AFL used to be such an attractive sport to watch, but every facet is/has been slowly getting worse. The players skills have generally gotten worse, there is so much leniency the umpires give too (for illegal disposal, chopping the arms in marking contests, over the shoulder in marking contests etc), congestion around the footy has not improved, scoring is still getting worse and you just don't have the same sort of theatre of watching the tall forwards kick bags, the battle of individual stars going head to head etc.
There used to be a game or two a round where it was scrappy, low scoring and highly contested and that was okay as it was something different to the usual games. But now it has flipped completely, where it is a game or two a round where it is free flowing, high scoring footy. It's a shame.