Analysis How the state of the game has evolved, is the increased rate of injuries a result of of the evolution

[Roddy]

What a breath of fresh air your post is.

Thank you

 

[J_Moore]

Sorry but having each and every game devolve into a maul as below is horrid to watch

I love this. Watching the Giants work the ball clear and the mids spread at a million miles an hour while the forwards gun it straight down the ground.

Better than a kick to a one on one on the HBF

 

[Boxhead_31]

I love this. Watching the Giants work the ball clear and the mids spread at a million miles an hour while the forwards gun it straight down the ground.

Better than a kick to a one on one on the HBF

Do you also enjoy pleasuring yourself with a cheese grater?

 

[domus]

Agree, although the quality of a teams list has been stretched a bit thin by recent expansions. The entire "game style" has changed dramatically with increased professionalism. You will see things that would never happen back then and vice versa. Oh and OP get ready for a lot of insecure replies for even daring to suggest this on the MB

The argument that the quality has been diluted by the expansion teams coming in doesn't hold water. As KB was saying on SEN- we have a much bigger population to choose from now and we have opened up avenues that were not explored 15 -30 years ago. The indigenous talent is being utilized in a way that brings so many more of these class acts into our game. We have programs funneling kids into the system which were not around three decades ago-and academies in the northern states which has led to more NSW and Qld born players playing.

I heard Nick Reiwoldt say players of today are just as good as those of the past but the teams are not . He talked about the depth of talent in each team and claimed there it ran deeper 15-20 years ago. Boy, we have short memories. For as long as I can remember the 60's, 70's and 80's in particular were dominated by a handful of teams. The rest fell away badly and were never a remote chance of contending. I remember watching Peter Daicos debut against St Kilda around 1979 and we kicked 33 goals to 3! The Saints were about VFA standard. The bottom teams today are so much better than those of the past. So to me that indicates depth across the board.

 

[SwampCreature]

The North/St Kilda Good Friday match

First game was North v Dogs

Funny how they’ve been quickly washed out of history there, it’s kinda weird

 

[ItsAllAboutMe]

The argument that the quality has been diluted by the expansion teams coming in doesn't hold water. As KB was saying on SEN- we have a much bigger population to choose from now and we have opened up avenues that were not explored 15 -30 years ago. The indigenous talent is being utilized in a way that brings so many more of these class acts into our game. We have programs funneling kids into the system which were not around three decades ago-and academies in the northern states which has led to more NSW and Qld born players playing.

I heard Nick Reiwoldt say players of today are just as good as those of the past but the teams are not . He talked about the depth of talent in each team and claimed there it ran deeper 15-20 years ago. Boy, we have short memories. For as long as I can remember the 60's, 70's and 80's in particular were dominated by a handful of teams. The rest fell away badly and were never a remote chance of contending. I remember watching Peter Daicos debut against St Kilda around 1979 and we kicked 33 goals to 3! The Saints were about VFA standard. The bottom teams today are so much better than those of the past. So to me that indicates depth across the board.

The new Chinese, Indian. Sri Lankan & Afghani immigrants are not taking up AFL like the Italians and Greeks of past generations. So the population increase should not be factored in.

 

[SwampCreature]

Glenn Archer gets pinged cause he dove on a football with no care for what might hit him.

What was the story there - was that the first big decision post the mid 2000s rule change stopping Kirk et all from the swans diving on the footy and creating a heap of stoppages?

I never minded that tbh, the old stalemate over the footy. I still think that rule rewards the second person to the ball

 

[PhatBoy]

Terry Wallace superflood against the baby bombers. Just awful.

Came here to post this. Ever since, it has given teams an ‘out’ when they’ve been outmatched across the park.

That wasn’t the Baby Bombers though. They were 93. This was 2000.

 

[SwampCreature]

JK senior - centre bounce flood.

What was the story here? Was this the introduction of the diamond/square?

 

[ItsAllAboutMe]

David’s King plan is very naive and will do exactly the opposite of what he wants to achieve.. Players are already petrified to take possession of the ball for fear they will be caught.. with kings plan this will be ten fold.. players will just knock it forward without taking possession which will just bring more of the rolling scrum.

 

[Blue1980]

out on the full in 1969 was a great rule...
the centre diamond before it became a square in the 70's...
interchange...

Flooding beginning in 96 under Eade at Sydney, ramped up to the point everyone was doing it by 99 or so.

The interchange explosion which began 07-08.

Last decade has seen further perfecting of the full frontal pressure and team defence meaning even the worst sides are ok at it and can make games really really boring.

