Is 2025 the most boring AFL season in recent memory?

[My Tilly]

The gsme is mostly fine but goal kicking is absolutely ****ing god awful.

Players earning $500k a year or more cant kick a goal from 25m out. Players trying dribble kicks from 40m out when there are 2 opponents in the way. Kicking around the corner from 50m out or even directly in front.

Yesterday we saw players kicking out on the full from 30m out nearly in front.

It is becoming too painful to watch.

Very few can kick on their opposite foot.
It's not a prerequisite but it certainly helps to have that skill in the repertoire.
A lot of players miss the target completely by trying the banana kick on the run from 40 out.

 

[WillHayward]

People are missing the elephant in the room.

Demographics.

Australia's fertility rate has dropped below replacement since around 1975.

This means the player pool is actually shrinking.
The AFL will point to Auskick numbers and try and pretend otherwise but Auskick don't mean anything. It's mostly glorified baby sitting
And yes the growth in girls playing is something they can be proud of.

But the cold hard facts of demographics can't be ignored or overcome

Most of Australia's rapid population growth is in people in their 20s and 30s and mostly Indian and Chinese

Fertility rate is 1.6. It's a declining player pool at the top end.

The two main migrant groups are already too old and not interested in playing the game and are not being drafted into AFL lists. Their children aren't playing either

Instead we have a ever decreasing draft pool made worse by a lazy streamlined recruiting and development pathway that has converged on only a few private schools.

I think the bottom 5 on the list at most clubs are either nowhere ready yet for the AFL or just VFL players only.

That's about 70 odd players over the AFL and that goes to 100 when Tassie come in.

The difference between the good players and the rest at each club is pretty wide.

This is why the top 6 clubs look a fair bit better than the bottom 6.

Nobody wants to admit this because the AFL narrative is the game keeps getting better and they need gullible fans to believe this because that's what sells advertising and gets them the broadcast money.

 

[Hobbes]

Clear divide between top 9 and bottom 9 meaning half the games each round are meaningless.

Needs to go change to something like first 18 rounds everyone plays everyone. Then create a 6-6-6 division where you play everyone in your division a second time and you’re locked into your 1-6, 7-12, 13-18. Top 6 playing the top spots, next group fighting it out for the 8. Bottom teams? I don’t know, fighting for draft picks? At least you can put those games hidden behind the actual interesting games.

You would have 6 interesting games a round instead of 2 that we are getting right now.

I'm all for a 17-5 structure, but your assessment that half of the matches are meaningless doesn't ring true.

Slightly less than a quarter of games are top-9 plays each other - meaningful.
Slightly less than a quarter of games are bottom-9 plays each other - meaningless unless one of them is threatening to break into the top 9.
Slightly more than half of matches are top-9 plays bottom-9. These are meaningful if the bottom team can put up a fight (or even win).

 

[demondavey]

Pot meet kettle.

Coming from you and your mob

 

[Farang83150]

In a perfect world....
Fixture, everyone play each other once home, once away....lots of games but so what, they get paid enough and entry of other sports do it.
Draft, take everything from the draft apart from pick trading.

 

[Chronz]

Coming from you and your mob

I'm happy to announce we will once again be recruiting more sons of guns in the upcoming years, starting with McGuane. Can't wait for Danster, Fitzey and yourself to welcome him aboard.

 

[Purple Suit]

In a perfect world....
Fixture, everyone play each other once home, once away....lots of games but so what, they get paid enough and entry of other sports do it.
Draft, take everything from the draft apart from pick trading.

They just need to make sure everyone plays each once after 17 games. Then they can add in the doubles ups in the last part of the year. Surely it’s not that hard to do, we use to do it every year when I was in high school.

 

[Farang83150]

They just need to make sure everyone plays each once after 17 games. Then they can add in the doubles ups in the last part of the year. Surely it’s not that hard to do, we use to do it every year when I was in high school.

Would be nice but unfortunately that'd mean teams like Collingwood would travel even less than they already do!

