The what if thread

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Tall poppy Syndrome said:
What if the inventors of Aussie Rules in 1859, Tom Wills and Co, hadn't included Rule 10 in the original laws of the game - "The ball while in play may under no circumstances be thrown".

How different would the game be with thrown passes rather than handball? Imagine specialist 'quarterback' passers pinpointing 50m balls. How much quicker would clearances be? And how much better would the 2016 Western Bulldogs, already great, have become? :wink:

Glad we've got handball - it's unique to our game and structures would be massively different without it - but still an interesting what if.
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Easy to answer that question. Tom Brady would have won 6 AFL Premierships as well as Super Bowls.
 
Captain_Bender said:
What if Tony Lockett came to Richmond in 1995 and Richo didn't do his knee, Richmond premiers 95? granted I'm not sure if Richmond had enough strength in the midfield and back line but that forward line would have been very hard to stop
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Your guys put up a more pathetic attempt than David Piitman in the ruck in that Preliminary final against us. You teased and tantalised all year long only to get ripped to shreds in the finals.
 
Dunno if it's been mentioned, but the thought "What if we had drafted Dustin Martin instead of one of Scully/Trengove?" still haunts me sometimes.
 

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Pee Tear Griffin said:
Dunno if it's been mentioned, but the thought "What if we had drafted Dustin Martin instead of one of Scully/Trengove?" still haunts me sometimes.
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I'm not sure he would've been as good at Melbourne. We got our house in order (just) in time for Dusty to arrive. He was still pretty raw and needed the support to get to where he is now. Melbourne still had a few more years before getting it all together and I reckon that might've been too late. A bit like what if Richmond picked Franklin, Pavlich etc.

That said, if he was as good, Melbourne probably would have made finals in 2017 and maybe 2016, and probably would have won the flag in 2018. If that happened, barbers wouldn't have made anywhere near as much on Dusty cuts as they did off us in 2017 - not sure Melbourne have quite the same type of supporter base. It would also throw up the question "What if Jordan McMahon missed that shot after the siren?"
 
What if we didn't have to play a home prelim in Melbourne in '04? Matthews is on record saying the AFL cost us our fourth in a row and I am inclined to agree. That prelim was one of the most bruising games we ever played, probably surpassed only by the week after. Reckon the home ground advantage might have helped us run out that second half better in the Grand Final.
 
Lionheart182 said:
What if we didn't have to play a home prelim in Melbourne in '04? Matthews is on record saying the AFL cost us our fourth in a row and I am inclined to agree. That prelim was one of the most bruising games we ever played, probably surpassed only by the week after. Reckon the home ground advantage might have helped us run out that second half better in the Grand Final.
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Agree 100 percent. AFL cost the Lions 4 straight.
 
What if Footscray had been taken over by merged with Fitzroy - 2 minnows with thousands of disgruntled members - can't see how that would have worked.

What if Melbourne had merged with Hawthorn? What if North had taken over Fitzroy?

The AFL could have looked a whole lot different.
 
What if Collingwood didn't trade away pick 3 for Steve McKee & Pick 7 in 1999 and took Pavlich at 3:
2002 and 2003 grand finals v Brisbane may have been different. Paricularly 2003 when Rocca was suspended.
2007 PF v Geelong?
2011 GF v Geelong with Cloke at FF and Pav at CHF?
 
flamethrower said:
What if Footscray had been taken over by merged with Fitzroy - 2 minnows with thousands of disgruntled members - can't see how that would have worked.

What if Melbourne had merged with Hawthorn? What if North had taken over Fitzroy?

The AFL could have looked a whole lot different.
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What if the League hadnt vetoed a Carlton takeover of North Melbourne in the 90s.
 
I kind of want to see the parallel universe where North take the GC offer and we go into 2008/09/10 with a 16 team comp with 8 teams in Melbourne and two in Qld. Gold Coast are initially much stronger on field but whether they are any better supported than they have been to date and they build on that who knows. Could be another Brisbane Lions esque super team, could not. No guarantees in footy. But I'm not interested in that.

