Analysis What are the top 5 things that you think need fixing with the AFL. Opposition supporters welcome to post ideas.

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Dr Awkward

Norm Smith Medallist
Mar 23, 2009
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1 - Scrap new 50m penalty play-on rule
2 - Get rid of academies
3 - Get rid of contact below the knees unless player slides in with legs
4 - Give GC and GWS 3 more years, whichever club is doing worse, fold it and make a team in tassie
5 - Stop changing rules :p
 

GoTigers2015

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Oct 27, 2014
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1 Benny becomes CEO and Gil and SHocking get sacked
2 Stop the China game.
3 Fast track the Tassie team
4 No ruck nomination and pay a free if 2 players from the same team compete
5 Get rid of equalisation and award money based on ladder position. If you win the flag you get the most money.
 

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JAKLAUGHING

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Nov 20, 2008
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Love them suggestions can just see them not happening!
This sort of disconnect with fans of the game is what happens when the Commission designed to look after the game and it's future/existence is allowed carte blanc to do what it likes in the so called interests of the game!
It happens in Government, Politics, Religion, Cricket, always Top down Agendas,Theology, Ideology, driven into the populace...it's one way only!
The pointy top end is always controlled tightly by the mysterious few who use their selected media mouth pieces to drive their agendas!
Same in the AFL, Gil is on an Agenda to change the game it is so evident with the rule changes/his offsiders, and it's not change for the fans or the Clubs who provide the entertainment!
Oh yeah Gil will have weasel words to dress up his agenda driven changes being/for the interests of AFL and et al.
Power goes to these fecker's collective heads and they are on an ideological mission to change/save their/our purview!
Where is the accountability!?!? Where is the Agenda!?! Feedback?!?! Why the secrecy?!?!
 
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I think the idea Cotcho laid out, the idea of a ‘Constitution’ really is something that should be pushed, it may not be possible to have the game Heritage listed because they’ve changed rules and that may very well be the main reason why they did but how many other professional sports are fiddled with?
1. A Constitution of the game. Rules, minimum ground size and playing time.
Rules are only put in place if actions unfairly advantage or disadvantage. The interpretation of the 50 in a restricted area has been wrong at times.
2. Keep no prior but bring back ‘Dropping the Ball’
3.A Grand Final needs to have an undisputed winner from a full game not extra time not ‘Golden Point’.
4 A 360 or more when tackled is penalised as Holding the ball.
5 All reports are handled by one MRP and aren’t replayed until findings are given.
Any appeals can be made on more than one point.

One thing I think may be worth discussing as a rule change...
Assess all goals to see if they were ‘touched’ and the ball only becomes dead if it leaves the playing area.
If it hits the goal post and goes thru it’s a goal if it comes back into play it’s play on.
And the same with the behind post, it’s only out on the full if it ends up out on the full and that’s one less thing that can alter a result.
 

Punt rd end

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What competition has interpretations of a rule? When you ask multiple umpires to adjudicate on an incident and you get different answers something is wrong.

Blocking rule should apply in a ruck contest but being penalised for impeding a opps run for a mark?
 

aislegi

Norm Smith Medallist
May 18, 2008
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The television coverage
This has to be the worst thing about the game. And it's bad throughout. From that voiceover guy's synopsis of each team's year to date, to some poor fellow (or girl) freezing their backside off on the boundary line for the benefit of everyone in their lounge room that can't work out that nine degrees is cold, to banal interviews with players at every break in play, to Bruce McAvaney's repitition of stupid phrases ("bouncing, bouncing"), to each game having six commentators when two would suffice, to an endless series of stupid questions posed back and forth, such as "What does [insert name of team that is being handed its arse] need to do to get back into it?" or "Are such and such contenders?" or "Has there ever been a better [insert random position or skill]?", to the incredibly poor and tedious renditions of the song by the players, to "Roaming Brian". We don't need any of it.
 