 

[Billy ray]

When Tas comes in its play every one once. 18 rounds of football.
Top 8 finals.
1v8. 2v7. 3v6. 4v5.
Best of three series.
Winners go on. Losers out
Then again two best of 3 series.
Two winners to GF.
That can remain single game.

Lose some footy in home and away. Gain finals matches.

 

[Lavender Bushranger]

Is anyone else finding the 2025 AFL season a little dull? I am less invested in neutral games than most years. With only 9 teams that seem capable of making finals, a lot of the matches don't feel like there is a lot on the line. For the last few years, there have been teams that made late runs into the finals (GWS, Carlton, Hawks), but this year there seems to be a noticeable gap between the top and bottom half of teams.

Then we have the three most recent premiership teams at the top of the table. For neutrals, it's hard to get too excited by watching the same teams fighting it out again. Not to mention the same teams at the bottom, not rising up the ladder despite years of concessions and draft picks.

Even the draft has lost its excitement, with so many of the top picks now already assigned to clubs through academies, father sons and zones.

Is it just me or are others less invested in neutral games in 2025?

Yes. Boring as.

 

[demondavey]

I'm happy to announce we will once again be recruiting more sons of guns in the upcoming years, starting with McGuane. Can't wait for Danster, Fitzey and yourself to welcome him aboard.

Not sure why this would bother me, but anyway….

 

[Purple Suit]

Would be nice but unfortunately that'd mean teams like Collingwood would travel even less than they already do!

Why will it change the amount of times they travel? It can be the exact same fixtures and grounds, just in a different order.

 

[BornAgainIdiot]

People are missing the elephant in the room.

Demographics.

Australia's fertility rate has dropped below replacement since around 1975.

This means the player pool is actually shrinking.
The AFL will point to Auskick numbers and try and pretend otherwise but Auskick don't mean anything. It's mostly glorified baby sitting
And yes the growth in girls playing is something they can be proud of.

But the cold hard facts of demographics can't be ignored or overcome

Fertility rate is 1.6. It's a declining player pool at the top end.

The two main migrant groups (India and China) are not interested in playing the game and are not being drafted into AFL lists.

Instead we have a ever decreasing draft pool made worse by a lazy streamlined recruiting and development pathway that has converged on only a few private schools.

I think the bottom 5 on the list at most clubs are either nowhere ready yet for the AFL or just VFL players only.

That's about 70 odd players over the AFL and that goes to 100 when Tassie come in.

The difference between the good players and the rest at each club is pretty wide.

This is why the top 6 clubs look a fair bit better than the bottom 6.

Fantastic post. I've spent too much of my life in western sydney and what that place is now vs what it once was is why the Giants are a waste of time. Also need to add the enormous polynesian population boom... they don't play the game either and they are prolific breeders. They will play the rugby codes.

Don't bother telling this to the spin doctors masquerading as indies (Sounding Board, various panel shows etc) ultimately on the AFL payroll

 

[WillHayward]

Fantastic post. I've spent too much of my life in western sydney and what that place is now vs what it once was is why the Giants are a waste of time. Also need to add the enormous polynesian population boom... they don't play the game either and they are prolific breeders. They will play the rugby codes.

Don't bother telling this to the spin doctors masquerading as indies (Sounding Board, various panel shows etc) ultimately on the AFL payroll

AFL will point to growing revenue and broadcast deals but how much of this is due the absolute explosion in sports gambling?

That's the real driver of growth this last decade.

But the underlying demographics and the dwindling player pool make me think we are watching an inferior product but with way more marketing and hype around it.

All duck and no dinner.

 

[MartinPrince]

bottom 8 are fairly unwatchable this season. The games between these teams are even worse.

 

[Purple Suit]

bottom 8 are fairly unwatchable this season. The games between these teams are even worse.

I’d say bottom 9 but watching Carlton get beaten by North was fairly enjoyable.

 

[davidgoes4wce]

Games and quarters are going longer than the past. We are reviewing 6-7 calls a game for iffy behinds which can take up to 2-2.5 minutes alone or for balls that have hit the post. Have some quarters that go over the 38 to 40 minute range.

Umpiring inconsistencies even spread across the weekends games is noticeable.

