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

[JohnnyFontane90]

That's the problem though only the teams towards the top of the ladder have this skill which obviously makes a lot of games a bit of eyesaw to watch as a spectator. How many times do you hear the comments when a top side plays a bottom side that the bottom side have more or less brought the top side down to their playing level. Also for those spectators at the ground when the play is congested and play is down the other end it's almost impossible to see what is really happening as the whole 36 players seem to be down one end which makes it so congested. Goodness knows how the umpires can see when to play a free kick etc. the game needs opening up!

I will admit that for spectators actually at the game the modern midfield based game isn't as good to watch.

 

[rmcq]

Another fix for congestion:

Stop playing games at small ovals like Kardinia Park.

 

[gavaniacono]

Buckley made a lot of sense this morning on SEN, concur with his assessment sans rotations comments.

In the old days most supporters only watched 1 game a round then highlights of other games. I recall seeing 50% crap games in 70s and 80s and 90s, and recall vividly the good games, not so much shite games. But dont worry there was plenty of dross back then.

The beauty about these days is the unpredictability of results and ability of all teams to pull out surprises more often. We will never stop crap games though and this is a mad expectation.

If people can't identify the higher level of skills these days then I can only surmise they arent watching close enough. The ball movement under intense pressure is often very good and tactics are diverse and interesting. Let the game evolve.

 

[Rance2Mewtwo]

People don’t appreciate that the “keepings off” brand has died. There’s no more bruise-free backwards kicking in the backline. Teams are finally willing to kick long and to a contest, which is scrappiest but it’s what we’ve been crying out for for years.

The game is in terrific shape and has never been more exciting to watch IMO.

Every week we get:

- high quality finals-like football.

- fast scoring

- professionally drilled units (no amateur bush league stuff)

- hard contests

- unpredictable results

It’s a major win for football and proof that coaching tactics will always solve themselves.

Which brand do you prefer? Keepings off or high pressure?

What did you like about the keepings off brand so much?

The game has never been better IMO.

 

[M Malice]

I thought the game was better from 2001 to 2003. I'm astounded a Tiger fan has started this thread.

 

[JohnnyFontane90]

I hate tinkering as a general rule but 16 a side is worth trialling in pre-season. I don't think it would be a hugely noticeable change but enough of a tweak to make an impact on congestion etc. See how it looks on a trial basis and go from there.

16 a side with 6 on the bench is probably the only valid option at this point without altering the nature of the game.

even if coaches want to still focus on winning the ball at the contest as a priority then they can still do that but they simply don't have as many players to do it. That by definition is less congestion. If congestion is the problem then lets reduce congestion, not change 10 other things and hope that the game opens up as a flow on effect

 

[Dazzler9]

It's ok dude. Just 'cos modern footy is fugly it doesn't mean Richmond weren't worthy premiers.

 

[Colonial]

The best is yet to come.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[JohnnyFontane90]

Great post. The only thing that rotations potentially enable (or make more feasible) are aggressive forward presses.

Getting rid of interchange may well just see more midfielders skew defensively in their running.

It's not going to stop teams organising defensively and it is not going to stop teams using congestion as a strategy - if anything it will increase these

no one has a crystal ball so no one knows how these changes could turn out. But flooding is what team defense looked like before the interchange bench was fully utilized. in my opinion it's the most likely result of cutting rotations drastically.

 

[Roddy]

Been going to the footy since 1975, and I don't 'prefer' any era. Old school footy in the 70s and 80s was great, and so is the 2018 version. Things weren't 'better in the good old days', and they're not better now, they're just different.

 

[joelsyt]

I liked Brisbane’s football during their threepeat, I liked Geelong’s football during their premiership years, also Hawthorn’s football during their threepeat. Of course I love watching Richmond play and I love watching West Coast, Sydney, Adelaide and Geelong at their best circa 2017/2018. What I hate is Carlton, Brisbane, Western Bulldogs, Essendon and St Kilda circa 2018 during Prime Time. That’s what’s ruining football in 2018.

 

[Coaster2012]

Another Richmond fan trying to validate their game plan.

 

[Kram]

I wonder how many people in the thread that advocate radical changes to the fabric of game like going to 16 players or zones are the same nimrods that go into meltdown over the possibility of the Grand Final being played a couple of hours later because of 'tradition'.

 

[Bleeeeeeeeep]

yeah nah, if i want to go see overly congested footy with crappy umpiring i'll go watch junior footy on a Sunday morning.
Game has gone backwards in the "professionals" era.

 

[Hirsty23]

Richmond fans are so in denial about the state of the game it's hilarious. You're a really good side and you've got every right to be happy with it, but come on....the game is "high quality", "fast scoring" and "unpredictable"?

Nope.

 

[telsor]

Yep it's all the expansion clubs fault. By growing the TV audience we've somehow managed to shrink it.

You've done what?

Where are these ratings figures that show this?

Figures in NSW & QLD remain so low that there is a fair argument that they reduce the TV rights money due to the AFL having to convince ch7 to show them at all, while in the rest of the country people would clearly prefer to watch other teams (ch7/AFL doesn't keep you away from national FTA because you're a huge ratings winner...)

