Has football become almost unwatchable?

[Gaborone]

Ever since the AFL changed the rules with a promise that the game would become more exciting, the opposite has happened. It increasingly resembles rugby, rolling scrums, free kick after free kick, terrible skill execution. I am almost numb from watching the St Kilda Carlton game.

 

[ibd77]

Only top 4 teams shall play prime time footy.

 

[BigPond101]

Ross Lyon is the worst thing to ever happen to football in all my years watching

 

[BigPond101]

Stand rule and 6-6-6 have actually been great and improved play, Ross Lyon is simply so awful he can destroy any game no matter the rules. He could have coached the 1990s Chicago Bulls and he would have made MJ unwatchable. There will be no joy until he is finally gone no matter what rules they make.

His greatest 'skill' and what makes him so dangerous is being able to drag the opposition down to his level no matter what. Carlton are usually an entertaining team in an incompetent chaotic way but Lyon can suck all the life out of them like a black hole

 

[ashep]

No.

 

[jackster83]

It's pretty bad atm. I find myself usually switching off after a quarter or a half.

Most teams are stacked with midfielders and a handful of 200cm blokes who are big bodies but not overly skilled.

Specialist forwards seem to be becoming a thing of the past, which leaves you with guys with little to no forward craft running around. Small forwards in particular now are mostly failed midfielders. That's why guys like Jamie Elliott and Toby Greene

4

Toby Greene

Age

32

Ht

182cm

Wt

85kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

22.7

5star

K

12.5

5star

HB

10.2

5star

M

4.8

5star

T

3.0

5star

G

1.2

4star

D

17.5

4star

K

9.5

4star

HB

8.0

4star

M

4.8

4star

T

1.0

2star

G

2.3

5star

D

26.6

5star

K

12.4

5star

HB

14.2

5star

M

4.8

5star

T

3.6

5star

G

0.0

1star

should be appreciated while they are still around.

The umpiring and fixturing is also killing the game. When you've got a team on a five day break playing a team with an eight day break, it wrecks the integrity and the spectacle of the game.

 

[beez]

Meh. Footy is great. There have been some fantastic games so far this season, and some absolute shithouse games. Same thing happens every season. And we all know it.

Complain about the rules. Complain about the umpires. Complain about holding the ball. Complain about AFL House. Complain about commentators. Complain about the media. Complain about the Brownlow. Complain about wasting money on a membership at my club and threatening to not sign up again until the coach gets sacked.

And yet we'll all look forward to finals, anticipating 90k at the G for a couple of big qualis and prelims, and then having a BBQ on the last Saturday in September, regardless of the teams.

Rinse and freaking repeat.

 

[beez]

It's pretty bad atm. I find myself usually switching off after a quarter or a half.

Most teams are stacked with midfielders and a handful of 200cm blokes who are big bodies but not overly skilled.

Specialist forwards seem to be becoming a thing of the past, which leaves you with guys with little to no forward craft running around. Small forwards in particular now are mostly failed midfielders. That's why guys like Jamie Elliott and Toby Greene should be appreciated while they are still around.

The umpiring and fixturing is also killing the game. When you've got a team on a five day break playing a team with an eight day break, it wrecks the integrity and the spectacle of the game.

You switch off because you're older. You have other interests and responsibilities that you didn't have when you were 20. The average footy fan goes through this when they hit 30. It's not rocket science.

 

[Shane Heard]

Watching De Conehead and Marshall grapple and hold each other in a bear hug every ball up is ridiculous.

Bring back the 3rd man up

 

[Shane Heard]

Ross Lyon is the worst thing to ever happen to football in all my years watching

Why?

 

[Humblebob]

Pro tip - don’t watch two shite teams play for the nothing cup on a Friday night.

Footy is as good as it’s ever been, the problem we have now is excess media coverage.

 

[ReturningHawk]

No, but St Kilda is unwatchable.

 

[Cyber_punk]

Ross Lyon is the worst thing to ever happen to football in all my years watching

Wasn't it Paul Roo's swans that pioneered ultra defensive footy? They won a flag off it so people probably forget but they were doing it before Ross even started his first stint at the Saints (although he definitely has taken it to a new extreme)

 

[Handsuper47]

My only complaint is the umpiring, they've got no idea what they're doing this year. If they fix that then I have no problems.

