AFL overtaking NRL in QLD

[The Educator]

Lolllll.

Sorry did you just say that the extent of the skills needed is to catch a dimpled ball from close range?

Dont bother trying to debate sensibly with anyone on the topic if that’s what you’re going to try and pass off as an informed option. Utter bullshit.

I implied that is the extent of the ball skills needed for half the players (also running with it and not dropping it).

Maybe a slight embellishment....the wings and centres might occassionally pass the ball sideways themselves occassionally....10, 11, 12 and 13, not often I would have thought. Obviously there is the "play the ball"......

9 of 13 players that do not have ball skills demanded of them beyond catching a ball (designed for easy catching) thrown predictably sideways to them.....occassionally these same players would be called on to also throw a ball sideways. All of them, (in the NRLW) could get away with not being able to kick the ball with any competency, catch a kicked ball, pick up a moving ball off the ground etc.

I am genuinely making the claim, and honestly setting it out for counter argument and factual response. This is the definition of debating sensibly....You on the other hand have offered nothing of substance ....just teenager like "lolllls" and "sorrys" and "utter bullshits"....

This goes directly to the nonsense argument that the NRLW has more skilled player pool to draw from (objectively untrue) rather than it just requires far more limited ball skills and from only a fraction of the players (subjective argument based on irrefutable logic)

 

[RedV3x]

Touch rules are literally rugby league rules but with touching instead of tackling.

Touch Football is simply a game of keep-it-off. It only has the play-the ball and the tackle count.
Touch Football doesn't allow kicking or has any of the other paraphernalia like scrums etc of rugby.
In fact a lot AFCs substitute the handpass for the throw and voila you keep-itioff.

Trying to put Touch Football under the umbrella of NRL is the act of a desperate man trying to hide
the decline in rl's participation.

 

[PhatBoy]

I implied that is the extent of the ball skills needed for half the players (also running with it and not dropping it).

Maybe a slight embellishment....the wings and centres might occassionally pass the ball sideways themselves occassionally....10, 11, 12 and 13, not often I would have thought. Obviously there is the "play the ball"......

9 of 13 players that do not have ball skills demanded of them beyond catching a ball (designed for easy catching) thrown predictably sideways to them.....occassionally these same players would be called on to also throw a ball sideways. All of them, (in the NRLW) could get away with not being able to kick the ball with any competency, catch a kicked ball, pick up a moving ball off the ground etc.

I am genuinely making the claim, and honestly setting it out for counter argument and factual response. This is the definition of debating sensibly....You on the other hand have offered nothing of substance ....just teenager like "lolllls" and "sorrys" and "utter bullshits"....

This goes directly to the nonsense argument that the NRLW has more skilled player pool to draw from (objectively untrue) rather than it just requires far more limited ball skills and from only a fraction of the players (subjective argument based on irrefutable logic)

You’ve just crushed your own argument. Simply saying that only 4 players on the field need skills beyond passing the ball. Do you have any idea how hard to be running full steam and hit a teammate also running full steam on the chest, in a spot where they are about to be in a few seconds time, while throwing the ball backwards, it actually is, while the other team is advancing towards you and trying to both tackle you and intercept the ball?

Dumbing down the game to just ‘catching and running’ is like me saying Australian football is simply kicking the ball forward towards the other goal.

Of course there are players whose skill set is lower and simpler. That goes for any sport. Even AFL. You get a player who has a high enough running capacity who can execute a basic drop punt and give him a run-with role or a defensive role if he’s tall and you can turn him into an effective footballer without having near the skill level of a Darren Jarman. Likewise if you are Nelson Asofa-Solomona your sheer bulk on a rugby league field means you quite literally do just get the ball and charge forward.

Defensive reads when there are 3 bodies coming at you from 3 different angles and committing to the right player. Actual defensive technique in not allowing an offload. Line running. Thinking 3-4 players ahead and manoeuvring the side around the field in order to execute it, while knowing that the other team themselves know to an extent what you are trying to do and trying to execute those 3-4 plays anyway.

