I realised the reason I don't care that much about the 2026 premiership season

[PerthBoy86]

Well one reason of many...still love Aussie rules and will always do, but on top of the AFL's tone deaf lunacy, from Opening Round to 'Wildcard Round', the fixturing and other inequalities, its the same old teams challenging again. I know this is the case in many sporting leagues, and even worse, but as neutrals the prospect of another Brisbane, Sydney, Hawthorn, Geelong (any combo of those) premiership or gf isn't really that interesting. Or the fact these same teams have consistently challenged and dominated this century.

Course I'll still tune in like a muppet, but I'm really hoping Adelaide or Gold Coast can pull one from out of the hat. Dogs seem done but stranger things can happen.

 

[MF]

Well one reason of many...still love Aussie rules and will always do, but on top of the AFL's tone deaf lunacy, from Opening Round to 'Wildcard Round', the fixturing and other inequalities, its the same old teams challenging again. I know this is the case in many sporting leagues, and even worse, but as neutrals the prospect of another Brisbane, Sydney, Hawthorn, Geelong (any combo of those) premiership or gf isn't really that interesting. Or the fact these same teams have consistently challenged and dominated this century.

Course I'll still tune in like a muppet, but I'm really hoping Adelaide or Gold Coast can pull one from out of the hat. Dogs seem done but stranger things can happen.

You never know... Freo are looking pretty good

 

[Headless]

Well one reason of many...still love Aussie rules and will always do, but on top of the AFL's tone deaf lunacy, from Opening Round to 'Wildcard Round', the fixturing and other inequalities, its the same old teams challenging again. I know this is the case in many sporting leagues, and even worse, but as neutrals the prospect of another Brisbane, Sydney, Hawthorn, Geelong (any combo of those) premiership or gf isn't really that interesting. Or the fact these same teams have consistently challenged and dominated this century.

Course I'll still tune in like a muppet, but I'm really hoping Adelaide or Gold Coast can pull one from out of the hat. Dogs seem done but stranger things can happen.

I wouldn't yet write off the WEST COAST EAGLES in the AFLM this season, PerthBoy86.

 

[Former Decathlete]

Freo can do it. Just not sure about the coach.

 

[BigVic]

As a Pies fan apart from our win on Thursday, I feel the same way too

Another Sydney vs Hawthorn/Geelong Grand Final I just cannot get into it. No fairytale, two teams that are up there all the time and the incompetence of the AFL administration. Might give the GF a miss as I did in 2019 (didn't even bother that year) or 2022. Only Swans and Hawks fan would care and Hawthorn has a 5-1 record over Sydney in Finals matches this century. For neutrals like me, it would be a replay of the 2023 premiership at 2.30pm. Sick of these teams up there as well as Geelong year-in and year-out

I miss old footy

 

[shaqsuns]

After the 70s and 80s debacle with zones, the VFL/AFL finally created a system to make the game equal.

Then they basically said **** that, let's make this system as confusing and unequal as possible.

And thats where we are today

 

[Bunk Moreland]

The current system entrenches the positions of those at the top of the ladder, and makes it hard and a very, very long road for those who wish to climb from the bottom.

If you suck, you need new, good players to not suck. That’s pretty basic.

In the AFL, there’s two ways to get new players onto your list - via trade / free agency, or via the draft.

Trade and free agency moves can only happen with the player’s consent. So the desirable players are not going to go to clubs that suck. They have their choice of good teams.

The draft system in the AFL has clubs drafting literal kids into a hugely physical and complex game. Therefore, on the whole, drafted players don’t make much of a difference for their first few years. A high draft pick doesn’t make you better. It might make you better in 3-5 years time.

On top of that the draft is now highly compromised with many top talents removed from it and handed to top clubs via F/S and academies.

If the AFL wants to improve equalisation and promote more clubs challenging more often, they’re the things they need to address.

 

[BigVic]

Sydney getting thumped on GF day at the MCG...pass for me. Gimmicks like goal songs, scrapping of the centre bounce and a final 10 are the reasons I am watching less games this season

 

[shaqsuns]

The current system entrenches the positions of those at the top of the ladder, and makes it hard and a very, very long road for those who wish to climb from the bottom.

If you suck, you need new, good players to not suck. That’s pretty basic.

In the AFL, there’s two ways to get new players onto your list - via trade / free agency, or via the draft.

Trade and free agency moves can only happen with the player’s consent. So the desirable players are not going to go to clubs that suck. They have their choice of good teams.