Not having Free to air television on Saturday lessens the knowledge the average footy fan knows about the game. Also been a highly contentious issue this season. Its becoming a game more for the rich than the poor, and results in a class divide to who plays it and watches it- I think we are heading towards almost the Super Rugby model.


HIA protocols.

Less physical contests, less speccies, less 1 on 1 duels, less contested marks.

Incentives for team to manage lineups on certain week, manage teams for draft picks.....we are following more of an NBA style where tanking is considered OK. eg refer to weeks where Pendles was rested, Bailey Smith

3

Bailey Smith

Age

24

Ht

185cm

Wt

86kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

18.3

5star

K

8.5

3star

HB

9.8

5star

M

2.3

2star

T

3.8

5star

CL

2.7

4star

D

19.8

5star

K

9.6

4star

HB

10.2

5star

M

1.8

2star

T

3.2

4star

CL

3.2

4star

D

14.8

4star

K

7.6

3star

HB

7.2

5star

M

2.0

3star

T

3.4

5star

CL

1.6

4star

/Danger weren't playing this season....

Teams of the modern era, are better at retaining possession. Hence, teams are less daring especially when leading , unlikely to play with risks with under 2 minutes of a quarter to go. A bit like basketball, teams want the last play of the quarter- at the risk of not getting scored against.

The game is a totally different game to what it was 30 years ago. If you flicked on and watched a game in the mid 90s to now, you would think you are watching two different sports.

 

[Demonic Ascent]

The gsme is mostly fine but goal kicking is absolutely ****ing god awful.

Players earning $500k a year or more cant kick a goal from 25m out. Players trying dribble kicks from 40m out when there are 2 opponents in the way. Kicking around the corner from 50m out or even directly in front.

Yesterday we saw players kicking out on the full from 30m out nearly in front.

It is becoming too painful to watch.

394K views · 1K reactions | Jed Walter would want his time again after this close-range set shot... because that is a GIMME! 😅 #AFLGiantsSuns | By FOX Footy | Facebook

Jed Walter would want his time again after this close-range set shot... because that is a GIMME! 😅 #AFLGiantsSuns

www.facebook.com

 

[Demonic Ascent]

I’ve seen some really good games and am enjoying the season.
Nonetheless-They have to dump the opening round idea- it takes the excitement out of opening round, and then they need to have everyone take their mid-season bye on the same weekend. The rolling byes make it disjointed. I never know who is playing on a given week-that is tedious.
Then they have to make footy available on free to air again- all the time. Then they have to make umpires a full time and well paid job. And be more careful with the fixture. Thursday night games have to be good ones.

Jonathon Brown had the best solution to this.

Ditch the Opening Round but have the same concept mid year. The teams who play in the four northern state games all have the bye the week prior then every other team gets the bye the week those northern state games are on.

Gets rid of the Opening Round, limits the midseason byes to 2 weeks and has four Vic teams playing in NSW/Qld during the temperature drop in Melbourne when people will be more inclined to head north for a holiday. Win/win/win.

 

[Demonic Ascent]

They just need to make sure everyone plays each once after 17 games. Then they can add in the doubles ups in the last part of the year. Surely it’s not that hard to do, we use to do it every year when I was in high school.

Don't need double-ups, playing each team once is more than enough to determine a top 8 who then playoff for the premiership. Alternate home and away each season.

Then you can focus on fixing the busted decay, salary cap etc

 

[Purple Suit]

Don't need double-ups, playing each team once is more than enough to determine a top 8 who then playoff for the premiership. Alternate home and away each season.

Then you can focus on fixing the busted decay, salary cap etc

In a game that revolves around money, they are not going to have less games, even if it is the right thing to do. If you play each other once first, the ladder would at least be as fair as possible at that point of the season.

Ideally, this allows a floating fixture. You have “Rivalry round” and play all the yearly double ups like Derbies and Blockbusters in Rd 18 or 19 depending on byes. The last 5 games each are scheduled before that week so people have at least 2 weeks to prepare and the last games are generally around you in the ladder or a very even split between teams above and below. Not like the cake walk Geelong are getting this year for example.

