of old grand finals from the early 70s - "That's a good kick, he's really gotten onto that one" kick lands in a nest of defenders

 

[iameviljez]

I could be wrong and it could just be me romanticising but I feel like umpires were less noticeable in the 80s and 90s... they didn't seem to have such an impact on the game/result. They just let it go more. There was less ticky touch bullshit.

You'd think so, but fewer and fewer free kicks have been paid with every decade.

I mean, could you imagine the BigFooty boards if we paid 64 free kicks per game, let alone 82?

I feel like we really over-romanticise the Good Ole Days through selective memory.

 

[Cuzz09]

Yeah I feel like I didnt notice the umpires as much back then despite stats telling me there were more frees paid

On SM-G925I using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[theyellowsash]

I feel like we really over-romanticise the Good Ole Days through selective memory.

Thats called, what every single old person does.

apparently people were much nicer back in the time when being gay or aboriginal was illegal, rape wasnt, and childrearing/education was mostly physical abuse

 

[iameviljez]

Thats called, what every single old person does.

apparently people were much nicer back in the time when being gay or aboriginal was illegal, rape wasnt, and childrearing/education was mostly physical abuse

shhh, we use phrases like "everyone had a place in society" for that kind of thing

 

[L_W_P]

You'd think so, but fewer and fewer free kicks have been paid with every decade.

I mean, could you imagine the BigFooty boards if we paid 64 free kicks per game, let alone 82?

I feel like we really over-romanticise the Good Ole Days through selective memory.

Amazing stat.

Way too much focus goes on the umpires mistakes vs the players/coaches IMO.

 

[HavUEvaSeenTheRain]

Thats called, what every single old person does.

apparently people were much nicer back in the time when being gay or aboriginal was illegal, rape wasnt, and childrearing/education was mostly physical abuse

This always makes me laugh.

 

[HavUEvaSeenTheRain]

You'd think so, but fewer and fewer free kicks have been paid with every decade.

I mean, could you imagine the BigFooty boards if we paid 64 free kicks per game, let alone 82?

I feel like we really over-romanticise the Good Ole Days through selective memory.

This. The game now is also a thousand times more contested/scrappy so you should actually expect way more frees to be paid.
I honestly can’t understand people who think umpiring is getting worse. People have complained since day dot. The difference is every Tom, Dick and Harry now has a platform to complain which magnifies the issue. Same thing with everything in life really, Politics probably the biggest one.

 

[phantom13]

The issue with umpiring is less about the actual field umpires getting worse and more to do with tweaking rules making it more difficult for fans and umpires to understand and administer them.

Take the Holding the Ball rule. It was tweaked at the start of the season to reward tacklers and give the player in possession less time to dispose of the ball when tackled. The public hears this (cause the media cycle bangs on about it for months).

Season starts and it seems EVERYTHING is holding the ball. By round 3 they settle the rule and its almost the same as its always been but then every so often the umpire remembers its meant to be red hot and pays one thats so completely against 90% of every other decision that were all perplexed. The wording of rules now means that just about every decision can be argued as both right and wrong and thus the AFL ticks them off. People get mad, rinse and repeat.

Ive played and umpired and its not easy, having rules that youve administered for your whole life being tweaked and tinkered with and being told interpretation has to change week on week and year on year would be an absolute nightmare.

 

[Aussie in exile]

There are heaps, most of the players from the N.T, a shitload of players from the country.

Name heaps then, and i mean heaps not just one or two

 

[iameviljez]

Name heaps then, and i mean heaps not just one or two

Dustin Martin would be the first that comes to mind.

 

[phantom13]

Name heaps then, and i mean heaps not just one or two

Off the top of my head

Rory Sloane, Tex Walker, Mitch Robinson, Cam Rayner, Zac Williams, Patty Cripps, Sam Docherty, Nic Newman, Adam Saad, Jamie Elliot, Scott Pendlebury, Steele Sidebottom, Will Hoskin Elliot, Brodie Mihocek...

Ill just do the saints.

Zak Jones, Seb Ross, Rohan Marshall, Ben Long, Josh Battle, Tim Membrey.

 

[Pessimistic]

I think it’s hard to make an assessment on the game overall because right at the moment and for probably five years, there haven’t been the amount of really good sides at the pointy end that there once was. I think it’s more of a current standard thing than a rules or game style thing.

For as long as I’ve been watching footy it has been a game of rivalries:

• local derbies
• teams that hate each other
• 2/3/4 teams at or near the top at a given time who really turn it on and give even neutrals a point of interest

This ISNT a ‘bash Richmond’ post just to be clear.

I don’t think that the tigers’ style as such was that bad.
I think there can be attractiveness in any kind of football

I liked Ross Lyon’s st Kilda because it was tough, with some icing on top with rolls Royce players like Nick Riewoldt. So I don’t have the view that certain styles - defense first/chaos ball/keepings off etc - are intrinsically ugly. But I think they get boring if there aren’t teams who can test it.

Richmond for the most part didn’t have a rival. There wasn’t this season long collision course - Adelaide absolutely were a very good side for most of 2017 and beating them was a great effort but it wasn’t a climactic coming together of two surging forces.

It wasn’t the Sydney West Coast type of era, or the Cats Saints or Cats Pies or Hawthorn Cats or Brisbane Essendon, Brisbane Port type scenarios where there were these powerhouse sides jostling for a shot at each other. I thought midway through last years grand final that we were watching a dress rehearsal for the next few years but the Dogs haven’t played their part in that.

The Lions have been on the precipice for a while.

Even in 2000 when Essendon were destroying everyone, Carlton went on a ridiculous run of their own where they strung together 13 straight wins or something and that idea of the clash between the two - which the Bombers won by 3 goals or something - had the whole afl world drooling.
In 09 the saints cats and dogs all went 8-0 to start the season and that round 13 game between us and the saints - as amazing as it was - was enhanced by the run that both teams were going on beforehand

AFL stirs the most interest when neutral supporters are engaged by a narrative not related to their team. At the moment and for a little while the league hasn’t quite had that. It’s no one’s fault and I’m sure there have been other times where there aren’t 2-3-4 standout sides and the game has survived.

Regardless of how the game looks, I reckon if there was another side playing somewhere near Melbourne’s level at the moment and had been around that standard for a while, the hype and general feel around the game would be more positive

Yes if only the Hawks had had decent opponents in their last 5 flags