I am losing my love of football

[nineteen eighty]

The product is in fact better that it has ever been. The skillset is amazing..i watched a game from 1986 and couldnt last more than 10 minutes..the play was horrible and so many simple skill errors from both teams. Plus in the first 30 seconds the ump paid 2 free kicks.

So the game has evolved to a cleaner game with players having amazing skills.

Its everything else and that is due to the massive amount of $$ and the way the game is now run by big business. I looked at the sydney coaching box the other day and they had two rows of assistants..7 each row. Thats 14 people working with the coach.

Now each of those has a role and are split up as forwards/mids and backs coach. These coaches then have assistants themselves.

Games are over anaylised to the most minute detail thanks to technology, so you have dedicated people who sole job is to pick apart an oposition for 2 days and report back to the senior coaching staff.

Then you have the sports science people as well who get in the way of skills and other areas. If an important player has a minor niggle he is then handed over to the medical dept at the club and they take care of his rehab. This player who prob got a minor tig then could go for weeks without kicking the football.

Skills then drop.

For me there is way too much money in the code and way too many people being employed as full time staff over doing things to justify their massive pays.

Time to strip it all back..i dont think we need coaching teams. 1 assistant and then a small group who keep an eye on stats..and you would see the game will revert back to being footy and not an over complicated game of chess.

I'm not sure what teams you were watching but I remember Hawks training from back in the late '80's and it was flawless. Not once would the ball hit the deck for the entire 1-2 hours of training. They were perfect in every drill, every exercise they did. Sure enough it translated into game day. Point is that there were gun teams back then that would play a very good styled game with few skill errors. They also weren't fully professional footballers back then so some leeway needs to be given on that front.

I also saw the Tigers v Brisbane game on Thursday night and saw a number (too many) fundamental skill errors.

As for your other suggestions, sorry but can't agree with any of them. We would be taking a backwards step if we were to go down that path.

 

[Bestbird]

Todays style isn't great to be honest, paticularly live.

Mass Huddle of players in 1/4 of the the ground interspersed with all the players sprinting upto the next contest which becomes a mass huddle or the ball is chipped around a bit till it returns back to the mass huddle state again. Now and then a Goal/Poinr is scored from the congestion or a player/players wins the sprint

 

[icee]

Any proper VFA supporter will tell you the more reserves sides the better, as it means more of the old VFA teams standing on their own two feet. The alignment model simply does not work for either party, unless you do a Hawthorn/Box Hill or Carlton/Preston and just take them over.

I'd be more than happy to have all the Victorian based AFL teams field reserves sides, the more stand alones the better!

It should have never been allowed to happen..because it devalued the VFL so much that the teams that were aligned with AFL were nothing but labs for assistant coaches to experiment OR to train the future AFL players in what was needed by the a grade team. So you had aligned sides who just didnt give a hoot about winning the VFL.

I am glad these clubs are now stand alone as its now made the VFL a proper comp and not petri dish for affiliated AFL clubs.

 

[Riccardo11]

That's not the point of my post. My point was that the WAFL don't play a poorly skilled, bastardised version of AFL football. They have a different style best suited to the skillset of the league.

So you are insinuating the VFL plays like an AFL-lite because it is full of reserves sides?

Get stuffed, how many games have you seen recently?

 

[Bleeeeeeeeep]

Todays style isn't great to be honest, paticularly live.

Mass Huddle of players in 1/4 of the the ground interspersed with all the players sprinting upto the next contest which becomes a mass huddle or the ball is chipped around a bit till it returns back to the mass huddle state again. Now and then a Goal/Poinr is scored from the congestion or a player/players wins the sprint

Agreed, its not the skills but the game style. I am sitting on the fence and leaning towards not bothering watching with any other game but my own clubs.

 

[icee]

I'm not sure what teams you were watching but I remember Hawks training from back in the late '80's and it was flawless. Not once would the ball hit the deck for the entire 1-2 hours of training. They were perfect in every drill, every exercise they did. Sure enough it translated into game day. Point is that there were gun teams back then that would play a very good styled game with few skill errors. They also weren't fully professional footballers back then so some leeway needs to be given on that front.

I also saw the Tigers v Brisbane game on Thursday night and saw a number (too many) fundamental skill errors.

As for your other suggestions, sorry but can't agree with any of them. We would be taking a backwards step if we were to go down that path.

Then what? Your beef is in the way your club has decided to play the game..they have followed the swans. The way the tigers have been playing and losing has been simliar to sydney..but the difference is the tigers havent got the cattle across board to make that sort of game plan work every week. Heck we played 3 games this year in torrential rain..and our game plan revolves around slick passing and fast hand balls to break the line and set up the slinbg shot. With a slippery soapy heavy ball and bad conditions skills become redundant and well you get the mess we had by bombing it long..plus we didnt have a forward line except for buddy.

No coincidence two games we have played in excellent conditions our game plan didnt break down.

the tigers..well they just dont have the talent to execute the same game plan so it looks like rolling mauls and well horrible.