 

[greekstyler]

Fixturing and broadcast has largely caused a lot of issues:

- Floating fixture but fixturing Essendon and Carlton in key prime time slots - clearly my team (Essendon) was never going to be a contender a long way out, yet we still get multiple Thurs/Fri nights. Ditto Carlton. That GWS v GC game was a ripper; probably the best of the season between two sides pushing for the 8 but hidden away on a Sunday at 1:10pm. Instead we get St Kilda v WB twice which both result in 70+ margins. Freo v Dons might've been the most boring game of the year (Dons not competitive).

- The double-up model isn't working. Carlton have had North and West Coast (the two worst teams) twice for the last two years. How does that work? Geelong plays Richmond twice in the last 8 rounds - how does that work? Also getting Richmond towards the back-end of the season is different from the start where they are usually more competitive. I don't understand why double-ups can't be evenly spaced like they used to (e.g. playing every other team once before double-ups commence).

- Multiple needless overlapping games. We have two Sunday games every week during the bye rounds yet they somehow overlap. What possible reason could a broadcaster possibly have? We know Ch 7 cover the 3:20pm game so fixture around that accordingly. Same with Saturday games overlapping.

- Fox not being at the game live but calling from the studio. Some commentators are pathetic, others are excellent - there is too much disparity between them.

- No Saturday FTA footy but instead Ch 7 broadcasts the VFL match of the week. Makes no sense whatsoever.

- Endless rhetoric from the multiple footy shows every day has become tiresome and inane. I used to watch all of footy shows/listen to SEN throughout the day - now I do neither.

 

[King Patty]

Even the draft has lost its excitement, with so many of the top picks now already assigned to clubs through academies, father sons and zones.

This years draft and trade period are likely to be fizzers

Rowell - re signed
Buttters + Reid likely to defer to next year.

Drat compromised by academies

Bombers season done by mid season draft when we were technically in the 8 on match ratio, but are now legitimately bottom four based on %.

Mid season draft was good though.

Just hoping Demons and Essendon finish as low as possible.

 

[Cmarsh]

People are missing the elephant in the room.

Demographics.

Australia's fertility rate has dropped below replacement since around 1975.

This means the player pool is actually shrinking.
The AFL will point to Auskick numbers and try and pretend otherwise but Auskick don't mean anything. It's mostly glorified baby sitting
And yes the growth in girls playing is something they can be proud of.

But the cold hard facts of demographics can't be ignored or overcome

Most of Australia's rapid population growth is in people in their 20s and 30s and mostly Indian and Chinese

Fertility rate is 1.6. It's a declining player pool at the top end.

The two main migrant groups are already too old and not interested in playing the game and are not being drafted into AFL lists. Their children aren't playing either

Instead we have a ever decreasing draft pool made worse by a lazy streamlined recruiting and development pathway that has converged on only a few private schools.

I think the bottom 5 on the list at most clubs are either nowhere ready yet for the AFL or just VFL players only.

That's about 70 odd players over the AFL and that goes to 100 when Tassie come in.

The difference between the good players and the rest at each club is pretty wide.

This is why the top 6 clubs look a fair bit better than the bottom 6.

Nobody wants to admit this because the AFL narrative is the game keeps getting better and they need gullible fans to believe this because that's what sells advertising and gets them the broadcast money.

There was once quite a strong interest in footy among the Chinese during the Victorian goldrush era that is today not well known. Not sure why this culture didn't carry on amongst Chinese Australians through the generations.

Is this 'the great hidden chapter' behind one of Australia's biggest sports?

Chinese-Australians have had close links to Aussie rules football ever since the sport was invented. So why don't more of us know about it?

www.abc.net.au

One demographic that has some success is that the game has done a reasonable job of turning some Sudanese migrants into AFL standard key position players.

There have also been quite a few AFL listed players of Middle Eastern descent. So Australian migration certainly isn't just all about the Indians and the Chinese.

 

[Farang83150]

Why will it change the amount of times they travel? It can be the exact same fixtures and grounds, just in a different order.

It was a joke, we're talking about Collingwood remember!