What unpopular AFL opinions do you have? Part 2

[roz1812]

Fremantle should of been put into the VFL/AFL with the West Coast Eagles. As West Coast were basically handed a majority of WA’s best players from their inception they were able to be a powerhouse from the get go and won 2 flags before Freo got into the competition. They already had a big supporter base as they where the only team in the state for 8 years. At least I think Fremantle should of at least got more assistance in terms of draft picks. They where given those pre draft selections but they were only from various state leagues and the only one who did anything for the club was Shane Parker. Freo didn’t even make finals for 8 years so we’re instantly significantly behind West Coast. Imagine if they got half of West Coasts early 90s team and had the same amount of supporters...

 

[roz1812]

Also AFL should of been kept to 16 teams. I don’t think it’s an unpopular opinion that Gold Coast should not of been a team but I think overall the 2 clubs have diluted the talent as their now like 90 extra players in the league. Combine the fact they have been put into 2 non AFL areas and the fact that they will never have good crowd numbers leads me to believe they shouldn’t of been put in. GWS made the grand final last year and they still won’t get people to show up. The AFL have wasted so much money on the 2 clubs as well. I get the AFL want to expand but I felt 16 teams was the right amount.

 

[the harry]

Fremantle should of been put into the VFL/AFL with the West Coast Eagles. As West Coast were basically handed a majority of WA’s best players from their inception they were able to be a powerhouse from the get go and won 2 flags before Freo got into the competition. They already had a big supporter base as they where the only team in the state for 8 years. At least I think Fremantle should of at least got more assistance in terms of draft picks. They where given those pre draft selections but they were only from various state leagues and the only one who did anything for the club was Shane Parker. Freo didn’t even make finals for 8 years so we’re instantly significantly behind West Coast. Imagine if they got half of West Coasts early 90s team and had the same amount of supporters...

The majority of WAs best players were already in the vfl. West Coast then got the leftovers after the wafl had been pillaged the year prior.

The early Eagles success was due in large part to luck in drafting and some more luck in being one of the first teams to go full "draft youngand play the kids" mode, which was done out off necessity rather than actual intention.

 

[NeXus Nick]

Fremantle should of been put into the VFL/AFL with the West Coast Eagles. As West Coast were basically handed a majority of WA’s best players from their inception they were able to be a powerhouse from the get go and won 2 flags before Freo got into the competition. They already had a big supporter base as they where the only team in the state for 8 years. At least I think Fremantle should of at least got more assistance in terms of draft picks. They where given those pre draft selections but they were only from various state leagues and the only one who did anything for the club was Shane Parker. Freo didn’t even make finals for 8 years so we’re instantly significantly behind West Coast. Imagine if they got half of West Coasts early 90s team and had the same amount of supporters...

I think you are wrong on all points roz1812 except the 16 teams. I agree on that one. Sixteen teams playing each other twice for a 30 round season is perfect IMHFO. But, I don't agree with any of your other points. You do realize that AusKick is booming in QLD and NSW. Give it another 20 years and those 4 Northern teams will all have over 50,000 members each and will bring in Millions of dollars for the AFL.

 

[CaptainHowdy87]

The Hawthorn/Geelong rivalry was overblown.

Don't get me wrong, it was a great rivalry, but Collingwood and Fremantle were definitely bigger rivals to Geelong from 2010-2014. The Collingwood/Geelong rivaly was a much bigger deal in 2010 and 2011, as was the Geelong/Fremantle rivalry in 2012, 2013 & 2014.

Collingwood and Geelong played a prelim and a grand final against each other. We had the wood over them in 2010, and they had the wood over us in 2011. We were top of the ladder and undefeated all year in 2011 except against Geelong. We were clearly the best 2 teams in the comp by a fair margin, both well ahead of Hawthorn during this time.

Fremantle beat Geelong at Simonds Stadium 3 times between 2012-2015, one of those being a qtr final. Fremantle also knocked Geelong out of the finals in 2012, pretty much ending their dynasty. It was an extremely heated rivalry, far more so than Hawthorn/Geelong was at any point during the Kennett Curse years.

It just seems to me like Collingwood and Freo disrupt the Kennett Curse narrative, so they're often skipped over completely when telling that story. At-least it's acknowledged (begrudgingly) that Colingwood won a flag in that time. Seems most people forget what an awesome side Fremantle had for a few years there though, and that they layed the smackdown on Geelong in big important games on their way to challenging for a flag in 2013. The narrative now though is that Geelong's stars just got old and all good things must come to an end. Go back and look at the Geelong side Freo beat. All their big stars were still more or less at their peak and played on for a few more years. Freo ended the Geelong dynasty and they deserve to be credited for that.

 

[half_back_flank]

I’d rather absolutely no footy to e-AFL.

Take it back to whatever obscure board it came from.

 

[Blackhawk42]

The Hawthorn/Geelong rivalry was overblown.

Don't get me wrong, it was a great rivalry, but Collingwood and Fremantle were definitely bigger rivals to Geelong from 2010-2014. The Collingwood/Geelong rivaly was a much bigger deal in 2010 and 2011, as was the Geelong/Fremantle rivalry in 2012, 2013 & 2014.

Collingwood and Geelong played a prelim and a grand final against each other. We had the wood over them in 2010, and they had the wood over us in 2011. We were top of the ladder and undefeated all year in 2011 except against Geelong. We were clearly the best 2 teams in the comp by a fair margin, both well ahead of Hawthorn during this time.

Fremantle beat Geelong at Simonds Stadium 3 times between 2012-2015, one of those being a qtr final. Fremantle also knocked Geelong out of the finals in 2012, pretty much ending their dynasty. It was an extremely heated rivalry, far more so than Hawthorn/Geelong was at any point during the Kennett Curse years.

It just seems to me like Collingwood and Freo disrupt the Kennett Curse narrative, so they're often skipped over completely when telling that story. At-least it's acknowledged (begrudgingly) that Colingwood won a flag in that time. Seems most people forget what an awesome side Fremantle had for a few years there though, and that they layed the smackdown on Geelong in big important games on their way to challenging for a flag in 2013. The narrative now though is that Geelong's stars just got old and all good things must come to an end. Go back and look at the Geelong side Freo beat. All their big stars were still more or less at their peak and played on for a few more years. Freo ended the Geelong dynasty and they deserve to be credited for that.

It's the lasting power combined with the unbelievable results with Geelong constantly beating us by less than 2 goals.
I think any Hawthorn supporter will tell you that from the moment Jimmy Bartel kicked that behind after the siren there was no team we hated more.