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magpielicious

magpielicious

All Australian
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Collingwood
The # thing I hate in football is a player who's sole objective is not the ball, but to hold, scragg and niggle an opponent. I am sure there will be many who disagree. I just find it P...s weak. I will always value the player who's only goal is to get the ball first. I go to the footy to see the best players WIN the ball.
 
magpielicious said:
The # thing I hate in football is a player who's sole objective is not the ball, but to hold, scragg and niggle an opponent. I am sure there will be many who disagree. I just find it P...s weak. I will always value the player who's only goal is to get the ball first. I go to the footy to see the best players WIN the ball.
Click to expand...

So what’s your stance on defenders, then.
 

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magpielicious said:
The # thing I hate in football is a player who's sole objective is not the ball, but to hold, scragg and niggle an opponent. I am sure there will be many who disagree. I just find it P...s weak. I will always value the player who's only goal is to get the ball first. I go to the footy to see the best players WIN the ball.
Click to expand...
 
I have never ever understood this attitude in any sport.

In every single team game and many individual ones, where you play directly against someone, you attack, and you try and counter someone attacking you.

What in f**k makes it any less meritorious to do the latter? Why does someone who tries to get the ball have a god given right to do it?

Penrith succeed in rugby league because they attack brilliantly and because they have players who offer f**k all with the ball in hand aside from just running 8-9 metres when they have it, but they’re next to impossible to run past.

Australia’s cricket side was thrilling to watch in many respects but they had an opening bowler who was as boring as batshit to watch. But almost no one could get him off the square.
The next best side for most of that era (SA) had one of their own (Pollock).
With the bat, Justin Langer and before him Steve Waugh were both stodgy as shit.
Desmond Haynes could attack a bit but for the most part he and guys like Larry Gomes and Gus Logie were the counterpoint to the carnage around them while Joel Garner just bowled balls that were impossible to hit while a cavalcade of terrifying fast bowlers scared everyone shitless.

Floyd Mayweather is one of the greatest boxers in history because he couldn’t GET hit - one of the key components of boxing.

As amazing as some of his winners were, Rafael Nadal built his dominance of Federer - maybe the best shot maker in history - on defending against him before finding ways past him. Djokovic did the same.

Why does someone have to be handed the right to attack with impunity without earning it?
 
Whether you like them or not, I still think their place in the AFL landscape has always been up and down, and not clear. They are sometimes in vogue, sometimes not, some teams play them, some don't, sometimes the taggers are full time, sometimes they're not.

We're gone of the days when you had a Ling, Kirk, Crowley, Cornes running around as a dedicated tagger most weeks and teams had a dedicated spot for that role each week. It will be interesting to see how it continues to develop over the years.
 
As long as the tagger plays within the rules of the game, then it is fine. It is when the taggers scrag at every contest, focusing more on holding, pinching and punching their opponent rather than attempting to win the ball themselves. That is when it crosses the line and needs to be umpired more strictly

Teams employed those illegal tactics heavily to quell the influence of Gary Ablett jr and Chris Judd with the AFL and the umpires cracking down and focusing on it. It did start creeping into the game last year with taggers scragging the likes of Nick Daicos, Marcus Bontempelli, Lachie Neale etc but at current it isn't too bad.

I personally would like to see Collingwood legally employ this tactic against the oppositions best.
 
magpielicious said:
The # thing I hate in football is a player who's sole objective is not the ball, but to hold, scragg and niggle an opponent. I am sure there will be many who disagree. I just find it P...s weak. I will always value the player who's only goal is to get the ball first. I go to the footy to see the best players WIN the ball.
Click to expand...
Preemptive whinge before Nick Daicos spends the night with James Jordon on his case?
I regard JJ as the best in the business, yet he gathers possessions and kicks goals too, although he’ll have his work cut out for him tonight. I sort of see your point, but it’s another interesting sideline to the game itself.
 

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PhatBoy said:
So what’s your stance on defenders, then.
Click to expand...

Defenders should be outlawed from the game. I go to the footy to see GOALS and sing songs after those GOALS.
 

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