Opinion What unpopular AFL opinions do you have? - Part 2

Sep 21, 2004
36,630
25,291
Adel - SA - Aust - Earth
AFL Club
West Coast
Other Teams
Norwood & Liverpool.
1: Hawthorn's run of winning a premiership every decade since the 60's will end this decade.
2: The GWS list is not as talented as some would proclaim week after week.
3: The dogs should trade the Bont.
1. Still plenty of time in the 2020s for Hawks to get back up there... They've shown they win one when up there.

2. GWS have talent but keep losing majority of them each year.

3. Why would Bont leave and what would they want?

On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app
 

St Plugger

Senior List
Feb 28, 2012
295
490
AFL Club
St Kilda
Go back to giving priority draft picks automatically to teams with 5 or less wins in a season. Whats wrong with weaker teams tanking if top teams can use their money to get all the better players through the trade system?
 

yyou

Norm Smith Medallist
Sep 18, 2014
5,756
7,169
AFL Club
Fremantle
Other Teams
NY Mets, NO Pelicans, Toronto Leafs
I like trade radio
sure it is waffle with lots of crap spoken, but it about footy, & the ads are a necessity.
I don't get the hate. I wish there was a footy chat radio more often.
It reminds me of the best line I have heard about gay marriage.
"If you don't like the idea of gay marriage, don't marry a gay"
If you don't like trade radio, don't listen.
 
May 24, 2022
536
523
Thailand
AFL Club
Tasmania
Other Teams
St Helens R.F.C. | Adelaide T'Birds
Unpopular opinion because everyone wants a reserves division

AFL should start a premier 2nd division league instead of a reserves league. Call it the "Australian National Football Championship" (ANFC) and that league essentially be the state league clubs which are not affiliated with AFL reserves to compete. Make it a huge comp and the winners are declared the Champions for winning the grand final. (Basically a better more expansive version of the Foxtel cup.)



Unpopular opinion that will piss everyone off because it means no traditional clubs in the comp and the league because city v city rather than suburb v suburb.

AFL should have been organised like this from the beginning, or have been planned to;

Victoria: 3 teams
NSW: 2 teams
QLD: 1 team
SA: 1 team
Tasmania: 1 team
WA: 1 team

9 team competition, top 5 go to finals.

Victoria's teams would be
a) A team to represent the city (with country zones)
b) A team to represent the South East Suburbs
c) A team to represent the western suburbs and western Victorian.

NSW's teams would be
a) Sydney
b) Western Sydney

Queensland
a) Brisbane based team defacto representing QLD

South Australia
a) A merger of the 9 SANFL clubs to basically create a super club representing SA in the AFL.

Tasmania
a) A team representing the whole state with home games being split between Hobart and Launceston

Western Australia
a) A merger of the WAFL clubs to basically create a super club representing WA in the AFL. Same situation as SA.


With this structure, the league would not have diluted talent, all 9 clubs would have a huge amount of fans, especially the one team states.
 

Philth

Club Legend
Feb 4, 2008
2,146
3,356
Geraldton
AFL Club
Richmond
Other Teams
Leeds United
Unpopular opinion because everyone wants a reserves division

AFL should start a premier 2nd division league instead of a reserves league. Call it the "Australian National Football Championship" (ANFC) and that league essentially be the state league clubs which are not affiliated with AFL reserves to compete. Make it a huge comp and the winners are declared the Champions for winning the grand final. (Basically a better more expansive version of the Foxtel cup.)



Unpopular opinion that will piss everyone off because it means no traditional clubs in the comp and the league because city v city rather than suburb v suburb.

AFL should have been organised like this from the beginning, or have been planned to;

Victoria: 3 teams
NSW: 2 teams
QLD: 1 team
SA: 1 team
Tasmania: 1 team
WA: 1 team

9 team competition, top 5 go to finals.

Victoria's teams would be
a) A team to represent the city (with country zones)
b) A team to represent the South East Suburbs
c) A team to represent the western suburbs and western Victorian.

NSW's teams would be
a) Sydney
b) Western Sydney

Queensland
a) Brisbane based team defacto representing QLD

South Australia
a) A merger of the 9 SANFL clubs to basically create a super club representing SA in the AFL.

Tasmania
a) A team representing the whole state with home games being split between Hobart and Launceston

Western Australia
a) A merger of the WAFL clubs to basically create a super club representing WA in the AFL. Same situation as SA.


With this structure, the league would not have diluted talent, all 9 clubs would have a huge amount of fans, especially the one team states.
The second one is an interesting concept.