Back rowers, centres, locks - they all need to ball play and if they don’t, they get found out as being one-dimensional pretty quick and don’t last long.

Is it as skillful as AFL? Perhaps not in terms of ball skills. There’s a hell of a lot more to it than what you’re making out though. To read your assessment of it, footwork for one, isn’t a skill. It is.

 

[PhatBoy]

Touch Football is simply a game of keep-it-off. It only has the play-the ball and the tackle count.
Touch Football doesn't allow kicking or has any of the other paraphernalia like scrums etc of rugby.
In fact a lot AFCs substitute the handpass for the throw and voila you keep-itioff.

Trying to put Touch Football under the umbrella of NRL is the act of a desperate man trying to hide
the decline in rl's participation.

So it….. doesn’t have passing backwards to go forwards? A limited play count? Touch football is literally the introduction to rugby league style football for most players who aren’t indoctrinated into it from birth. It was my introduction to it.

 

[RedV3x]

Sorry did you just say that the extent of the skills needed is to catch a dimpled ball from close range?

Don't get precious.
The range and number of skills required to play AFL is easily the most of any football.
What differentiates NRL is the ability to persevere and perform under immense pressure.
Those qualities appeal to different people just as some people prefer a shootout and others an arm wrestle.

 

[RedV3x]

Touch football is literally ...

A fun game.
I played rugby and we never played Touch Football.
My introduction to Touch Football was at an AFC which used it as a keeping-it-offs frill and for fitness.

 

[PhatBoy]

Don't get precious.
The range and number of skills required to play AFL is easily the most of any football.
What differentiates NRL is the ability to persevere and perform under immense pressure.
Those qualities appeal to different people just as some people prefer a shootout and others an arm wrestle.

I disagree. I think the hardest skill out of both codes is the ability to kick in AFL, and I’ll never argue otherwise - you have to do it in a stack of different ways so I guess you could use the word ‘range’ for how many different ways you need to execute it - you need to be able to kick long, you need to kick for goal, from a stationary position, on the run, kick a stab kick to where a player will lead to etc. so fair play on the kicking front.

A handball to me is moot because although it is harder to handball than to pass a ball, you can do it 360 degrees. You don’t have to do it backwards while going forwards so that takes it back a little bit when comparing the two passing skills.

Marking is a skill relatively unique to AFL so it wins out there beyond kick diffusal in league; everyone has to mark in AFL, though there is generally a lot riding on it in league - a spilled or taken kick has a lot more riding on it than most in Australian football simply because of where they happen.

Defence is the biggest difference. Absolutely you need to have a tackling technique in Australian football and the rule makers have made it harder and harder to execute a tackle without infringing so fair play it is harder. But most tackles are executed in such close quarters and with the ball carrier having no time to move that it is relatively easy for the defender to not have to make a decision.

Decision making for a defender in rugby league is incredibly difficult. Not when a forward is taking a hit up one off the ruck to make 10 metres necessarily: that’s just a question of tackling technique. But as soon as a line is run, or a set piece is executed, a defender has to start making decisions and he can’t ’hand over’ to a teammate or call someone off someone else.

True enough there are times in Australian football where players have to make those decisions too but often defences work so cohesively as a unite that they just shift seamlessly from one player to another nowadays.

Look no further than ex-Rooster Dom Young for an example of a player who has played league all his life and still doesn’t have any idea when to stay on his man, when to use the sideline as ‘an extra defender’ and when to come in and attack the ball carrier. It’s hard.

You regularly have implied that I’m not an AFL fan - the main board posters will wholeheartedly back the fact that I am. And so will the POV from yours truly that AFL is an incredibly skillful game and the precision with which the kicking in particular is executed by players under fatigue to hit targets is something I never stop marvelling at. Same with watching a player like Alex Pearce on Saturday taking mark after mark in a cluster of opponents with the match on the line, seemingly ALWAYS where the ball was. I love the game and love the skills involved.
I also love the toughness of it. Something people don’t seem to appreciate enough.