 

[demondavey]

I blame the type of football that led to a Western Bulldogs premiership in 2016. That year their 'get the ball forward at all costs' football led to this current strategy of everyone attending a stoppage, getting the ball and simply throwing it out and the tackler never being rewarded.

Start rewarding the tackler, penalize suspect disposal and the game will flow more freely.

The problem here is that the game is played at such a frenetic pace the umpires can’t properly adjudicate incorrect disposal.

In my opinion the tackler doesn’t get rewarded enough. Far too often they are first there are execute a fair tackle and are penalised. The in the back rule when tackling has been taken too far.

 

[Taylor]

If you want to get coaches to move away from the congested numbers game plan you need to make it less effective.

No interchange means you will have to either.

A. Get to less contests.

B. Be more fatigued.

C. Recruit fitter players with less skill.

All 3 make the numbers game less effective and therefore less desirable than now and therefore increase the likelihood of coaches moving away from it and trying something else.

What isn't working about how it works now? Richmond and the Bulldogs just won flags with pressure, pressing footy.

Your conclusion doesn't match your premise.

They will go back to what they know works, which is this, they will draft and train players who work their arses off running and it will impact the quality for the audience but it will win games and that's what players and coaches are paid to do.

 

[HTT]

Athletes that will be constantly fatigued and can't win or use the footy.

I think the team of footballers using positional tactics would have every chance against that lot.

Far more than they would now.

Athletes that would be no more fatigued than footballers now, able to execute skills just as well as footballers now since the footballers they play against will not be able to apply pressure. The only advantage would be in the middle, but a smart coach will load up the backline and launch the first attack from half back. The game may end up looking even more like rugby as the smart coach of the footballers drops their players in their backline, and we end up with the two teams forming rough lines.

 

[demondavey]

Really? The play usually frees up towards the end of the game because players are fatigued, not the other way. Tired players are less likely to get to every contest to congest play

Exactly. I can’t see how a tired player will continually be able to hit a contest. It totally debunks the full ground press. Forwards and their defenders stay put and we go back to seeing genuine contests.

If you cap interchange rotations you won’t see a higher number of athletes drafted, you’ll see less. We are currently seeing basketballers and track athletes drafted because they’re power athletes, they can impact a contest for 2 minutes then be benched.

Less rotations means you’ll need guys with elite skills, so pure footballers. When players are cooked you don’t want a player with the ball that is say, a Trent Croad type, you want a Luke Hodge.

You can have elite footballers with elite engines, these are your Tom Scully types. These guys are what you want to see at the end of a game, not some basketball ring in that’s run ragged and can’t kick for peanuts.

 

[Dr Tigris]

Agree, mostly. The pressure nowadays is amazing. When you look at games from the 1990s and before it was effectively bruise free compared to now. What I thought was red hot then is not much now. I love contests. That is why I hated AFLX, no contests.

The problem with too many/much contests is that skills go to crap, and often it just becomes an unstructured struggle. The best teams combine pressure and skill/structure. That is awesome to watch. But ordinary teams can end up in the worst of both worlds. They loose their structure and skills, and the pressure is just like kids play yard fight over someone's football.

On umpiring. The AFL just sh*ts me off so much. Weekly the rules change so much that the game is transformed. The opening games had this weird over played interpretation of the protected zone. Now players just run through and it should be called.
This isn't the umpires it's the F*$&&$n AFL.
Just let them adjudicate by the rules as they are written. Constant change and trying to interpret things that are grey by their nature just aggravates with no upside.

 

[NOBBYS]

People don’t appreciate that the “keepings off” brand has died. There’s no more bruise-free backwards kicking in the backline. Teams are finally willing to kick long and to a contest, which is scrappiest but it’s what we’ve been crying out for for years.

The game is in terrific shape and has never been more exciting to watch IMO.

Every week we get:

- high quality finals-like football.

- fast scoring

- professionally drilled units (no amateur bush league stuff)

- hard contests

- unpredictable results

It’s a major win for football and proof that coaching tactics will always solve themselves.

Which brand do you prefer? Keepings off or high pressure?

What did you like about the keepings off brand so much?

The game has never been better IMO.

John McEnroe made are famous saying
YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!!!!

 

[iluvparis]

You can't compare footy from 70 years ago. Hell, the average ruck was 5 foot 8 then.

Is that why they didn't die of exhaustion? Because they were shorter?

 

[kenberger]

Skills have depleted since the new teams came in, which makes for more meaningless games with lower quality. Not sure about your concern around the Brions occupying prime time, but I am sick of seeing Carlton...

Umpiring is absolutely dreadful. Wouldn’t say it’s ever been ‘great’ but it used to be tolerable. Yes, the AFL has a lot to answer for with the ridiculous rule changes and use of the word ‘interpreration’ like it makes it justifiable to pull incorrect decisions out of asses.

97-04 I thought were great years for what it’s worth, though that’s somewhat biased

 

[Saint]

1990's was bruise free....ha!

Defenders have been getting away with lots of holding, chopping and scragging, flouting the grey areas of the rules which is what is causing congestion. It is also what's preventing forwards getting a decent run at the ball which is what we all want to see.

It's been increasing since Sydney really started it in the 2000's. I appreciate what the tigers are doing, but it's not better to watch than many other premiership sides.

I enjoy watching Cyril run down a bloke rather than watching Swans scragging guys so they never get any separation.