 

[Klaus]

It's call context idiot.

No mate, it's called a solid performance. Kicking 8+ is a domination; Buddy's 13 a couple of years back was a domination, Kennedy's 10 in 2011 was a domination and LeCras' 12 in 2010 was a domination. We don't see dominations these days because the coaches only care about stopping goals, not kicking them. You're obviously far too young to remember the incredible individual efforts of the 90's.

 

[Sunfire]

As a new fan to the game I don't get what's so exciting about watching a forward kick 10 goals.
These 20 player mad scrambles are pretty thrilling in my opinion.
2 teams desperate for that crucial clearance, tackling and throwing each other around for even a sniff of the football.
It makes those one or two hard fought goals just that much sweeter.

 

[icee]

TBH i am very suprised it took so long, almost 80 years tbh, for coaches to figure out tactics like today. Sure you need fit players to execute todays game plan but heck players have always been fit..except back then you didnt have rotations so by the 10th minute of the final qrt games were terrible.

I listen to coaches like Hafey and Barrassi in old tv interviews and cringe at how they prepared game plans..it was so simple and stupid..kick it long kick it long kick it long contest kick it long. I actually think Barrass is very over rated and a product of the melbourne media needing a hero or a superstar..just like how Cyril Rioli is over rated these days.

I know coaches like LEn Smith tried to bring in todays modern tactics back in the early 60s but he had an excuse..he had sub players with sub fitness so he couldnt execute it..but he had vision. I wish he was able to coach a top team back then..i rekon if Len Smith coached the bombers or the tigers or even the pies the game would have been revolutionised in the early 60s.

 

[nineteen eighty]

Then what? Your beef is in the way your club has decided to play the game..they have followed the swans. The way the tigers have been playing and losing has been simliar to sydney..but the difference is the tigers havent got the cattle across board to make that sort of game plan work every week. Heck we played 3 games this year in torrential rain..and our game plan revolves around slick passing and fast hand balls to break the line and set up the slinbg shot. With a slippery soapy heavy ball and bad conditions skills become redundant and well you get the mess we had by bombing it long..plus we didnt have a forward line except for buddy.

No coincidence two games we have played in excellent conditions our game plan didnt break down.

the tigers..well they just dont have the talent to execute the same game plan so it looks like rolling mauls and well horrible.

Yeah all well and good icee but none of these points from memory relate back to the points you were making about stripping back coaching and dollar spend and having clubs with minimal off field structure.


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[icee]

As a new fan to the game I don't get what's so exciting about watching a forward kick 10 goals.
These 20 player mad scrambles are pretty thrilling in my opinion.
2 teams desperate for that crucial clearance, tackling and throwing each other around for even a sniff of the football.
It makes those one or two hard fought goals just that much sweeter.

A forward kicking plenty of goals is exciting in any code that has a forward structure. Heck if messi kicked 5 goals every weekend i would seriously be happy for a long time.

 

[BlakeyNoFlakey]

The gap from good to bad has become immense. And just like a footy team, the game can't afford for that to happen.

Well it's always been like this. In the VFL days there was a gap between Collingwood, Richmond, Essendon & Carlton and the rest of the comp that was immense. That's why teams like the Saints & WB have only one flag from those days, Geelong only won 6, and why Fitzroy went under. The reason these clubs ruled the code was money, they could buy the best players.

In the modern era a gap has opened up again, and this time it's got to do with footy dept spending, expansion causing a compromised draft for a few years, and some clubs doing a really poor job at running their club financially, and developing the players they have.

And no doubt, in 20 years time there'll be people complaining about the gap between the top clubs and the rest, based on similar or other reasons. The AFL seems committed to equalisation measures, so I think we have to wait and see what happens, rather than giving up.

 

[Cosmic Energy]

As far as the off field stuff goes, it's hard not to be cynical about the AFL management of the game at the moment, timeslots, fixturing & ticketing all have a bit of a stench about them.

On field you feel with a lot of the teams they're always in this mode of "learning the game plan" but executing poorly, perhaps too many trying to emulate a game style that is beyond them currently, and may be obsolete before they perfect it anyway. It'd be nice to get a variety of game styles from the coaches. I think in modern times we're a bit harsh on those sides/coaches who play free-flowing attacking football. We're always very quick to say those teams lack a defensive mindset and THAT's why they won't win a flag....so they go defensive, and don't win a flag anyway. I'd rather fail in a blaze of attacking glory, than lose in a risk-averse bubble.

Umpires need to pay more holding the ball when there is incorrect disposal from a tackle, but keep paying less incidental contact frees, and less where the player contributes to the free.

And maybe over the next few years if things don't improve we look at going back to two on the bench, which will hopefully lead to players knowing they physically can't press up and run back all day, conserving a bit of energy & perhaps staying in position a bit more, which might open it up a tad. I'd rather try that than introducing zones.

