Is the game too long?

[Lia]

We tried this in 2020 and the games were absolutely terrible. Clubs are just going to need to rotate more and the AFL need to do a much better job at scheduling.

 

[Madas]

No way
The amount we pay for the spectacle and the amount players are paid justifies the time at a minimum

Anything less would be classic Shrinkflation

 

[saintal]

Footy in 2020 was for the most part a terrible spectacle, for numerous reasons.

Been watching a few games from the 90s recently, which reminds you of how much 'dead time' there is now and why game times blow out beyond 130 minutes sometimes. Extended ad breaks. Replays for goal umpire decisions. Umpires taking 5-6 seconds to throw the ball up once teams have nominated a ruckman etc rather than doing it instantaneously.

ie cut the time between goals back to 35-40 seconds like it used to be, rather than a minute or so as it is now. Although that won't happen of course.

 

[RAPPA]

McRae just needs to stfu. His team is coping just fine with injuries and all teams have the same issues, all to varying degrees. Rather than shorten quarters, they can get rid of the sub and increased the interchange to 5 players. Or increase playing list sizes.

 

[Madas]

McRae just needs to stfu. His team is coping just fine with injuries and all teams have the same issues, all to varying degrees. Rather than shorten quarters, they can get rid of the sub and increased the interchange to 5 players. Or increase playing list sizes.

With the increased awareness of concussion protocols increasing the bench size surely has to come into play .

Get rid of the tactical sub , pointless exercise

 

[BulldogMuscle]

Anyone who thinks its too long needs to go back and watch the abomination of the 2020 season.

 

[Archer_11]

The game isn't too long, but for a different reason there might come a day where the spectacle might be. Families will weigh up spending $100 and investing 4-5 five hours vs 2.5 with a break in the middle. I mean if someone paid you $100 and extended the day by two hours that's not the worst deal.

I know that's a different conversation but both have the idea of shortening the game in common.

 

[_Cerberus_]

Nope. What is with some current players and fans and officials wanting to soften a sport that has been fine for over 125 years?

Shortening the game will make it all about those players who are quick, but with low endurance base. The current length allows those with elite endurance to stand out as well. And shortening will kill off those who are slow, but with an elite endurance base. Players like Pendles stand out because he is able to run all day and maintain a high work rate late. Don't want to turn the game into all out ping pong ball riddled with turnovers and poor skills worse than it is now.

Players used to be overweight, and smoke or drink during the games. Yet todays "fitter" athletes are apparently more injury prone? I don't think its anything to do with the length of the game. Harder and poor quality grounds, overload at training etc, perhaps?

 

[bzparkes]

Nah, clearly it's just poor training standards.

Pies, Richmond, etc players are clearly unfit and need to train better.

 

[catters05]

If anything, the season might be too long, but that is only due to what happens after Round 17.

Need a better system after everyone plays each other once.

 

[Lingsface]

I love football because it is hard to play it’s a test physically and mentally and I appreciate the players for this, please don’t make it softer and shorter every year and take away the game for the what it is too attract more people to play ( make more money).

 

[JayJ20]

No. 2020 was so boring because of shortened quarters.

 

[powerrrrrrrrrrrr]

Not at all.

People just have shorter attention spans now but that doesn’t mean we have to go change the game for them.

If it’s too long for you, get up and go do something for that 10 minutes instead.

 

[Smithdogmaddog]

I know I’m in the massive minority with fans but I’ve always thought quarters go too long.

More of something doesn’t necessarily make it better!

Interchange needs to come down to 10 a quarter and shortening quarters would be a good way to get them to agree to it as players would need to spread out and not run defensively so hard all quarter.

I would offer the players shorter quarters as a compromise to guarantee Thursday night footy every week and the return of state of origin.

 

[legend166]

I can't think of an example where that's proven to be true.

Changes to tennis (serve clock, shortening the 5th set) hasn't hurt AO attendance. Likewise the pitch clocks for major league baseball. And I don't believe anybody would avoid a movie on the basis of a 135-minute runtime being too short.

Then there's T20 cricket, which itself seemingly isn't hurt by being shortened, as seen in the case of England's 100-ball competition... all it has done is make people more inclined to hang around and/or turn up early for the women's match.

I mean, the tennis and baseball changes were done to reduce dead time in a game. No one enjoyed watching Djokovic bouncing the ball 48 times before serving, or a pitcher taking a minute to compose himself between every pitch. We're not talking about dead time in the AFL. It would be like having men play 3 setters in Grand Slams or changing baseball to 7 innings.

