Whilst I'm a fiend for most American sports - I'm always cautious when we try to emulate or copy them.
There are so many cultural differences (in both a sporting and societal sense) that render many of the cool things that they do over there, completely unfeasible or impractical here.
Relocating teams or creating new ones to 'capture' a suburb or city is a very different prospect here than over there.
Without trotting out a bunch of other examples, I'll get straight to the point...
Whilst the Mid-Season Trades in the NBA and the MLB are fine, great even - it would largely be a waste of time in AFL footy.
Hearing the footy media regurgitate the narrative that "<insert player name>could go to <insert club name> and they'd catapult to flag favourites straight away" makes me shake my head.
If only it were so simple to put a random player in a team and see them immediately fit in seamlessly and make them better straight away!
Imagine trying to teach a new midfielder what his new teammates have taken 3 years together to learn, in 3-4 training sessions!
Imagine a forward trying to fit into an established forward line and learn their patterns, whilst also trying to learn the midfield strategy and players' habits over the weekend before his first game?!
Even players that get traded in the off-season usually take a few months to settle in.
And in modern footy, with team defence, how the fu** would they be expected to pick that up immediately?
I can't think of any position on the ground these days that someone could just walk straight into and nail it.
I mean I'm sure a guy like Daicos or some other elite player could go somewhere like North and instantly make them better - but bottom teams are not the ones buying during Mid-Season Trades periods!!
Discuss...
There are so many cultural differences (in both a sporting and societal sense) that render many of the cool things that they do over there, completely unfeasible or impractical here.
Relocating teams or creating new ones to 'capture' a suburb or city is a very different prospect here than over there.
Without trotting out a bunch of other examples, I'll get straight to the point...
Whilst the Mid-Season Trades in the NBA and the MLB are fine, great even - it would largely be a waste of time in AFL footy.
Hearing the footy media regurgitate the narrative that "<insert player name>could go to <insert club name> and they'd catapult to flag favourites straight away" makes me shake my head.
If only it were so simple to put a random player in a team and see them immediately fit in seamlessly and make them better straight away!
Imagine trying to teach a new midfielder what his new teammates have taken 3 years together to learn, in 3-4 training sessions!
Imagine a forward trying to fit into an established forward line and learn their patterns, whilst also trying to learn the midfield strategy and players' habits over the weekend before his first game?!
Even players that get traded in the off-season usually take a few months to settle in.
And in modern footy, with team defence, how the fu** would they be expected to pick that up immediately?
I can't think of any position on the ground these days that someone could just walk straight into and nail it.
I mean I'm sure a guy like Daicos or some other elite player could go somewhere like North and instantly make them better - but bottom teams are not the ones buying during Mid-Season Trades periods!!
Discuss...