The draft system in the AFL has clubs drafting literal kids into a hugely physical and complex game. Therefore, on the whole, drafted players don’t make much of a difference for their first few years. A high draft pick doesn’t make you better. It might make you better in 3-5 years time.

On top of that the draft is now highly compromised with many top talents removed from it and handed to top clubs via F/S and academies.

If the AFL wants to improve equalisation and promote more clubs challenging more often, they’re the things they need to address.

Players shouldn't be able to nominate the destination they get traded too. Its gives too much power in the team receiving the asset.

Plus once free agency came in, the nominating of clubs in a trade should have been abolished.

 

[joe444]

The Minority Report:

- When I first seriously fell in love with footy in 1985, the game was in the midst of an era where Grand Finals / Premierships were monopolised for two decades by five teams (Carlton, Essendon, Richmond, North, Hawthorn). For 22 years it was only them. When people romanticise the 'golden era' of 'Big Clubs', it's this sort disparity they worship.

- When Geelong finally broke through (now retrospectively regarded as nefarious) it had been 43 years between flags. Sydney? 72 years. Lions? 67.

- Geelong and Sydney made a decision twenty years ago to pursue a path of never bottoming out because (despite the BS financial rumours) they can't afford to. Other teams literally embraced cyclical failure which, paradoxically, made it easier for those two teams to stay 'up'. Yes, the system was designed to equalise, but not for teams to try to deliberately 'over-equalise' by essentially simultaneously declaring "rebuilds" which ensured they stayed down in ways the draft was never designed to overcome.

- Geelong and Sydney resisted attempts by the league to turn them into a franchise / brand playing at a multi-purpose venue. Others sacrificed tradition and identity in doing so.

- In the past fifteen years, Melbourne have broken through to (and squandered) premiership success. The Doggies have broken through.

So, from a minority perspective, the people who claim to be the victims of injustice are a little short-sighted and quick to blame anything but their own club's decision-making.

Add to that the utterly disheartening modern epidemic of conspiracy/cabal thinking that means any team outside the naturally-ordained "Big" clubs are only capable of success with the aid of some shenanigans.

That a West Coast fan, following a team on the up that won a flag only 8 years ago and has snagged four in their lifetime, is jaded? That a Collingwood fan is suffering from Geelong winning and pines for the underdog story of yet another fricking Grand Final loss to Carlton?

Spare me. My reasons for being jaded have nothing to do with this (see other thread).

Unless you're a Saints or Dockers fan, go cry me a river.

 

[stallon]

The Minority Report:

- When I first seriously fell in love with footy in 1985, the game was in the midst of an era where Grand Finals / Premierships were monopolised for two decades by five teams (Carlton, Essendon, Richmond, North, Hawthorn). For 22 years it was only them. When people romanticise the 'golden era' of 'Big Clubs', it's this sort disparity they worship.

- When Geelong finally broke through (now retrospectively regarded as nefarious) it had been 43 years between flags. Sydney? 72 years. Lions? 67.

- Geelong and Sydney made a decision twenty years ago to pursue a path of never bottoming out because (despite the BS financial rumours) they can't afford to. Other teams literally embraced cyclical failure which, paradoxically, made it easier for those two teams to stay 'up'. Yes, the system was designed to equalise, but not for teams to try to deliberately 'over-equalise' by essentially simultaneously declaring "rebuilds" which ensured they stayed down in ways the draft was never designed to overcome.

- Geelong and Sydney resisted attempts by the league to turn them into a franchise / brand playing at a multi-purpose venue. Others sacrificed tradition and identity in doing so.

- In the past fifteen years, Melbourne have broken through to (and squandered) premiership success. The Doggies have broken through.

So, from a minority perspective, the people who claim to be the victims of injustice are a little short-sighted and quick to blame anything but their own club's decision-making.

Add to that the utterly disheartening modern epidemic of conspiracy/cabal thinking that means any team outside the naturally-ordained "Big" clubs are only capable of success with the aid of some shenanigans.

That a West Coast fan, following a team on the up that won a flag only 8 years ago and has snagged four in their lifetime, is jaded? That a Collingwood fan is suffering from Geelong winning and pines for the underdog story of yet another fricking Grand Final loss to Carlton?

Spare me. My reasons for being jaded have nothing to do with this (see other thread).

Unless you're a Saints or Dockers fan, go cry me a river.

