What unpopular AFL opinions do you have? (Part 1 - cont in Part 2)

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Oh don't get me wrong, I rate him. Kid can play, no doubt. Do not make the mistake of 'over-rated' meaning 'do not rate'.

But he's hardly the first young kid to look better than many of his peers.
That's fair. I think the media circlejerk is a bit sickening (as it is with a lot of players) but I think the way most ardent footy watchers seem to rate him is fair enough. Has played some utterly brilliant games for us this year.
 

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Jade

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That's fair. I think the media circlejerk is a bit sickening (as it is with a lot of players) but I think the way most ardent footy watchers seem to rate him is fair enough. Has played some utterly brilliant games for us this year.
Zach Merrett, Tom Lynch, Patrick Cripps et al...... some cracking kids out there performing above and beyond what should be expected of them.

The attention Bontempelli receives IS warranted, kid can no doubt play - but I don't think 'over-rated' is being unfair.
 
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Zach Merrett, Tom Lynch, Patrick Cripps et al...... some cracking kids out there performing above and beyond what should be expected of them.

The attention Bontempelli receives IS warranted, kid can no doubt play - but I don't think 'over-rated' is being unfair.
Lynch is outstanding and deserves a lot more love. Ditto Merrett. Cripps had his love in last year but his form has tapered a bit this year in my opinion. I would rate Bont ahead of the latter two though if I'm honest. Lynch and Bont are both top tier in their respective positions for mine, but Cripps and Merrett are outstanding young mids as well.

In fairness I don't really mind how people rate certain players; I'm not in the business of getting offended when somebody says a Dogs player is overrated. Just an interesting discussion.
 

old55

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I want 34 round seasons with home & away matches played against each team with larger lists to accommodate extra and mid-week games. Don't care about the quality due to "talent pool" as scrappy games are fun too.
I want 17 rounds, one against each other team, and the H&A can rotate year on year. I wouldn't mind if there was a "rivalry round" added to cater for the derby, showdown etc so a commercial compromise could be reached.

The season is too long. Less is more, like in the NFL.
 

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I like your conclusion but not your reasoning. What actually happened at that time was the state leagues outside Victoria were raped for talent for the VFL. WA dealt with it by pushing for a team in the VFL. SA tried to insulate it's comp and did manage some resrictions for a time on their players being recruited. Eventually the AFL came about. Get this is gunna annoy someone so please be gentle, it's my memory not research.
Moreover, the WAFL/SANFL were being raped by part of the VFL.

It wasn't Footscray, St Kilda and Fitzroy coming over every year with chequebook in hand.

The cycle in the late 70s and 80s was unsustainable. VFL clubs needed to buy players to stay competitive and WAFL clubs needed to sell players to stay solvent.
 

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JoondalupJ

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Interested to hear some of the unpopular opinions people have and why.

For me:
1. I like Andrew Demitriou. I believe he has done a good job developing the game's brand. I like his no nonsense attitude in interviews.
2. I believe the games rules should be reviewed and sometimes changed. Players get better, coaches develop new tactics and strategies and so the game changes. Having a good institution to review the state of the game as a spectacle is healthy.
3.Lance Franklin isn't in the top few players in the league. That's not to say he couldn't become the very best player in the AFL. He misses too many easy goals. Anyone who has played sport knows that a failure to reward effort is deflating. He needs to become more accurate. This goes for all forwards - Kurt Tippett, Nick Riewoldt and our Lindsay Thomas of course.
Your Franklin comment ? It seems to me that goal kicking is worse than its ever been. Here we are late 2016 and no one can seal a goal without panic, or hand off, or short pass to someone else.
But my unpopular opinion mainly is and has been the expansion. And the rule fiddling. And the lack of anyone on BF with a serious opinion about it, without sarcasm and perhaps a comment.

But mainly the rule fiddling fits into expansion. I believe firmly that we have a diluted competition for the very very hard game that Australian Rules is.

It has become much harder now with two more teams (2 more squads of more than 22 players) to be able to pick up a good amount of promising players.

There maybe some who make it, but some who aren't good enough, there maybe some who are great but won't commit, there maybe some who get injured and never start.

And now with all that going on we have to fill two full squads of what? 35 to 40 players? For elite football in two new clubs!!!???

And we have regular thrashing of several teams per week this year. Real level playing fields, hey?

