What would it take for you to stop watching AFL?

Lsta062

Brownlow Medallist
Jul 15, 2014
21,577
41,424
AFL Club
Richmond
Other Teams
Chelsea, LA Lakers, Western United
Not much to be honest even though Richmond are doing well. I expect this to be my last rebuild (i.e., when Dusty, Cotchin, Riewoldt etc retire) regardless of how successful Richmond end up being before I either become a casual fan or stop following the sport altogether.

I think it’s a little draining following AFL as closely as I am doing right now and wins/losses probably affect my day more than it should considering that I barely have any impact on the results.
 
Dec 30, 2003
2,097
1,898
Melbourne western region
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
Other Teams
Bulldogs / Willy / Palace
2 scenarios for me:

1. The Bulldogs fell off a cliff - my interest in footy would be re-directed to local footy, and
2. The AFL abolished the salary cap and draft and it became like European soccer - Juve 8 in a row, Celtic 9, Bayern 7, PSG heaps etc.
 

Coaster2012

Norm Smith Medallist
Jul 10, 2012
7,499
9,218
AFL Club
West Coast
Other Teams
Manchester City, Lakers
Just like West Coast 2018 will be remember as a lucky premiers who avoided playing the best side of 2018

Change the record mate. You got smashed in a prelim, you were shite. And that so called best team got smashed by 10 goals the only time they played WC that year. A prelim was over reaching.
 
Last edited:

RichLeMonde

Club Legend
Sep 26, 2019
1,929
3,539
Sydney
AFL Club
Richmond
Other Teams
Celtics
It will be forever known as the "Witches Hat" premiership.
Not really. It will be remembered for the amazing effort in winning the flag after arguable their best player went down in r1. Richmond's premiership was won in the first 2/3s of the season - when we had Cotchin, Riewoldt, Rance, Nankervis etc out, and had to play on the road against GWS, Port Adelaide, Fremantle, Adelaide, and at Marvel against Sydney, St Kilda and North. Bet you wouldn't have been sooking it up about the 7 games at the 'G if an injury-ravaged Richmond lost to Port, Freo, Sydney, and St Kilda away from the G, and were 4-11 heading into the last 7 games.

And Richmond lost to Collingwood in the PF in 2018 while playing them at their home ground, despite Richmond finishing top and winning their QF. That is the other side of MCG HGA, and a situation WC will never have face.
 

Pistol Night

Brownlow Medallist
Sep 3, 2019
17,240
49,888
AFL Club
Collingwood
If you wanna make it to the Big Dance mate, you gotta win the prelim. Last time I checked, Richmond didn't win that prelim. So.... you've really got no one to blame but your mob
Nah according to Richmond supporters they finished top in 2018 so they are the rightful premiers. Does that mean Adelaide are now the 2017 premiers? Hard to follow with such biased narratives.
 

RichLeMonde

Club Legend
Sep 26, 2019
1,929
3,539
Sydney
AFL Club
Richmond
Other Teams
Celtics
Nah according to Richmond supporters they finished top in 2018 so they are the rightful premiers. Does that mean Adelaide are now the 2017 premiers? Hard to follow with such biased narratives.
I don't think Richmond supporters think this at all. Collingwood outplayed us - badly - when it mattered - so they deserved to play in the GF, and we didn't. I hadn't realised how many interstate supporters blamed the fixture for their team not winning, so I just like to point out the other side of MCG HGA, which is playing co-tenants at the G when you're the higher ranked team, and losing HGA, since interstate teams don't have to do that.
 
May 5, 2006
62,726
70,017
AFL Club
West Coast
2. The AFL abolished the salary cap and draft and it became like European soccer - Juve 8 in a row, Celtic 9, Bayern 7, PSG heaps etc.

I find it funny that people say this yet there is still so much 'how good were the 70s and 80s?' sentiment around. I'm sure Hawthorn and Carlton supporters old enough to remember would like to see a return to those days but what about St Kilda? Their best finish in the 80s was 9 wins, 13 losses and 10th in a 14 team comp. After making the 1982 GF Richmond didn't play finals again until 1995. Melbourne were trash until the late 80s also. Etc.

Seven of the 11 VFL clubs in Victoria were insolvent when WC joined in 1986; Fitzroy, Geelong, Footscray, Collingwood, Melbourne, North Melbourne and Richmond. Hard to fathom for some of those clubs today. That left Carlton, Hawthorn, Essendon who were the ones spending the cash and winning all the flags and somehow St Kilda who I assume just didn't spend any money at all because they were terrible. It was a two tier comp with clubs tin rattling to keep the doors open.

Whatever system is employed there are always great stories in sport. Leicester won the EPL, that's not supposed to happen. Greece won Euro 2004. The moneyball Oakland A's won their division. The 2008 Boston Celtics traded almost their entire roster to create a big 3 and won a championship. The Toronto Raptors gambled on trading for Kawhi Leonard knowing they would likely lose him after one season and they won a championship. Etc. For a long time Manchester United had a monopoly on the Premier League. 5 wins in the 90s, 6 in the 00s, 2 in 3 years over 2011-2013 and now with all the resources in the world seem to be steadily getting worse. Four times outside the the top 6 in 6 years after not finishing worse than 3rd for over 20 years. Soccer is a different world though because placings matter. In the last two years Burnley and Wolves have finished 7th which got them into Europa League qualifying. That's huge for those teams. Just playing teams like Man United and Liverpool etc. is something to remember if you support Swansea or Blackpool or someone.

AFL club fans do fall into the trap a bit of believing that the 18 teams currently running around have some right to compete at the highest level of the sport forever when the reality is AFL stage management keeps things as they are. If there weren't AFL owned teams and shared if not AFL owned venues, special distributions to clubs etc. the league would look very different.
 