 

[Sunfire]

A forward kicking plenty of goals is exciting in any code that has a forward structure. Heck if messi kicked 5 goals every weekend i would seriously be happy for a long time.

Well yeah I agree with that. But if defenders start shutting Messi down, soccer fans don't beg for goalkeepers to be removed so we can have more 10-9 margins in El Classico.

 

[rose jam]

Footy's never been better now that KB is off the rules committee trying to make the game like his days of old when the game was crap skills, slow play, and fatties. If I wanted fatties I'd order one or slap my nuts with a rolled up newspaper.


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[moistie]

And i raise you the 2005/2006/2009/2012 Grand Final.

Sorry but using 1989 as a yard stick has become terrible cliche by the old timers.

The game i showed was a final FFS!

You put up the 2005/2006 slogs as an example? Other than a Leo Barry mark those games were a snore fest. They were the epitome of boring, defensive rugby/football. And we can choose any number of rubbish finals from recent times as well.

 

[RuFiO]

Where is football at?

 

[BlakeyNoFlakey]

Umpires need to pay more holding the ball when there is incorrect disposal from a tackle

I thought they changed this rule a few years ago, that dropping the ball when tackled is no longer a free kick, it's play on. I hate the holding the ball when players pile on top. Should be a ball up.

 

[icee]

Footy's never been better now that KB is off the rules committee trying to make the game like his days of old when the game was crap skills, slow play, and fatties. If I wanted fatties I'd order one or slap my nuts with a rolled up newspaper.


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I watch old games and seriously cant believe how many plodders and over weight men played the game. I watched one old game from 71 and this one player for the saints couldnt even kick a punt..every kick he had was sideways which then put the player he was kicking it to in unnecessary pressure.

And this was suppose to be the elite premier comp. Then i watch some old SANFL and WAFL and cant believe how slick the players are and how skillfull.

VFL in the 70s was horrible to watch and i would call elbows and hits from behind tough and uncompromising. As we are finding out with so many "blokes" from the 70s..most of them are failing health wise with a lot of them suffering a lot of trauma from unnecessary head knocks and stray elbows to the head.

 

[nineteen eighty]

Interestingly, my partner -- half Italian, half Nepalese, grew up in France and Singapore -- has grown to love the game. ..

Apologies if I offend you but I dare say...wow!

 

[icee]

You put up the 2005/2006 slogs as an example? Other than a Leo Barry mark those games were a snore fest. They were the epitome of boring, defensive rugby/football. And we can choose any number of rubbish finals from recent times as well.

150% than:

a) watching a team keep walking through the goals to deny team b a scoring chance..yeah awesome.

b) the 2013 grand final.

Your team played in 2 horror grand finals that only serve any purpose to hawk fans.

You honestly think 2008 was a good game? FFS 2008 your midget coach took winning at all costs to a stupid level. I man this was the year that the midge stacked his defensive 50 to deny a forward his 100 goals.

2005/06 was just a coach using his cattle to the best he could and creating a game plan around them. In fact thats ****en genius..more genius than exploiting a rule and walking the ball over for a behind to deny the team any chance at scoring..argh the sooner we forgot about 2008 the better.

 

[icee]

Sorry what did you say. You lost me on that. Apologies if I offend you but I dare say...wow!

I was thinking the same thing..his GF must be a stunner!

 

[blue healer]

Dude you are just bitching like an old person. The game has moved on! You do have an option to watch the VFL..your team plays in the VFL..yet you complain?

Anyway its not my issue that your coach decided to use the swans as the yard stick.

Dont be a condescending old timer, the gme is so much better than it has ever been. Not my fault your club has been poor for so long, i too would be fed up if i followed a team like richmond.

Dude, I reckon you're talking like a young person, new to the game and not too aware of the history of the game.

A statement like "the game is so much better than it's ever been" is one that I'd expect to come from a RL convert as it's closer to what they are familiar with.

RL admin and it's coaches ****** with the rules of their game (10 metres, ball thrown behind the second rowers legs, tackle counts etc) to create more scoreboard movement. We're going the other way. If we keep on this trajectory there will be more points scored in RL than our game.

 

[nineteen eighty]

Some good points there, only problem is Demetriou leaving is not going to make any difference. The structures are in place and will remain that way, its all about the money now.

Use the sub rule as an example. IMO the reasons they gave for its introduction severe impact between players, more free flowing games etc have not come about and in some instances have gotten worse but I have not heard anything about them reviewing this. Its just one example of many that shows how stubborn they are and refuse to acknowledge mistakes they have made and its always some external factor. Again, this wont change especially if Gillon gets put in charge.

As for the characters, sport across the world has just become that way with all the corporate money involved and concerns about brand reputation.

Only character in pro sport I know off at the moment (admittedly I am not across many overseas sports) is this guy.

The Honey Badger is a classic. This bloke is one of the greatest characters of all time. And he's hard as nails to boot. This bloke is one tough footballer. Google honey badger interviews and kick back and have a laugh.

 

[SBYM]

Where is football at?

I thought it was dead….