I love the toughness and courage level of rugby league players, knowing beyond a doubt that you are about to be smashed 9/10 times you have the ball. But I love the skills involved too and there are a hell of a lot more of them than people like to give it credit for.

 

[hampton]

Yes in AFL dropping the ball generally doesn’t have near the consequences of rugby league. One of the things that astounds rugby league fans usually is the amount of dropped ball and fumbling in AFL - but is it due to the lack of skills the players have? No it’s just a totally different game.

The games are very different trying to compare skills and saying one is ‘vastly more skills required’ is just schoolyard childish discussions and shows a lack of knowledge or more likely just condescendancy.

It’s one thing that detracts me from afl at times is this kind of arrogance and condescension that at times comes from afl circles - fans, media or administration. In a similar way how Vlandys is rubbing people the wrong way as he’s arrogant we’ve had this kind of arrogance from afl for years which is a turn off. It’s easy to enjoy both games for what they are.

On one hand afl wants to come to northern states and win fans where traditionally different sports have been popular, but use condescension and belittling the sports that the people that live there play and love.

 

[kalex6251]

It’s one thing that detracts me from NRL at times is this kind of arrogance and condescension that at times comes from NRL circles - fans, media or administration.

back at ya snookums ..... the nrl propaganda is just as infuriating (greatest game of all my @rse)

ill add australian soccer fans into the mix as well - they are off the charts unhinged (which is comical given their small numbers) ..... love the game but have no interest in the local version because of them

 

[RedV3x]

I think the hardest skill out of both codes is the ability to kick in AFL

To kick long and accurately, short and curly, low and fast,dribble and trick, set shot or on the run, is both practice and skill.
Because AFL players practice it so much they have the power in their legs.

Marking is a skill relatively unique to AFL

Marking is common in AFL - it's the other half of kicking.
No other sport has the amount of marking, contested marking or pack marking as in AFL.
People often don't realise the power behind a kick travelling over 40metres.
In that case it's not just a skill but an ability to have the hands to controll the ball.

it is harder to handball than to pass a ball,

Strangely enough, handball is what foreigners have the most difficulty with. They just don't get the "punch the ball off of the plate" concept.
A handball is used 360 degrees, over the top and underground.
Interestingly, a rocket handball travels faster and takes less time to execute than a throw.

you need to have a tackling technique in Australian Football

and it's more difficult adhering to the laws of tackling
and working within a 360 degree environment giving the attacking person more options.
and without the luxury of team mates standing nearby to assist.

the POV from yours truly that AFL is an incredibly skillful game and the precision with which the kicking in particular is executed by players under fatigue to hit targets is something I never stop marvelling at. Same with watching a player like Alex Pearce on Saturday taking mark after mark in a cluster of opponents with the match on the line, seemingly ALWAYS where the ball was. I love the game and love the skills involved.

if the Dockers had won Pearce won have been man of the match.

I also love the toughness of it. Something people don’t seem to appreciate enough.

AFL demands that you are physically tough, mentally tough and aerobically fit.

I love the toughness and courage level of rugby league players,

That is undeniable, but I find AFL a lot more entertaining.to watch.

 

[PhatBoy]

To kick long and accurately, short and curly, low and fast,dribble and trick, set shot or on the run, is both practice and skill.
Because AFL players practice it so much they have the power in their legs.



Marking is common in AFL - it's the other half of kicking.
No other sport has the amount of marking, contested marking or pack marking as in AFL.
People often don't realise the power behind a kick travelling over 40metres.
In that case it's not just a skill but an ability to have the hands to controll the ball.