Macpotata

Norm Smith Medallist
Mar 22, 2017
9,595
10,877
AFL Club
Geelong
Fitzroy coming back into the competition.




Could you imagine such a thought......
 

Captain_Bender

Premiership Player
May 21, 2015
4,494
6,758
AFL Club
Richmond
Change the record mate. You got smashed in a prelim, you were shite. And that so called best team got smashed by 10 goals the only time they played WC that year. A prelim was over reaching.
History will remember Richmond as the best side of 2018 not West Coast who are nothing but a footnote
 

ShadeyP

Premiership Player
Jul 1, 2017
4,686
5,834
AFL Club
Adelaide
I don't think Richmond supporters think this at all. Collingwood outplayed us - badly - when it mattered - so they deserved to play in the GF, and we didn't. I hadn't realised how many interstate supporters blamed the fixture for their team not winning, so I just like to point out the other side of MCG HGA, which is playing co-tenants at the G when you're the higher ranked team, and losing HGA, since interstate teams don't have to do that.
Sorry but what a load of horseshit . How many in a row at the G to finish off last season and whenever Richmond play the G as home tenants you have massive crowd advantage . Even if you don;t you still get to play the Blues , Dons , Hawks la di da . How much travel . C'mon now .
Geelong finish top , you finish 4th yet you have a home ground advantage in a final due to numbers .
I love the Tigers fans but stop pulling your dick .
 

ShadeyP

Premiership Player
Jul 1, 2017
4,686
5,834
AFL Club
Adelaide
The team that won the premiership the year before and after and dominated the 2018 season vs the side that got lucky and couldn't make a prelim the year after easy choice
Yeah but your team won 2 flags well deserved and you still have to act like a complete douche bag .
 

ShadeyP

Premiership Player
Jul 1, 2017
4,686
5,834
AFL Club
Adelaide
The team that won the premiership the year before and after and dominated the 2018 season vs the side that got lucky and couldn't make a prelim the year after easy choice
The Crows dominated in 2017 and you crushed us to win the FLAG ....be happy and a little gracious !!
You win 2 and whinge about the one you don't and then denigrate the team that did .
 

Captain_Bender

Premiership Player
May 21, 2015
4,494
6,758
AFL Club
Richmond
The Crows dominated in 2017 and you crushed us to win the FLAG ....be gracious !!
Only finished half a game ahead of Richmond assisted by only playing one of the top four sides away and having a extra game at home, Richmond were clearly better than Adelaide for most of the season
 

Captain_Bender

Premiership Player
May 21, 2015
4,494
6,758
AFL Club
Richmond
You truly are an absolute dumb s**t ... you won 2 flags be happy .
Collingwood pantsed you in 2018 .
Also , you finished 3rd in 2017 and if you had to play Geelong away it could have been different .
Again , you won 2 flags , enjoy them and fu** off you stupid c..t
Richmond flogged and physically bullied Geelong in the 2017 qualifying final, yet somehow if the game was play at Kardinia Park Geelong would have somehow won lol
 

ShadeyP

Premiership Player
Jul 1, 2017
4,686
5,834
AFL Club
Adelaide
Richmond flogged and physically bullied Geelong in the 2017 qualifying final, yet somehow if the game was play at Kardinia Park Geelong would have somehow won lol
Yep , you are right .... 2018 flag for the Captain Benders . Night sweet cheeks , enjoy your hypothetical 3 peat .
 

RichLeMonde

Club Legend
Sep 26, 2019
1,929
3,539
Sydney
AFL Club
Richmond
Other Teams
Celtics
Sorry but what a load of horseshit . How many in a row at the G to finish off last season and whenever Richmond play the G as home tenants you have massive crowd advantage . Even if you don;t you still get to play the Blues , Dons , Hawks la di da . How much travel . C'mon now .
Geelong finish top , you finish 4th yet you have a home ground advantage in a final due to numbers .
I love the Tigers fans but stop pulling your dick .
Swings and round-abouts champ.

As I said in another post, no one would be complaining about Richmond's 7 'G games to finish 2019 if we had have lost interstate games to Freo and Port, and to Sydney and St Kilda at Marvel, in the first 2/3s of the season when we were absolutely decimated by injury, and were 4-11 going into those last 7 games instead of 8-7. We won when we had to - simple as that.

Yes, Vic teams don't travel as much - that means when we play in Melbourne against other Vic teams our opponents are as fresh as we are, which reduces our HGA. For interstate teams, for half their games for the season their opponent is tired from travel, meaning their HGA over 22 rounds is more significant in that regard, which cancels out their disadvantage from travelling more than Vic teams. Also, have a look at free kick differentials for home teams in Perth and Adelaide over long periods - they're massive, but that's not the case for Vic teams playing in Melbourne. Similarly, if you are a top 2 side with a home prelim, you'd clearly rather be a non-Vic side playing a home final in Perth, Sydney, Adelaide or Brisbane, than a Vic side playing another Vic side at the G. GF is a different story, but non-Vic sides love to ignore the prelim.

Geelong: play on a ground with weird dimensions which gives them a particular HGA, causing them to win more H&A than they probably should, which is why they get shown up in finals on a normal size ground. They are also welcome to build a bigger stadium if they want to play finals in Geelong.

It all evens out in the end.
 
Sep 21, 2004
36,624
25,287
Adel - SA - Aust - Earth
AFL Club
West Coast
Other Teams
Norwood & Liverpool.
History will remember

unnamed%20(2).jpeg


On SM-G925I using BigFooty.com mobile app
 
Back