Can be jaded at how ****ed the competition is to rebuild currently with all the things the AFL has done recently to **** with it
Nobody said the eagles have to be a premiership contender again, just not bottom 4 levels. It takes WAY too long to rebuild via the draft, while some top teams still get more talent from the draft than the bottom teams

Its VERY fair to be jaded lmao

 

[Goggin Our Best]

The Minority Report:

- When I first seriously fell in love with footy in 1985, the game was in the midst of an era where Grand Finals / Premierships were monopolised for two decades by five teams (Carlton, Essendon, Richmond, North, Hawthorn). For 22 years it was only them. When people romanticise the 'golden era' of 'Big Clubs', it's this sort disparity they worship.

- When Geelong finally broke through (now retrospectively regarded as nefarious) it had been 43 years between flags. Sydney? 72 years. Lions? 67.

- Geelong and Sydney made a decision twenty years ago to pursue a path of never bottoming out because (despite the BS financial rumours) they can't afford to. Other teams literally embraced cyclical failure which, paradoxically, made it easier for those two teams to stay 'up'. Yes, the system was designed to equalise, but not for teams to try to deliberately 'over-equalise' by essentially simultaneously declaring "rebuilds" which ensured they stayed down in ways the draft was never designed to overcome.

- Geelong and Sydney resisted attempts by the league to turn them into a franchise / brand playing at a multi-purpose venue. Others sacrificed tradition and identity in doing so.

- In the past fifteen years, Melbourne have broken through to (and squandered) premiership success. The Doggies have broken through.

So, from a minority perspective, the people who claim to be the victims of injustice are a little short-sighted and quick to blame anything but their own club's decision-making.

Add to that the utterly disheartening modern epidemic of conspiracy/cabal thinking that means any team outside the naturally-ordained "Big" clubs are only capable of success with the aid of some shenanigans.

That a West Coast fan, following a team on the up that won a flag only 8 years ago and has snagged four in their lifetime, is jaded? That a Collingwood fan is suffering from Geelong winning and pines for the underdog story of yet another fricking Grand Final loss to Carlton?

Spare me. My reasons for being jaded have nothing to do with this (see other thread).

Unless you're a Saints or Dockers fan, go cry me a river.

If you want my honest honest honest honest opinion on this

Yes im a semi satisfied Geelong supporter . could have done with a couple more flags then id be fully satisfied

But your statement Geel and Swans made a decision not to bottom out. free agency is a joke and has allowed that to happen

What Geel are doing ( and i go back to the 60s) is exactly what Carlton did in the 70s and 80s ( and hence their sucess) is just buy all the good players

Dangerfield Cameron Bailey Smith , and now Butters is being linked to us

The draft and free agency and all the rest of it has totally failed . i would throw it to the shiithouse . and do the ARL System

Everyone gets the same salary cap . heres your money . recruit your players . and good recruiting will be rewarded - and have very severe penalties for any club breaching the salary cap - like expulsion from the competition for a couple of years

 

[M Malice]

I posted this on the Lions board a couple of days ago, sort of covers the OPs musings >
___________________________________

I was thinking about this while contemplating existence last night, my losing "some" interest has crept up on me, I came to the conclusion that there are a few factors contributing to it for me.

1- The Lions going back2back, I'm nowhere near as on edge going into Lions games, have a whatever reaction if we lose, still invested just not as intense.

2- Games not involving the Lions I am finding increasingly difficult to get interested in, I'll give them a go however I have not watched a single neutral game all the way through this season... I drop off very quickly and check the scores on fox sports a couple of times and at the end.

3- The administration of the game has always been pretty ordinary but it seems to be even worse over the last couple of years, eg. opening round yuk, extended bye rounds yuk, reactionary rather than proactive decision making yuk eg fixturing/draft rules, media has way too much influence on how the game is run yuk.

I can now which I would never have thought possible envision a time where I only follow Lions/AFL in a peripheral way, similar to how I dropped a fanatical following of Valleys Rugby League team in my youth and the same fanatical following of Chelsea and Soccer in general. These days all I do is check EPL scores and occasionally watch 3 minute highlight packages.

Still at this stage love chatting on here though, if I disappear I have not carked it, it is likely meh has taken over... or maybe I have

 

[Dazzler9]

Sydney and Hawthorn haven't won a flag in over a decade. Geelong have won one flag in 15 years. So the problem isn't with the same teams constantly winning.

However the AFL administration is r00ted. Too many inequities, gimmicks and rule changes. Too focused on money. And let's be honest, too many teams concentrated in one city.

 

[M Malice]

Sydney and Hawthorn haven't won a flag in over a decade. Geelong have won one flag in 15 years. So the problem isn't with the same teams constantly winning.