Strangely enough, handball is what foreigners have the most difficulty with. They just don't get the "punch the ball off of the plate" concept.
A handball is used 360 degrees, over the top and underground.
Interestingly, a rocket handball travels faster and takes less time to execute than a throw.



and it's more difficult adhering to the laws of tackling
and working within a 360 degree environment giving the attacking person more options.
and without the luxury of team mates standing nearby to assist.



if the Dockers had won Pearce won have been man of the match.


AFL demands that you are physically tough, mentally tough and aerobically fit.



That is undeniable, but I find AFL a lot more entertaining.to watch.

Your last point is obviously fair enough, everybody will have a different taste on what they do and don’t find entertaining. I played soccer for a while - not out of any great love of it, just something to do - but you could not pay me enough money to watch it. Nor rugby union.

I think the variations of tackling across both codes is basically much of a muchness. For everything you aren’t allowed to do in AFL there’s something you aren’t allowed to do in league - especially recently. I always thought the high tackle rule in afl was ridiculous but it’s been surpassed recently since they started penalising players for high tackles when opponents lower their head or slip over.

Not being about to tackle below the knees obviously presents a huge challenge to AFL players - but their target is generally the ball and making sure it isn’t disposed of which mitigates it a fraction.

The biggest thing I’d say is not falling into the back of the opponent which is arguably the silliest rule across either sport. I get that the ball carrier can’t break his fall but neither sport is a tickling competition.

 

[RedV3x]

back at ya snookums ..... the nrl propaganda is just as infuriating (greatest game of all my @rse)

Well it is just propaganda and misleading product descriptions are common.
How can every television/sporting event be the biggest, most anticipated, most exciting, most sensational....
What puts me of NRL is some fans, the ones that post abuse or continually repeat falsehoods or have an agenda,
especially the ones that put down an Australia's indigenous national game.

i'll add australian soccer fans into the mix as well - they are off the charts unhinged (which is comical given their small numbers) ..... love the game but have no interest in the local version because of them

I have so many anecdotes of soccer fans that cannot bring themselves to refer to their game as anything other than "football" even when you use the formal name "Association Football".
I think the whole "call it football" thing has backfired and died in the ass.

 

[RedV3x]

Your last point is obviously fair enough, everybody will have a different taste on what they do and don’t find entertaining.

The question is not what is best but what percentage of the population likes your sport.
And that question is invalid as most sports have a home ground advantage.
I'm encouraged that AFL is growing the game in areas where it did not have the home ground advantage.

I played soccer for a while - not out of any great love of it, just something to do - but you could not pay me enough money to watch it.

Same here but I might find some interest at an amateur game in passing.
Professional soccer leaves me cold except for the few highlights.

Nor rugby union.

I played rugby union and was good at it at high school level and I might find some interest at an amateur game in passing.
I did have a bit of interest in International rugby but it's not open anymore.

I think the variations of tackling across both codes is basically much of a muchness.

Totally disagree.
An AFL player has to tackle a player below the shoulders and above the knees.
An AFL player tackling from behind a player must not be too forceful or grind the players face into the dirt.
I all instances the tackle cannot be deemed dangerous or a sling.
The perfect tackle in AFL is a "wing" tackle - simultaneously holding the punching hand and holding the ball to the player
so the player cannot legally dispose of the ball.
The AFL is all about drawing a free kick - holding the ball/illegal disposal.

There is some convergence.like ignoring ducking the head to draw a penalty or if a tackle starts legally but slips.

The NRL is about holding up the runner.

The biggest thing I’d say is not falling into the back of the opponent which is arguably the silliest rule across either sport.

In AFL, in a marking situation you can do loads of things that are usually penalised but are overlooked if the player is making a legitimate attempt at marking the ball.

 

[Rob]

Yes in AFL dropping the ball generally doesn’t have near the consequences of rugby league. One of the things that astounds rugby league fans usually is the amount of dropped ball and fumbling in AFL - but is it due to the lack of skills the players have? No it’s just a totally different game.

The games are very different trying to compare skills and saying one is ‘vastly more skills required’ is just schoolyard childish discussions and shows a lack of knowledge or more likely just condescendancy.

