Rules The new man on the mark rule is utterly ridiculous.

Feb 28, 2007
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Today's game might not be that high scoring, but the ball is always moving, it feels like no side really had proper "control" at any point.

One thing for sure you really need runners on the G more than ever.

Todays game is also showing that teams who are still trying to setup zones like they had in the previous 5 years are not going to go far in 2021.
 
Jun 8, 2008
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The new rule, combined with the 50m "play on" rule they brought in a year or two ago makes for an interesting combination.

Today we saw Jiath run about 100m and bomb long toward goal without having to take a single bounce. It was exciting, but it didn't seem right somehow.

He hasn't played on until he ran his first 50m. Not sure he ran any/much further than 15m after that point?
 

caitsith01

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Sep 21, 2007
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Maybe I'm in the minority here but I would rather see a tight, low scoring game decided in the last quarter than a high scoring game where it's over before half time. I fundamentally don't see what's entertaining about watching a team smash through goals like the Harlem Globetrotters in what is effectively an uncontested game. I suspect that if the thrashings continue these new rules will start to look less smart.

Also they HAVE to come up with a fairer system for playing on. It is hopeless to depend on the umpire calling it to avoid a 50.
 

HPKS

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Apr 6, 2012
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Maybe I'm in the minority here but I would rather see a tight, low scoring game decided in the last quarter than a high scoring game where it's over before half time. I fundamentally don't see what's entertaining about watching a team smash through goals like the Harlem Globetrotters in what is effectively an uncontested game. I suspect that if the thrashings continue these new rules will start to look less smart.

Also they HAVE to come up with a fairer system for playing on. It is hopeless to depend on the umpire calling it to avoid a 50.

Yep your in the minority.

Easy fixed. Don’t lose the contest or give away a free kick and you’ll have a say in the next passage of play. Lose the contest or give away a free and you’ve lost the right to have any say in the next passage of play.
 
Aug 13, 2006
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I'm actually keen to see the return of the super athletic, zero skills, can't kick to save himself, completely mad full back.

North didn't need Josh Walker holding his own in a pack and getting an intercept mark or spoil they needed a guy with pace and aggression to run right through Bruce when he was on a lead.

Hey if teams get so bad at team defending the scoring might go up so much we can bring back all the defenders dirty tricks. Hartigan tried to bring back the ear massage today.
 

caitsith01

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Sep 21, 2007
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Yep your in the minority.

Easy fixed. Don’t lose the contest or give away a free kick and you’ll have a say in the next passage of play. Lose the contest or give away a free and you’ve lost the right to have any say in the next passage of play.
I'm in the minority by liking games that aren't over by half time?

As for 'easily fixed', some rule changes will tend to lead to bigger blow outs. This may be one.
 

jelly

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Maybe I'm in the minority here but I would rather see a tight, low scoring game decided in the last quarter than a high scoring game where it's over before half time. I fundamentally don't see what's entertaining about watching a team smash through goals like the Harlem Globetrotters in what is effectively an uncontested game. I suspect that if the thrashings continue these new rules will start to look less smart.

Also they HAVE to come up with a fairer system for playing on. It is hopeless to depend on the umpire calling it to avoid a 50.
Most people watch sport for athleticism, strength and skills, not for tight games where ‘everyone is a chance!’.
 
Feb 28, 2007
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Most people watch sport for athleticism, strength and skills, not for tight games where ‘everyone is a chance!’.

and sometimes it is bad to create a situation where a clearly inferior team has a "chance". I mean look at soccer, where an inferior team can win because of one really good or lucky shot at goal, even with the other team basically dominating the rest of the game. Not sure we would want that in AFL.
 
Sep 18, 2011
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Making footy great again, by the numbers
(2021 stats are before Round 3)
  • Stoppages (ball-ups and boundary throw-ins) per match are the lowest on average since 2007 (50.2 stoppages per game so far in 2021 compared with 70.2 in 2015)
  • The 282 marks taken in the West Coast v Gold Coast match in Round 1 was the 8th-highest game tally on record and the most since 2008
  • Teams are kicking longer (average of 59 long kicks per game is the second-highest since 2005)
  • Average of 51.9 tackles per game is the lowest since 2006.
So it’s going towards more uncontested football which is what the AFL want.
 
Aug 27, 2014
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So it’s going towards more uncontested football which is what the AFL want.
No one that loves the purity of what this game is meant to be wants more uncontested footy.
Less congestion and more contests is what we want.
They still got a long way to go to fix up plenty of the mess they made of changes in last couple of decades.
 
Aug 29, 2005
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The umpires seem to be calling ‘play on’ a touch quicker than round 1.
IMO the football has been great to watch, even if teams are getting flogged.

Yup footy has been the best its been in years by most teams.

Who wants to watch the dross served up the last few years just uber defensive rubbish like soccer.
 
Aug 29, 2005
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and sometimes it is bad to create a situation where a clearly inferior team has a "chance". I mean look at soccer, where an inferior team can win because of one really good or lucky shot at goal, even with the other team basically dominating the rest of the game. Not sure we would want that in AFL.

You just had that with all the ultra defensive tactics keeping scores ahem like soccer my team one of the best examples of it. We brang the game to a dour slog where by even when dominant only ever in front a few goals, a single lapse in a quarter often saw our lead eroded or taken.

Was boring as bat s**t to watch too.
 
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Sep 13, 2015
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You just had that with all the ultra defensive tactics keeping scores ahem like soccer my team one of the best examples of it. We brang the game to a dour slog where by even when dominant only ever for a few goals in front a single lapse in a quarter often saw our lead eroded or taken.

Was boring as bat sh*t to watch too.
That’s just a bad game plan and a lack of good forwards though. The best teams didn’t lose like that.
 
Sep 18, 2011
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No one that loves the purity of what this game is meant to be wants more uncontested footy.
Less congestion and more contests is what we want.
They still got a long way to go to fix up plenty of the mess they made of changes in last couple of decades.
It just blows my mind that for so many years there has been introductions of new rules to speed the game up and it’s had the reverse effect. So they just keeping making new ones to point where it’s quite a different sport now.
 

mr bagcroft

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If you guys are happy with 18 v 17 , which is what happens when a player stands on the mark, then good luck to you.
I dont care what effect it has had on the game, its still wrong and still ridiculous to me.
But Im beyond letting this s**t worry me excessively now days.
Have at it.
 
Aug 27, 2014
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It just blows my mind that for so many years there has been introductions of new rules to speed the game up and it’s had the reverse effect. So they just keeping making new ones to point where it’s quite a different sport now.
I am not sure all the rules have been brought in to speed the game up over the last two or three decades.
My problem is the ones that not good for the game have no been removed for most part.
 
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