What I want to see is what else happens to the rest of the footy landscape. North agreeing to go, well, North, happens in late 2007 so there's no Gold Coast Suns but is there still a GWS? That decision wasn't made until 2008. Does the AFL push forward with a 17th team, do they double down and push WB/St K to NSW and keep a 16 team comp, do they push for two new teams with the 18th in Tassie or Perth or who knows?
 
What if...

...the WAFC never comes to be and Indian Pacific Ltd is left to go bankrupt. Moreso if WC go under it's likely that the Bears follow suit and possibly the Swans as both were making heavy losses and VFL expansion fails at the first hurdle. A few individuals tipping their own money in had a huge impact in shaping the AFL as we know it today. WC & Brisbane could've easily failed and Sydney's relocation likewise, and if that were the case I wonder what path we would have gone down. No way the SANFL or Port want a bar of an expansion model that has seen 3 clubs fail, and we go into the 1990s with the VFL looking as it did in 1981. Would the license fees from WC/Brisbane have been enough to save the struggling VFL clubs?
 

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A few I can think of

2011 Lenny's knee doesn't go
2010 Bounce/Roo hammy stops another dominant season
2009 Toe poke / Hawkins goal / Inaccurate 2nd quarter
2006 Sirengate keeping us from top 4
2005 Injury toll / Final quarter v Sydney
2004 Brent Guerra missed toe poke / Hometown umpiring
1998 Winmar late miss in the QF v Sydney
1997 Loewe and Winmar family issues in the GF leadup / Vidovic and Spider injuries / Shanahan on Jarman
1991 Ablett cleans up Bourke
1971 26 points up in the 3rd qtr of the GF
1966 No Cam Mooney style miss from Tuddenham
1965 Don't choke
1913 Challenge rule gift Fitzroy another crack
 
Scotland said:
What if...

...the WAFC never comes to be and Indian Pacific Ltd is left to go bankrupt. Moreso if WC go under it's likely that the Bears follow suit and possibly the Swans as both were making heavy losses and VFL expansion fails at the first hurdle. A few individuals tipping their own money in had a huge impact in shaping the AFL as we know it today. WC & Brisbane could've easily failed and Sydney's relocation likewise, and if that were the case I wonder what path we would have gone down. No way the SANFL or Port want a bar of an expansion model that has seen 3 clubs fail, and we go into the 1990s with the VFL looking as it did in 1981. Would the license fees from WC/Brisbane have been enough to save the struggling VFL clubs?
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The licence fees were irrelevent in the context of the sale of Waverley. No one would go under unless, like with Fitzroy, it suited the agenda.
 
MarkT2 said:
The licence fees were irrelevent in the context of the sale of Waverley. No one would go under unless, like with Fitzroy, it suited the agenda.
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Waverley was sold in 1999 or 2000 IIRC, WC & Brisbane entered in 1987. While it was a VFL asset the landscape changed significantly over that 10-15 year period. Wouldn't have got 2000 prices selling it in the 1980s and it would've killed off an income stream.
 
Murraj1966 said:
A few I can think of

2011 Lenny's knee doesn't go
2010 Bounce/Roo hammy stops another dominant season
2009 Toe poke / Hawkins goal / Inaccurate 2nd quarter
2006 Sirengate keeping us from top 4
2005 Injury toll / Final quarter v Sydney
2004 Brent Guerra missed toe poke / Hometown umpiring
1998 Winmar late miss in the QF v Sydney
1997 Loewe and Winmar family issues in the GF leadup / Vidovic and Spider injuries / Shanahan on Jarman
1991 Ablett cleans up Bourke
1971 26 points up in the 3rd qtr of the GF
1966 No Cam Mooney style miss from Tuddenham
1965 Don't choke
1913 Challenge rule gift Fitzroy another crack
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what if you didnt choose to support Stkilda, imagine how much better life would be
 
Murraj1966 said:
I wonder how many Swans fans heard that in 72 years.
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It's funny how quickly Swans, Hawks and Richmond fans forget how much of basket cases their clubs were in the past. So much recency bias leading people to act like their clubs have never had dry periods
 
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