It’s one thing that detracts me from afl at times is this kind of arrogance and condescension that at times comes from afl circles - fans, media or administration. In a similar way how Vlandys is rubbing people the wrong way as he’s arrogant we’ve had this kind of arrogance from afl for years which is a turn off. It’s easy to enjoy both games for what they are.

On one hand afl wants to come to northern states and win fans where traditionally different sports have been popular, but use condescension and belittling the sports that the people that live there play and love.

I think in the main you're seeing that because you're looking for it. In the real world - at least in Perth - such condescending attitudes simply don't exist.

But in the most part I agree with your summation of each game. Rugby League is a game that punishes mistakes, like dropped balls or forward passes. Consequently players don't take risks, at least not until the 5th tackle. Australian Football doesn't do that, so you see players take risks which can result in far more spectacular highlights. Imagine if a dropped ball was punished in the AFL? Nobody would ever attempt a high mark again.
Neither is really more skilled than the other, it's just a different set of skills needed.

 

[RedV3x]

Yes in AFL dropping the ball generally doesn’t have near the consequences of rugby league.

Like a time consuming and utterly useless device called a scrum.

One of the things that astounds rugby league fans usually is the amount of dropped ball and fumbling in AFL

There is very little uncontested dropped ball.
Marking in a congested pack is terribly difficult and defensive players are allowed to spoil.
There is very little fumbling in AFL. Players are allowed to knock and gtap the ball along
and taking control of the has tactical consequences.
One of the greatest players was Adam Goodes who pushed the ball through a pack with his chest
and only took control of the ball in the open. That was real skill.

The games are very different trying to compare skills and saying one is ‘vastly more skills required’

The reality is that AFL has a much wider skill set, requiring a wider range of skills.
That's nothing more than reality.

 

[hampton]

I think in the main you're seeing that because you're looking for it. In the real world - at least in Perth - such condescending attitudes simply don't exist.

But in the most part I agree with your summation of each game. Rugby League is a game that punishes mistakes, like dropped balls or forward passes. Consequently players don't take risks, at least not until the 5th tackle. Australian Football doesn't do that, so you see players take risks which can result in far more spectacular highlights. Imagine if a dropped ball was punished in the AFL? Nobody would ever attempt a high mark again.
Neither is really more skilled than the other, it's just a different set of skills needed.

Yes I mean you can see what I’m talking about regards to arrogance with this thread title itself. Or the bravado by the afl and Kevin sheedy about ‘taking over’. Or afl related Melbourne based shows making fun of nrl or nrl players. You probably don’t notice it much in WA.

But also in regards to punishing mistakes to an extent you’re right. There’s more structure and shape in league where there’s a defensive line the attack needs to break, more like other forms of football. Aussie rules is more an outlier here which makes it very unique but on the flip side because the opposite is true for afl it can make for a scrappy looking game and moreso with the women’s game. But compensated with brilliant moments and fast paced nature. It’s almost the perfect game for someone with adhd. The women’s game suffers because unlike the men’s there’s far fewer brilliant moments with less ground atmosphere at that, so the game feels scrappy and flat.

If anything rugby league is more like an optimised version of rugby and American football, where there’s a far higher percent of ball in play, less stoppages, constant attack and defense, faster play and encourages more risk taking and athleticism.

AFL is something entirely different, it flows almost like basketball even than other footy codes. It’s a very unique code hard to compare it to others.

 

[RedV3x]

Aussie rules is more an outlier here which makes it very unique

It is unique, fast-paced and spectacular at times

If anything rugby league is

very predictable, very repetitive, boring and has some facets that seem bizarre
like kicking the ball o.o.b. for penalties and scrums.
Why have scrum if you're going to feed it straight into the second row.
NRL should be more like NFL with and distinct penalties.

