A 'WA style' of playing footy

[PerthBoy86]

Wasn't sure whether to post this here or on the main board, but feel more here would have insight. Anyway, I remember I had a copy of the AFL compendium thing (the one with Chris Judd on the cover, forget the name - was it a Record publication? Forgot) for 2004, and there were stats for average kicks and handballs. It confirmed what was already evident. The WA sides - West Coast and Fremantle - tended to handball more and kick less compared to the Victorian sides. They had the highest handball to kick ratio by a noticeable margin. This kinda went with their running game, and one explanation was that it suited the long, thin surface of Subiaco.

Now, it seems, this style is more prevalent across the clubs, and the Eagles don't particularly do it more than others. I wonder what if any difference the shorter, wider ground of Optus makes too?

Also, would you say the fact that while Victorians and South Australians largely brought the game around the Goldrush, that because it developed on it's own for many years it developed some characteristics of its own that partly explain the above? Were the grounds in WA often longer? (Silly as it sounds). Be interesting to get some background on.

 

[Dazzler9]

The grounds in WA used to be dryer and harder, due to climate differences with over east, making them conducive to the running game. In the modern age with drainage and professional ground maintenance, there's not much difference I guess.

Also, the game is national and has been for 3 decades. Cross-pollenation of regional game styles has occurred to the point where there's no such thing as a WA brand, or SA brand or Vic brand of footy.

 

[FKASC]

If anything WC play a more Victorian game style now whereas teams like Richmond and WB play a more handball-happy running game

 

[PerthBoy86]

The grounds in WA used to be dryer and harder, due to climate differences with over east, making them conducive to the running game. In the modern age with drainage and professional ground maintenance, there's not much difference I guess.

Also, the game is national and has been for 3 decades. Cross-pollenation of regional game styles has occurred to the point where there's no such thing as a WA brand, or SA brand or Vic brand of footy.

Yeah I guess they could get baked over during our dry summers, but our winters are pretty wet. Adelaide's climate is midway between Perth and Melbourne so would it be halfway? Haha. Much of western Vic and SA is also dry.

 

[PerthBoy86]

If anything WC play a more Victorian game style now whereas teams like Richmond and WB play a more handball-happy running game

I've noticed that. More a possession/marking style with a reliance of tall key position players.

 

[PerthBoy86]

The emergence of our small forwards may change this a bit though. Or tweak it at least.

 

[flamingEMBERS]

There was an interesting take from a state 18s sport scientist a few years ago when the wafl was still on the abc. He said the wa players had much higher aerobic capacity and were better runners than the vics, however the vics had much better strength and core. Probably has a lot to do with playing on 180m long grounds growing up compared to wet boggy dung heaps


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[arfadunger]

The grounds in WA used to be dryer and harder, due to climate differences with over east, making them conducive to the running game. In the modern age with drainage and professional ground maintenance, there's not much difference I guess.

Also, the game is national and has been for 3 decades. Cross-pollenation of regional game styles has occurred to the point where there's no such thing as a WA brand, or SA brand or Vic brand of footy.

There really is nothing more to add to it than this.

 

[jatz14]

Yeah I guess they could get baked over during our dry summers, but our winters are pretty wet. Adelaide's climate is midway between Perth and Melbourne so would it be halfway? Haha. Much of western Vic and SA is also dry.

It is the ground that makes the difference. In Perth, grounds could be underwater, but as soon as the surface water drained through the sand, the surface was reasonable. In Vic, on many grounds, you ended up with a mudpit .

So, I think there still is a WA brand that is different to the Vic brand, but only at lower levels of footy, not at AFL level.

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[Eastern Rangers]

Perth has more rain than Melbourne. Just less rain days.

 

[dave123]

You learn to run Here most of our country grounds are like 170 long ......

Wide......

 

[Seadog]

Certainly back in the 60s and 70s WA footy was a more open free flowing style with a preponderance of skillful outside runners whereas Vic footy was more of a power game with long kicks to a contest. Since the AFL has come into being the two styles have slowly merged and now there is no real difference.

 

[Chris who]

Certainly back in the 60s and 70s WA footy was a more open free flowing style with a preponderance of skillful outside runners whereas Vic footy was more of a power game with long kicks to a contest. Since the AFL has come into being the two styles have slowly merged and now there is no real difference.

It’s the Soil composition, lots of clay in Melbourne and Adelaide
Not so much here, dry sandy soils make for hard tracks. Even when it pisses down for a week in Perth, the footy ovals will be pristine after one clear day.

There were rumours going around that Malthouse ordered clay to be laid on Leederville oval in the 1990s when it was exclusively the eagles training ground, to acclimatise the eagles to the wet boggy conditions.

If you go watch the wafl in the wet at Leedy nowadays it floods, a far cry from the 80s when it was renowned through WA for being the best surface

 

[Dazzler9]

It’s the Soil composition, lots of clay in Melbourne and Adelaide
Not so much here, dry sandy soils make for hard tracks. Even when it pisses down for a week in Perth, the footy ovals will be pristine after one clear day.

There were rumours going around that Malthouse ordered clay to be laid on Leederville oval in the 1990s when it was exclusively the eagles training ground, to acclimatise the eagles to the wet boggy conditions.

If you go watch the wafl in the wet at Leedy nowadays it floods, a far cry from the 80s when it was renowned through WA for being the best surface

I love a good conspiracy theory.

 

[PerthBoy86]

It’s the Soil composition, lots of clay in Melbourne and Adelaide
Not so much here, dry sandy soils make for hard tracks. Even when it pisses down for a week in Perth, the footy ovals will be pristine after one clear day.

There were rumours going around that Malthouse ordered clay to be laid on Leederville oval in the 1990s when it was exclusively the eagles training ground, to acclimatise the eagles to the wet boggy conditions.

If you go watch the wafl in the wet at Leedy nowadays it floods, a far cry from the 80s when it was renowned through WA for being the best surface

I think there's some truth to that. If you know anything about the geomorphology and soil composition around Perth and the Southwest (I'm not expert) you'll know the Swan coastal plain is mostly sandy along the coast, and more clay based up in the Darling Scarp, though of course the WAFL and most footy fields are on the sandy soil. In Melbourne too in the west it's more sandy, so the Whitten Oval is a bit different in that regard. Believe Kardinia Park is too, which is also longer. Maybe it's no coincidence?

 

[PerthBoy86]

There was an interesting take from a state 18s sport scientist a few years ago when the wafl was still on the abc. He said the wa players had much higher aerobic capacity and were better runners than the vics, however the vics had much better strength and core. Probably has a lot to do with playing on 180m long grounds growing up compared to wet boggy dung heaps


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Would take it with a grain of salt. Maybe there's some truth to it, but I think aerobic capacity/strength etc depends a lot more on the individual player than anything else.

 

[kid_a]

WA players (particularly the indigenous lads) more often try grubbers and snaps at goal, have noticed that playing footy on the east coast and in WA, also playing here in Sweden when compared to the Vics/NSW`men over here. Other than that though I`d say footy styles based on state are totally gone.