However the AFL administration is r00ted. Too many inequities, gimmicks and rule changes. Too focused on money. And let's be honest, too many teams concentrated in one city.

The competition standard has been diluted with too many teams, the bolded is spot on but dropping some Melbourne teams out is not happening anytime soon.

Ideal for me would be a 14 team competition, the 8 "Interstate" teams they have now plus the Devils, plus Geelong and then 4 teams out of Melbourne.

Or they could drop the Devils idea and have 5 teams out of Melbourne.

Again all pie in the sky stuff, not happening.
___________________________________
This is highlighted to an even greater degree in the AFLW, 18 teams and the standard of play/skills is atrocious and bordering on laughable at times, AFLW should of now be a maximum of 8-10 teams and still not expanded from that for at least another 5 years.

 

[PhatBoy]

If you want my honest honest honest honest opinion on this

Yes im a semi satisfied Geelong supporter . could have done with a couple more flags then id be fully satisfied

But your statement Geel and Swans made a decision not to bottom out. free agency is a joke and has allowed that to happen

What Geel are doing ( and i go back to the 60s) is exactly what Carlton did in the 70s and 80s ( and hence their sucess) is just buy all the good players

Dangerfield Cameron Bailey Smith , and now Butters is being linked to us

The draft and free agency and all the rest of it has totally failed . i would throw it to the shiithouse . and do the ARL System

Everyone gets the same salary cap . heres your money . recruit your players . and good recruiting will be rewarded - and have very severe penalties for any club breaching the salary cap - like expulsion from the competition for a couple of years

That’s 3 players in 11 seasons and one of them had not even achieved anything when we bought him. That’s a long bow to draw mate.

By my count, and I apologise if I’ve missed anyone besides Ablett who I don’t count because he came from us originally and was 34 when he returned; the suns squeezed the lemon dry: this whole century we’ve brought in four players who were AA elsewhere, Ottens, Danger, Cameron and Shaun Higgins.

Sorry mate but that’s not a team ‘just buying all the good players.’

 

[joe444]

If you want my honest honest honest honest opinion on this

Yes im a semi satisfied Geelong supporter . could have done with a couple more flags then id be fully satisfied

But your statement Geel and Swans made a decision not to bottom out. free agency is a joke and has allowed that to happen

What Geel are doing ( and i go back to the 60s) is exactly what Carlton did in the 70s and 80s ( and hence their sucess) is just buy all the good players

Dangerfield Cameron Bailey Smith , and now Butters is being linked to us

The draft and free agency and all the rest of it has totally failed . i would throw it to the shiithouse . and do the ARL System

Everyone gets the same salary cap . heres your money . recruit your players . and good recruiting will be rewarded - and have very severe penalties for any club breaching the salary cap - like expulsion from the competition for a couple of years

I'd thought you'd know your history better than this.

Our only current free agency players are Jack Martin and Tyson Stengle, to whom we threw lifelines. Free Agency has had ZERO to do with us not bottoming out.

If you want to look at teams which have "bought all the good players", try Brisbane, Hawthorn, Collingwood. Almost every third player on their team is in that category. Geelong have nabbed three big names in eleven seasons, but not an annual rape and pillage, and all three played better than expected when they arrived.

We and Sydney have stayed up because we tried to. Players come because we promise we won't involve them in a "rebuild" that means they can forget success but "help the next generation" perhaps achieve the ultimate. With a player like Martin, we told him we had a plan and a spot for him and it involved him playing in a premiership.

Anyway, I'm sure your post is music to the conspiracist's ears - it certainly matches their inability to grasp facts. Next you'll question how we "pay all those stars" without ever throwing the same question at Brisbane.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

- Geelong and Sydney made a decision twenty years ago to pursue a path of never bottoming out because (despite the BS financial rumours) they can't afford to. Other teams literally embraced cyclical failure which, paradoxically, made it easier for those two teams to stay 'up'. Yes, the system was designed to equalise, but not for teams to try to deliberately 'over-equalise' by essentially simultaneously declaring "rebuilds" which ensured they stayed down in ways the draft was never designed to overcome.

Nah, not buying that. There has been success built through the draft by clubs that embraced it. Collingwood (2010), Hawthorn (2013-2015), Melbourne (2021) took advantage of extremely generous priority pick systems and secured generational talent and premiership success as a result.

What has allowed some clubs to successfully “never bottom out” has largely been free agency and its impact - pre-agency, where clubs willingly trade stars because the alternative is losing them to free agency the next year or two.

That’s okay, but perhaps there needs to be some tinkering in the other direction too. The draft build isnt as easy now because it’s hugely compromised.