It’s the downside to increased professionalism, as well as the fact we have 2 new clubs which has diluted the talent pool further.

Personally I’d reduce interchange to be capped at 40 and see how things are looking from there. 90 is still nearly triple the average interchanges of 2006

 

[Blue1980]

Has there ever been a bigger level of insecurity following a premiership before?

Every year people complain about something.

Your cup is still your cup.

Stop trying to get everyone to think the same way. Waste of time and effort.

It’s really weird.

Next we will get the OP claiming footy hasn’t been better as a spectacle since the dawn of the 80s and just went on a 35 year hiatus until some undefinable event in 2017 changed everything

 

[Blue1980]

Not sure why everyone’s saying Richmond fans are being insecure. Maybe we just view things differently because our team plays entertaining football each week, and that warps our view of the state of the overall.

Maybe. Also I don’t think because we aren’t any good that it’s everyone else. I more just think we play ugly shitty games because we aren’t good, not because football itself is bad

 

[Blue1980]

The thing is we don’t,we score over 100 points.

Richmond total footy!

The Barcelona of the AFL

 

[domus]

The new Chinese, Indian. Sri Lankan & Afghani immigrants are not taking up AFL like the Italians and Greeks of past generations. So the population increase should not be factored in.

Fair point but the general population increase of several million contains more than a handful of Aussies born and bred here-I would suggest many hundreds of thousands.

 

[Plugger46]

really the decline on key forwards the last 5-7 years. Especially the last 2 years.
Ruckmen now need to be agile as well

 

[Priddis Is Done]

Cant remember the year.

Very early in Higgins career. First handful of games in the new seasons of W Bulldogs. Their insane speed especially and pressure was off its chops. I was mesmerized. I was gutted. My team had no hope of matching that.

Fremantle, year of and before their GF. All over team pressure and stranglation of the opposition.

 

[Blue1980]

We have averaged over 100 points.

Do you want us to get 180 every week?

Be like the cats 89-92, those were some high scoring sides

 

[Blue1980]

Reduced the stoppages, increase the movement of the game.

Back to the future

http://www.afl.com.au/afl-hq/the-afl-explained/rule-changes-18582013

1. 1925
Free awarded against player who kicked or forced the ball out of bounds was introduced.

2. Umpires don't wait for players in ball ups and throw the ball up straight away.

For New ideas
1. Players can play on straight away from out of bounds

2. On centre ball ups, each teams must have six players in each 50m.

Then for some reason they got rid of that after 1939 didn’t they?

After scoring had gone through the roof and was the first era of 100 goal a season full forwards.

 

[NaturalDisaster]

Be like the cats 89-92, those were some high scoring sides

Won't happen in the high pressured nature of todays game though.

 

[Rod Stroker]

When mids like Cripps, Bont, Fyfe are 192+ cm, play on the ball all day and rack up 30+ touches each game.

"Back in my day", our CHF Carey was 192cm and our FF Longmire was 194cm, and neither of them rarely left the 50.

 

[ThaiTiger]

Won't happen in the high pressured nature of todays game though.

Richmond can do it.

 

[DERIBERATE]

Overnight Tony Modra was a superstar player with no identifiable position.

Another one was Pagan's Paddock. The change it signaled was the move away from position names having any relevance to the way the game was being played. 6 players named in the 50 and the only one actually there was Carey.

The Sydney flooding put to bed notions that a player had a position and "should" be located on or around that area. Suddenly you had 36 players crowding the ball like an under 8s game and you didn't have the foggiest where people were going or coming from (and it didn't even matter)

 

[Blue1980]

Won't happen in the high pressured nature of todays game though.

You are right sadly. I do wonder what people were saying in the 60s though when scoring was down to this kind of level and there had been no century goal kicker since the early 50s?

Sounds familiar doesn’t it?

The out on the full rule did change a lot of things in 1969, followed by lots more handball and then the centre diamond/trapezoid/square.

We shouldn’t be too precious about the idea of zones when in the centre square rule of only 4 in there per bounce is a zone. Also changes have been made throughout the history of the game, would be nice to get us back to higher scoring that we used to have in the 80s and 90s.

Without looking I would guess the last season with a scoring average over 100 was 2000?

 

[Ando727]

The easiest way to get back to the game Topkent wants is to actually build a time machine and some memory wiping medication and return to the 1950's.

I prefer the old game I saw as a kid too, but I'm aware that it will never be like that again - that's something I have to accept rather than bemoan.