However, if Vic only gets 3 teams, no way in hell does rugby loving NSW get 2.

8 - 10 teams would make it a truly elite competition, only the very best would make it.
 
Last edited:
May 24, 2022
536
523
Thailand
AFL Club
Tasmania
Other Teams
St Helens R.F.C. | Adelaide T'Birds
The second one is an interesting concept.

However, if Vic only gets 3 teams, no way in hell does rugby loving NSW get 2.

8 - 10 teams would make it a truly elite competition, only the very best would make it.

Sure, I was basing NSW having two teams purely on population and scale but reduce them to one by all means.

Agreed. 8-10 teams would be intense and of a higher standard of football.
 
May 5, 2006
62,726
70,017
AFL Club
West Coast
Not sure if unpopular but:

The AFL should introduce proper pick swaps and pick protections. I.e. you can trade a future pick/pick swap or you can trade the rights to a future pick/pick swap. And you can trade a future pick with provisions based on ladder position. A 2023 first round pick unprotected has more value than the same pick with a top 5 protection on it.

The AFL should introduce proper live trading. If your name is called out on draft night what difference does it make if you are then traded? You still end up somewhere you didn't choose. If GWS want Cadman at 3 then they should be able to trade with North or WC if his name is called at #1 rather than needing to do so before the draft.

The AFL should ban Gold Coast from trading with Geelong. :cool:
 
Aug 6, 2021
5,670
10,236
AFL Club
Adelaide
Free agency should apply at anytime a player is out of contract, not after a given amount of time.

Players shouldn't have to give consent to trades
I agree with the first bit but disagree with the second.

Clubs are free to hold players to their contracts, players should be free to do the same.
 
Aug 6, 2021
5,670
10,236
AFL Club
Adelaide
Contract still stands, just somebody else foots the bill

But money and duration are not the only factors when a player signs a contract.

If Fremantle has the right to say to Rory Lobb that he signed a contract so he will play his football at the Dockers for the duration of that contract, then if the shoe was on the other foot and they wanted to trade him then he should also have the right to say no, you signed a contract, I’m playing here until that’s up.
 

coldlunch

All Australian
Mar 19, 2013
896
1,044
AFL Club
Fremantle
With this structure, the league would not have diluted talent, all 9 clubs would have a huge amount of fans, especially the one team states.

I don't think it's that simple. If you halve the amount of jobs in AFL, you aren't necessarily keeping the best half of the talent. With a tougher pathway onto a list, other sports or career options become more appealing, and the best players now weren't necessarily the best draftees. Halve the league and who's to say Lachie Neale isn't now making his coin as a physiotherapist?

so maybe my unpopular opinion is: expanding the league has improved the top end of the talent pool
 
Aug 17, 2006
23,225
21,444
AFL Club
Geelong
I don't think it's that simple. If you halve the amount of jobs in AFL, you aren't necessarily keeping the best half of the talent. With a tougher pathway onto a list, other sports or career options become more appealing, and the best players now weren't necessarily the best draftees. Halve the league and who's to say Lachie Neale isn't now making his coin as a physiotherapist?

so maybe my unpopular opinion is: expanding the league has improved the top end of the talent pool

Good point. I think that for a male stand-out athlete who's in his early to mid teens, if you're strictly looking at the best way to cash in on your physical abilities, it's the AFL. That's why you get so many former state and national junior basketballers and cricketers in the AFL: you can make insane money in those sports on the international level, but you'd have to be one of the best 10 in the country at basketball to dream of getting that. With T20, maybe there's more in cricket, maybe like the best 30 or so can really cash in?

But If you're 'only' one of the best 100-300 in the country (where you'd comfortably be on an AFL list and probably a regular senior player) you're just earning a decent living in those sports if you're lucky, quite possibly not even good enough to be a full professional.

So for earning very good money in the 200-500k range, I think it's Aussie Rules, hands down.
 
Aug 6, 2021
5,670
10,236
AFL Club
Adelaide
Why is the draft allows clubs players to be picked by any club against their will (used to anyway) but players can't be traded without consent

There’s a difference between a one time only draft that players are aware of from the time that AFL becomes a realistic career path for them, versus the possibility of being traded away from the club and city a player built a life in at any point in their career.

I also think that trading players without their consent would be bad for player retention and thus make it a lot harder for clubs at the bottom of the ladder to rebuild.

If you take away the security that a long term deal offers players in regards to buying a house, having a long term relationship, starting a family, setting up business interests etc. players will be more likely to move around and chase short term cash/opportunity/success. It will have negative ramifications for the AFL’s equalisation system IMO.
 
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