The free agency introduction was botched by the AFL imo. They gave it to the players for nothing, effectively. It should have been balanced by agreeing with the AFLPA that certain players can be traded without their consent. It should had been balanced to give the clubs something. Interestingly one of the clubs you cite (Sydney) basically behaves in this way anyway, without the rules. Their behaviour regarding Hayward was effectively trading him without his consent - he was brutally thrown out.

 

[stallon]

Nah, not buying that. There has been success built through the draft by clubs that embraced it. Collingwood (2010), Hawthorn (2013-2015), Melbourne (2021) took advantage of extremely generous priority pick systems and secured generational talent and premiership success as a result.

What has allowed some clubs to successfully “never bottom out” has largely been free agency and its impact - pre-agency, where clubs willingly trade stars because the alternative is losing them to free agency the next year or two.

And academies
Swans got Mills and Heeney for **** all to smooth out the drop off, now they are 2 of their best players. They got Blakey for similarly cheap, another of their absolute best.
They got a bit lucky getting Grundy for cheap too.

Lions wont have the drop off that shouldve come because of all the f/s and academy kids
Pies and Cats use their prestige as big clubs that are nearly always good to attract players, avoiding having to rebuild.

That’s okay, but perhaps there needs to be some tinkering in the other direction too. The draft build isnt as easy now because it’s hugely compromised.

The free agency introduction was botched by the AFL imo. They gave it to the players for nothing, effectively. It should have been balanced by agreeing with the AFLPA that certain players can be traded without their consent. It should had been balanced to give the clubs something. Interestingly one of the clubs you cite (Sydney) basically behaves in this way anyway, without the rules. Their behaviour regarding Hayward was effectively trading him without his consent - he was brutally thrown out.

 

[joe444]

I should also point out, nevertheless, that I have developed he same sense of "meh", which is why I started the disenchantment thread.

Fantertainment, scheduling, rules-on-the-run, hypocrisy ... all factors that have made me enjoy things less.

 

[joe444]

Nah, not buying that. There has been success built through the draft by clubs that embraced it.

Oh yes, I'm sorry if I gave the impression of denying that.

My point was more about how easier it is to try to "stay up" with so many teams all trying to bottom out at once, not that it wouldn't sometimes work for sides.

By definition, though, it's a low percentage play to bottom out. Much lower than, say, Geelong. I've always regarded our stance over the last decade of always trying to be the second best team in it and trying to jag a few flags as a result.

We nabbed one in '22 as Melbourne imploded and the Lions weren't ready. Nearly nabbed another one last year.

Pies and Cats use their prestige as big clubs that are nearly always good to attract players, avoiding having to rebuild.

Say that in the 80s, 90s and 00s and be laughed out of the building. And as we have said elsewhere, TRADING for three big-name players in 11 seasons is not a rape and pillage.

 

[stallon]

Say that in the 80s and be laughed out of the building. And as we have said elsewhere, TRADING for three big-name players in 11 seasons is not a rape and pillage.

Where did anybody claim a rape and pillage?

its not the 80s anymore either lmao

You guys did some great drafting and got cheap as **** elite f/s kids in the 2000s, that has carried the club through with a few well timed A-grader player acquisitions(for cheap), built off the reputation built by the side of 2007-now(all that players under 25 will remember)
You have a good coach too

Its just the combo of everything

Not going to go into how many Cats people are in the AFL head office and the media but im sure that isnt irrelevant either.

 

[joe444]

Where did anybody claim a rape and pillage?

Someone mentioned "buy all the good players", and it's a common claim

Not going to go into how many Cats people are in the AFL head office and the media but im sure that isnt irrelevant either.

... and you were doing so well! I bet if we were schlepping around in the mid and not getting in the way of the self-appointed "big" clubs, nobody would have mentioned it.

As I've posted elsewhere, the club with the most members of the AFL executive, for decades now, has been Hawthorn.

 

[stallon]

Someone mentioned "buy all the good players", and it's a common claim

... and you were doing so well! I bet if we were schlepping around in the mid and not getting in the way of the self-appointed "big" clubs, nobody would have mentioned it.

As I've posted elsewhere, the club with the most members of the AFL executive, for decades now, has been Hawthorn.

Hawks dont seem to do too badly either, they just had that short stint outside finals recently, but theyve been good for a long time.
Though to be fair it could be said that its just the big vic clubs as a broad statement

 

[Elixuh]

Man whose team is basket case not very interesting in afl season. More breaking news at 5.