JAKLAUGHING

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The television coverage
This has to be the worst thing about the game. And it's bad throughout. From that voiceover guy's synopsis of each team's year to date, to some poor fellow (or girl) freezing their backside off on the boundary line for the benefit of everyone in their lounge room that can't work out that nine degrees is cold, to banal interviews with players at every break in play, to Bruce McAvaney's repitition of stupid phrases ("bouncing, bouncing"), to each game having six commentators when two would suffice, to an endless series of stupid questions posed back and forth, such as "What does [insert name of team that is being handed its arse] need to do to get back into it?" or "Are such and such contenders?" or "Has there ever been a better [insert random position or skill]?", to the incredibly poor and tedious renditions of the song by the players, to "Roaming Brian". We don't need any of it.
Yep your so right i just realized i have been so used to this sheet presentation that i have just accepted it as normal...
The commentators seem to be the stars of the televised game not the players any more...
Now i know why i listen to the televised footy with the sound off these days...no more headaches/stress!
 

woota

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Jun 27, 2015
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The free-to-air television coverage needs a complete overhaul; channel 7 only has the rights to broadcast 4 games each week. Here in WA, the eagles and dockers matches always get coverage by default on free-to-air. So we get the eagles/docker games and 2 other games. It is truly horrendous and a MASSIVE step down from we had in the 90s.

As far as the game itself, the no #1 problem at the moment is the deliberate out-of-bounds. It is way, wayyy beyond a joke at this point and I don't understand how every single AFL fan isn't screaming from the rooftops to have this atrocious rule modified so that it actually makes sense. You've literally got players throwing the ball onto their foot under immense pressure to try and gain some ground, and if it happens to roll out of bounds at any point then it's deemed deliberate.
 

aislegi

Norm Smith Medallist
May 18, 2008
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The free-to-air television coverage needs a complete overhaul; channel 7 only has the rights to broadcast 4 games each week. Here in WA, the eagles and dockers matches always get coverage by default on free-to-air. So we get the eagles/docker games and 2 other games. It is truly horrendous and a MASSIVE step down from we had in the 90s.

As far as the game itself, the no #1 problem at the moment is the deliberate out-of-bounds. It is way, wayyy beyond a joke at this point and I don't understand how every single AFL fan isn't screaming from the rooftops to have this atrocious rule modified so that it actually makes sense. You've literally got players throwing the ball onto their foot under immense pressure to try and gain some ground, and if it happens to roll out of bounds at any point then it's deemed deliberate.

Same in Sydney - every ******* week it's the Giants and the Swans
 

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What competition has interpretations of a rule? When you ask multiple umpires to adjudicate on an incident and you get different answers something is wrong.

Blocking rule should apply in a ruck contest but being penalised for impeding a opps run for a mark?
A mate's son is trying to work through the umpiring ranks.... He is being stonewalled because he interprets the rules literally. He has been told to loosen up on the rules and feel the "vibe" of the game when umpiring..... I s**t you not! If this is what umpires are being directed to do, our game is truly ****ed!
 
is that you Billy Brownless ? why haven't you asked for poles to be installed every 2nd ailse so that dirty grandpas can pretend to be looking at the footy ?
🤔 Silly boy. Are you assuming he hasn't asked already?😉
 
May 8, 2007
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vic
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1. Get rid of Interchange. 2 subs. (I may have said this before:cool:).
2. Get rid of 6-6-6 and use the goalsquare as it was implemented for (OK, that's fairly minor, but it's recent).
3. Instead of a fixture - have a draw - either rolling or weighted based on previous season. Yes, that means no guarantees of 2 Derbys or Showdowns or blockbusters in a season. Tough (although, you could set up conferences to get more of those). Just make it fair.
4. Goal review. It's about to blow up in the AFL's face big time, as we use it more and more. Evidence around the world shows that this just leads to more and more arguments. See NRL, NFL, Soccer etc for examples. We should only use it for goal lines and posts (TBH, I'm not convinced about posts - that can be too fine - and I don't want f******** snick-o-meters or hot spots). Making calls on 'touched ball' is stupid - particularly when we only use it for goals - what if the kick drops short and the full-forward marks it in the goalsquare? Why can't we review that? We have to have standard rules and standard evaluation across the entire game. Let the umpires umpire.
5. Any coach, commentator or player who wishes to comment upon the umpiring has to show their Qualified Umpire certificate first. Uneducated morons with no knowledge of the rules rabbitting on and on - that's pub or BigFooty talk - not professional journalists. (And I don't care if you played '300 games in the 1970s, and we did it this way!' - go buy a book).
 