I think some of the rule bending and tactics like pack wrestling which has over taken the game and called stoppages!!! I think the rules have been tampered with to get the less skillfull players into the game. Its why we see very occasionally two champions go head to head , and screamers , the high marks, can you remember Knights and Van Der Haar swapping speckies a few decades back. Where is that now , one or two maybe three a game.
It is still there but not like it was.

And to the youngies that don't remember real champion "footballers"??? Its what I mean, when I say, you don't know what you missed!

And the AFL had a plan for corporatising and destroying the game as we know it , since the Presidents handed over the game to a pack of suits.
For TV dollars.

That's my unpopular opinions, any one else?

You never know someone might slow down the game and give us back a little but of Australian Rules Football, and I've been saying that longer than Jacko did on TV last week.

Maybe the girls who will be smaller and perhaps as strong and fit, but not as fast as the men, might give us some good skilled footy, like the NT boys who play open skillfull fast footy, watch it on FoxFooty, and then turn on the wrestling match for the so called elite game!

We all know some games are great, I remember when all games were great. There used to be a thrashing here and there , but few and far between , there was always the lower clubs but they all came around again , now its a massacre at least in 2 or 3 games sometimes more games than that a week.

And the QLD game is nearly destroyed, its a tragedy. Look at Richmond how many years to the top for them, donkeys'... that's how many.

And the AFL HAS A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD ????????? There bite into that lot BF folk?
 

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I genuinely believe Mick Malthouse did everything in his power to ensure he f**ked up Carlton as much as he could in 2014 because he knew his job wasn't secure for much longer. Their list was up shit creek essentially, and somehow he decided to downgrade 12 spots in the first round for an unproven KPD who in Jaksch and a plodder in Whiley who are both delist material already, whilst Peter Wright and Jake Lever (superior to Jaksch) were on the table at 7 anyway. Traded Jeff Garlett, their only quality (just had a poor year) small forward at the time for sweet **** all - a 4th rounder plus a slight downgrade in the 5th round. Picked up the world's biggest potato in Liam Jones for 3rd rounder, even though he would have been available as a DFA (mind you, he shouldn't have been picked up regardless). He picked up Jason Tutt; list clogger.

And most notably, possibly the dumbest draft selection in history - decided to pick up a mature-aged 21 year old Blaine Boekhorst with a pick 19 when there was a 100% guarantee he would have been available at their next pick (28) anyway and even if he went between their first and second pick, surely he wasn't that important to their plans that they just HAD to get him in immediately.
 
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I dont believe you should be able to deliberately rush a behind for the opposing team. The opposition goal line should be treated the same as the boundary.
The only time you should be able to deliberately put the ball out of play should be your own goals/points. Would make more sense and keep it simple in my book.
 

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I would love to see the SANFL last kick/handball out of bounds rule brought into the AFL.

If a player kicks or handballs out of bounds regardless of it bouncing or not and not packed by another player it is a free kick against.

The rule works in keeping the ball in play and takes away any ambiguity in regards to deliberate out if bounds. At AFL level I reckon it will make the game more attacking and stop multiple ball ups

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Matt Stevic

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I would love to see the SANFL last kick/handball out of bounds rule brought into the AFL.

If a player kicks or handballs out of bounds regardless of it bouncing or not and not packed by another player it is a free kick against.

The rule works in keeping the ball in play and takes away any ambiguity in regards to deliberate out if bounds. At AFL level I reckon it will make the game more attacking and stop multiple ball ups

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I prefer the old way, but I agree, this would be much better than the horrible current deliberate rule.
 
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bulldogs are not my 2nd team and i cant stand this over the top cr@p and media/fan darlings they have become.

i appreciate how good they have been and the injuries they have had but if fans/media could talk about the dogs without their hands down their pants that would be great
 

MotleyLemon

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bulldogs are not my 2nd team and i cant stand this over the top cr@p and media/fan darlings they have become.

i appreciate how good they have been and the injuries they have had but if fans/media could talk about the dogs without their hands down their pants that would be great
Wasn't it great to have a passing of the baton last Friday, from Hawthorn to the Dogs on Channel 7?

I like the Dogs a lot, but fear the superlative around them from the media will approach Hawthorn like levels...
 
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Wasn't it great to have a passing of the baton last Friday, from Hawthorn to the Dogs on Channel 7?

I like the Dogs a lot, but fear the superlative around them from the media will approach Hawthorn like levels...
hawthorn have actually done something though. bulldogs have this cr@p all year on the back of nothing
 
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