 

[Bjo187]

I disagree. I think the hardest skill out of both codes is the ability to kick in AFL, and I’ll never argue otherwise - you have to do it in a stack of different ways so I guess you could use the word ‘range’ for how many different ways you need to execute it - you need to be able to kick long, you need to kick for goal, from a stationary position, on the run, kick a stab kick to where a player will lead to etc. so fair play on the kicking front.

A handball to me is moot because although it is harder to handball than to pass a ball, you can do it 360 degrees. You don’t have to do it backwards while going forwards so that takes it back a little bit when comparing the two passing skills.

Marking is a skill relatively unique to AFL so it wins out there beyond kick diffusal in league; everyone has to mark in AFL, though there is generally a lot riding on it in league - a spilled or taken kick has a lot more riding on it than most in Australian football simply because of where they happen.

Defence is the biggest difference. Absolutely you need to have a tackling technique in Australian football and the rule makers have made it harder and harder to execute a tackle without infringing so fair play it is harder. But most tackles are executed in such close quarters and with the ball carrier having no time to move that it is relatively easy for the defender to not have to make a decision.

Decision making for a defender in rugby league is incredibly difficult. Not when a forward is taking a hit up one off the ruck to make 10 metres necessarily: that’s just a question of tackling technique. But as soon as a line is run, or a set piece is executed, a defender has to start making decisions and he can’t ’hand over’ to a teammate or call someone off someone else.

True enough there are times in Australian football where players have to make those decisions too but often defences work so cohesively as a unite that they just shift seamlessly from one player to another nowadays.

Look no further than ex-Rooster Dom Young for an example of a player who has played league all his life and still doesn’t have any idea when to stay on his man, when to use the sideline as ‘an extra defender’ and when to come in and attack the ball carrier. It’s hard.

You regularly have implied that I’m not an AFL fan - the main board posters will wholeheartedly back the fact that I am. And so will the POV from yours truly that AFL is an incredibly skillful game and the precision with which the kicking in particular is executed by players under fatigue to hit targets is something I never stop marvelling at. Same with watching a player like Alex Pearce on Saturday taking mark after mark in a cluster of opponents with the match on the line, seemingly ALWAYS where the ball was. I love the game and love the skills involved.
I also love the toughness of it. Something people don’t seem to appreciate enough.

I love the toughness and courage level of rugby league players, knowing beyond a doubt that you are about to be smashed 9/10 times you have the ball. But I love the skills involved too and there are a hell of a lot more of them than people like to give it credit for.

I would also say catching in nrl is a lot easier coz the opposition player 'isn't allowed to spoil the ball' which makes the task in Australian football 10x harder and it's often a chip kick in the air from a small distance away or a long bomb with nobody around, that an nrl player simply takes a chest mark with.

Plus everybody knows it's easier to mark a synthetic ball than a leather ball that's slippery. It's one of the reasons i believe they should use a synthetic ball in AFLW, to make the ball handling better and in AFL wet weather games too for that matter, when the ball is like a soap sud.

 

[PhatBoy]

I would also say catching in nrl is a lot easier coz the opposition player 'isn't allowed to spoil the ball' which makes the task in Australian football 10x harder and it's often a chip kick in the air from a small distance away or a long bomb with nobody around, that an nrl player simply takes a chest mark with.

Plus everybody knows it's easier to mark a synthetic ball than a leather ball that's slippery. It's one of the reasons i believe they should use a synthetic ball in AFLW, to make the ball handling better and in AFL wet weather games too for that matter, when the ball is like a soap sud.

Of course it’s easier with a gripped ball - it makes next to no difference in the wet, though.

 

[Cmarsh]

Wow what has this thread become?

 

[The Educator]

You’ve just crushed your own argument. Simply saying that only 4 players on the field need skills beyond passing the ball. Do you have any idea how hard to be running full steam and hit a teammate also running full steam on the chest, in a spot where they are about to be in a few seconds time, while throwing the ball backwards, it actually is, while the other team is advancing towards you and trying to both tackle you and intercept the ball?