May 8, 2007
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vic
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What competition has interpretations of a rule? When you ask multiple umpires to adjudicate on an incident and you get different answers something is wrong.

NFL. 'If you are not holding on every play, you're not playing properly'. Sometimes the refs call it, sometimes not.
Ask NRL fans about 'obstruction' - just be ready to run. And just this week, I heard commentators having a half-hour argument about the 'forward/backwards' pass - probably the most basic rule in rugby League.

Most sports have some 'interpretation' in the laws. You are allowed to be physical in soccer - but not too much (there's a lot of words in the definition of 'too much'). Your opinion about 'too much' may differ from mine.

Just for fun - occasionally get onto other sports forums - the umpiring whinging is identical to what happens on BigFooty (big clubs favoured, protected players, umpiring is worse than when I was kid, etc).
 

Punt rd end

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A mate's son is trying to work through the umpiring ranks.... He is being stonewalled because he interprets the rules literally. He has been told to loosen up on the rules and feel the "vibe" of the game when umpiring..... I s**t you not! If this is what umpires are being directed to do, our game is truly f’ed!
ffs
 
The television coverage
This has to be the worst thing about the game. And it's bad throughout. From that voiceover guy's synopsis of each team's year to date, to some poor fellow (or girl) freezing their backside off on the boundary line for the benefit of everyone in their lounge room that can't work out that nine degrees is cold, to banal interviews with players at every break in play, to Bruce McAvaney's repitition of stupid phrases ("bouncing, bouncing"), to each game having six commentators when two would suffice, to an endless series of stupid questions posed back and forth, such as "What does [insert name of team that is being handed its arse] need to do to get back into it?" or "Are such and such contenders?" or "Has there ever been a better [insert random position or skill]?", to the incredibly poor and tedious renditions of the song by the players, to "Roaming Brian". We don't need any of it.

I love you.
 

Black Child

Team Captain
Jul 11, 2019
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1. Get rid of Gill.
2. Get rid of Hocking.
3. Get Benny in.
4. Get rid of Whateley on SEN mornings.
5. Get KB back on SEN mornings.
 
Jun 18, 2007
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#VICBIAS
1. Gil McLachlan has never been shot in the face. This needs fixing.
2. Steve Hocking has never been dropped down a bottomless well. Pls address asap.
3. Someone should punch Michael Christian in the face as hard as Gary Ablett elbows them.
4. Deliberate throws should be punishable by death.
5. Too many corporates at the Grand Final.
 
Most of what grinds my gears in modern AFL is that it is increasingly becoming TV content and less like sport. Seems like the object is to maximise profit, not the passion of the players, supporters and clubs.

1) Salary cap on media. Currently, there is about twice as many AFL-approved journalists as players.
2) No administrator to earn more than $100k p.a. I want the people running the game to be in it for love, not money.
3) Fixture. Every team to play every other team the same amount of times. It's sport. It needs to at least appear fair. Either reduce to 12 teams and play twice or reduce the season to 17 games. TV rights be ****ed.
4) No more rules changes for 3 to 5 years, so we can all catch up with whatever the * they made our game into, then begin the process of harmonising the rules for AFL, state leagues, local footy and juniors, as much as possible. The game belongs to the community, even when it is the top-tier professional version. If a rule can't be implemented in Katunga with one 47 year old volunteer umpire, then I don't want it on the MCG.
5) AFL Fans Association to be strongly represented on the Commission. We have a LOT of things decided in our name without consultation. Apparently, we're all so sick of congestion that we were begging for this year's ****ed up rule changes...

And I love the tackling, so * off Hocking.
 

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