 

[Cursed Cat]

Like Mccrae, Chris Scott

Chris Scott

Age

48

Ht

182cm

Wt

89kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.6

4star

K

11.2

4star

HB

5.4

4star

M

5.1

5star

T

1.6

4star

G

0.4

3star

No current season stats available

D

13.2

4star

K

10.2

4star

HB

3.0

3star

M

2.2

3star

T

2.8

5star

G

0.4

3star

was pushing this agenda a couple of years ago.

I agree with them; could easily shave 20 minutes off games imo.

 

[Cmarsh]

If the AFLPA wants to advocate for less game time, then it should be understanding that it's members would not be deserving of their current pay packets, as they would be working less.

Fair is fair.

 

[Blackhawk42]

I know I’m in the massive minority with fans but I’ve always thought quarters go too long.

More of something doesn’t necessarily make it better!

Interchange needs to come down to 10 a quarter and shortening quarters would be a good way to get them to agree to it as players would need to spread out and not run defensively so hard all quarter.

I would offer the players shorter quarters as a compromise to guarantee Thursday night footy every week and the return of state of origin.

AFL Tables - 2020 Season Scores

Have a look through some of those scores.
Do we want the game to look like that permanently?

 

[jdeezy]

Its not at all what McRae is arguing on behalf of, but the overall package is too long, for sure. These sorts of things:

Extended ad breaks. Replays for goal umpire decisions. Umpires taking 5-6 seconds to throw the ball up once teams have nominated a ruckman etc rather than doing it instantaneously.

Turn the whole thing into nearly 3 hours. You need to trim the fat off a lot of it.

 

[windyhill]

Why would McRae of all coaches want shorter quarters ? Shorten the game and collingwood would be down with rich/north.

 

[Muddiemoose]

If the AFLPA wants to advocate for less game time, then it should be understanding that it's members would not be deserving of their current pay packets, as they would be working less.

Fair is fair.

Not necessarily
The season still goes for the same amount of time, pre season and training would also still be the same

Players aren’t just paid for the couple of hours they might play on the weekend

using your logic only players who play 100% game time every week should get paid the most and that is definitely one of the stars of the comp who tend to ave anywhere between 60 - 80% game time

 

[nick1408]

My feeling is this is a consequence of limiting rotations. I don't think we are about to go back to unlimited rotations but I do think that leaving fatigued players on the field does cause an uplift in soft tissue injuries.

Collision injuries are a different story. I'm not sure what could be an issue there.

 

[_Mike_]

First team to eat 4 footballs wins.

Darren Jarman /likes this

 

[Muddiemoose]

My feeling is this is a consequence of limiting rotations. I don't think we are about to go back to unlimited rotations but I do think that leaving fatigued players on the field does cause an uplift in soft tissue injuries.

Collision injuries are a different story. I'm not sure what could be an issue there.

Also means we can’t complain about congestion if we have more rotations fitter/fresher players can run more and be more defensively accountable

Fwiw I think the season starting earlier this year has potentially contributed to more soft tissue injuries

That few weeks makes a difference in terms of harder playing surface’s and it’s a possibility that the MCG’s turf wasn’t in the best condition given how close it was to the Taylor Swift concert being close to the start of the season

 

[SC_Power]

Apparently, Craig McRae and the AFLPA seem to think so.

The concerns about injuries are valid, I admit. I do worry that the AFL attempting to fatigue players has backfired. But I think what people forget was just how bad the game looked in 2020. Admittedly COVID and crowd restrictions didn't help but I felt like the average footy game back then was really hard to watch, it was just all a boring scrapfest. Going back to 16 minute quarters like the AFLPA wanted would be a horrible move and would go a long way to killing off the game as the #1 sport in much of Australia.

If they want to stop the recent spate of injuries then the best option would be to get rid of the interchange cap, or reduce the amount of 5/6 day breaks. Hell I'd even take a shorter season before cutting gametime.

5/6 day breaks are partly increasing due to things like, I dunno, a combination of scheduling to accomodate Thursday Night Football, mid week Anzac Day games, Monday Queens Birthday games….. I think the best answer is that Collingwood be scheduled for Sat games only, and other clubs get the opportunity to be penalised by such a brutally unfair schedule with these horrendous timeslots.