 

[Teal Leviathan]

Complain about the rules. Complain about the umpires. Complain about holding the ball. Complain about AFL House. Complain about commentators. Complain about the media. Complain about the Brownlow. Complain about wasting money on a membership at my club and threatening to not sign up again until the coach gets sacked.

And yet we'll all look forward to finals, anticipating 90k at the G for a couple of big qualis and prelims, and then having a BBQ on the last Saturday in September, regardless of the teams.

Rinse and freaking repeat.

This post works best if you envision a young Ewan McGregor saying it with Iggy Pop's 'Lust for Life' running underneath.

 

[JackFlash]

We get the odd good game these days, but nothing compares to the golden era from the 70s to the 90s. It was a different game then though, not sure what it really is today?

 

[WalshistheGOAT]

Ever since the AFL changed the rules with a promise that the game would become more exciting, the opposite has happened. It increasingly resembles rugby, rolling scrums, free kick after free kick, terrible skill execution. I am almost numb from watching the St Kilda Carlton game.

Game is in a good place imo. It's just Ross Lyon football is horrific viewing as is Longmuir's chip around the backline dross.

Unfortunately when either team comes across a side too s*** to make them pay on turnover the game ends up turning into a steaming pile of crap, as we saw last night.

GWS, Brisbane, WBD, Pies, Adelaide etc play very entertaining football.

 

[Aristotle Pickett the3rd]

There's two people to blame here, Stephen Hocking and Ross Lyon.
And I'm sick of players being grabbed after a mark. It is a 50m penalty but they don't pay it now.

 

[Shipping Report]

Two too many senior coaches, there's no way you persist with Hinkley, Goodwin, Longmuir otherwise. About 10-15 extra assistants, it seems like there are guys now who are 'senior assistants' for three years and never seen in football again once they're found out.

There are so many average sides that you can play averagely against them and, on the laws of average, win probably half of them. throw in three confirmed wins v West Coast, North, and Richmond and you can just make finals or narrowly miss out, keep your coach, and have a 'we were just unlucky' season and keep it all fermenting on and on.

 

[kickazz]

St Kilda are probably the worst team to watch. The final 5 minutes of tonight's game is a perfect example of that. Chip the ball around the back half and waste a minute on the clock when you are down by 8 or 9 points.

They only want to lose by 2 goals opposed to losing by 4 goals and at least not die wondering. Strange club.

This.

I mean wtf was that all about.

I mean, really good sides don't even do that when the have the small lead near the end, they continue to push knowing that attack is the best form of defence and that you can kill the game off with one more goal.

But to piss fart around when you are behind?

 

[kickazz]

It would also help if they were more lenient on paying marks. Bring the power forwards and long kicks back into the game.

 

[kickazz]

Wasn't it Paul Roo's swans that pioneered ultra defensive footy? They won a flag off it so people probably forget but they were doing it before Ross even started his first stint at the Saints (although he definitely has taken it to a new extreme)

Yep, and Ross Lyon was assistant under Roos at the time.

Paul Roos football was horrible. One of these days when I have insomnia or something I'll have to watch an archetypal noughties Swans game just to remind me how bad it was.

 

[HairyO]

Ross Lyon is the worst thing to ever happen to football in all my years watching

He is channeling Paul Roos.

 

[HavUEvaSeenTheRain]

We get the odd good game these days, but nothing compares to the golden era from the 70s to the 90s. It was a different game then though, not sure what it really is today?

The problem is that we now know so much more about tactics that football from those eras seem amateurish and would be hard to appreciate if you are invested in a team

 

[CatToTheFuture]

People forget how much boring footy was rewarded prior to the rule changes.

Geelong is the yardstick you need to check against. 2016 to 2021 we would legitimately field a side with 12 defenders, soak up the entries and the kick sideways at half back before carefully moving up the wing after several minutes.

Now we field 5 HFF players rotating between mid/wing/fwd attack the corridor and they are the most important component of the game plan.

Boring footy got rug pulled