Dumbing down the game to just ‘catching and running’ is like me saying Australian football is simply kicking the ball forward towards the other goal.

Of course there are players whose skill set is lower and simpler. That goes for any sport. Even AFL. You get a player who has a high enough running capacity who can execute a basic drop punt and give him a run-with role or a defensive role if he’s tall and you can turn him into an effective footballer without having near the skill level of a Darren Jarman. Likewise if you are Nelson Asofa-Solomona your sheer bulk on a rugby league field means you quite literally do just get the ball and charge forward.

Defensive reads when there are 3 bodies coming at you from 3 different angles and committing to the right player. Actual defensive technique in not allowing an offload. Line running. Thinking 3-4 players ahead and manoeuvring the side around the field in order to execute it, while knowing that the other team themselves know to an extent what you are trying to do and trying to execute those 3-4 plays anyway.

Back rowers, centres, locks - they all need to ball play and if they don’t, they get found out as being one-dimensional pretty quick and don’t last long.

Is it as skillful as AFL? Perhaps not in terms of ball skills. There’s a hell of a lot more to it than what you’re making out though. To read your assessment of it, footwork for one, isn’t a skill. It is.

TLDR
The Educator: Most NRLW players (9 out of 13) have very limited ball skill requirement and can get away with very limited ball skills (eg relative to most players on an AFLW team)

PhatBoy: Mad rantz about non ball skills, over egging the very limited ball skills, dumb-dumb strawmanning of the Educator's position etc

The Educator: Me no waste more time on this one

 

[GC2015]

Front and back pages today for the Suns
View attachment 2420323
View attachment 2420324

The coverage from the Gold Coast media over the last fortnight since we officially qualified for the finals has been unreal. As Leigh Matthews said on AFL 360 on Monday night, we were always going to get good coverage from our local media once we started playing finals because we don't really have genuine competition for the spotlight, as opposed to the Brisbane media that almost always choose to focus more on the Broncos/NRL. It's a great representation of the difference in demographics between the two cities. Aussie rules is certainly thriving on the GC right now and is well on its way to becoming the most popular sport in the city. I suspect it will become really obvious that the Suns are the most popular team on the Gold Coast in the next 5 years if the Titans don't get it together and start playing finals themselves.

 

[The Educator]

Yes I mean you can see what I’m talking about regards to arrogance with this thread title itself. Or the bravado by the afl and Kevin sheedy about ‘taking over’. Or afl related Melbourne based shows making fun of nrl or nrl players. You probably don’t notice it much in WA.

The game wants to grow north of the Barassi line and has had a very consistent strategy to that end. Nearly every communication on the topic from AFL and northern clubs is one of studied humililty. To the extent there is anything that constitutes bravado, nobody notices it except league fans obsessively paranoid about the AFL

If anything rugby league is more like an optimised version of rugby and American football, where there’s a far higher percent of ball in play, less stoppages, constant attack and defense, faster play and encourages more risk taking and athleticism.

Oh my sweet lord!

Rugby League is heavily simplified, contest-for-ball-avoidant, version of proto-rugby compared to union and american football. To say it encourages more risk taking and athleticism than american football is ......just wow!

 

[Professor Knowall]

.... Or afl related Melbourne based shows making fun of nrl or nrl players. You probably don’t notice it much in WA. ...

I don't notice it at all in Melbourne.

Melbourne Storm has always had favourable local coverage, the local media even taking their side in the salary cap scandal. Your statement "... Melbourne based shows making fun of nrl or nrl players. ..." is simply just another figment of your feverish imagination.

 

[Whats a Battle]

back at ya snookums ..... the nrl propaganda is just as infuriating (greatest game of all my @rse)

ill add australian soccer fans into the mix as well - they are off the charts unhinged (which is comical given their small numbers) ..... love the game but have no interest in the local version because of them

Not to mention their strange insistence on calling soccer "football". The US doesn't have this problem, they have the MLS and we always had the NSL.