Opinion Non-Crows AFL 11: Footy's Back At Last

[Scorpus]

How is this right?

AFL crowd record smashed in round one

More than 430,000 fans attended games in round one of the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season

www.afl.com.au

Melbourne vs GWS looked like a ghost town.

Because Gold Coast, GWS, Fremantle, Port Adelaide, Brisbane, St Kilda and North all simultaneously did not have home games. Fixture was stacked to make high drawing games

The two bigger membership SA and WA teams got the home games, the match in Sydney was the grand final replay with no other northern state matches, and there were a couple of huge Victorian blockbusters with high drawing teams at the MCG

 

[skam85]

How is this right?

AFL crowd record smashed in round one

More than 430,000 fans attended games in round one of the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season

www.afl.com.au

Melbourne vs GWS looked like a ghost town.

I'd suggest it's because 200k of that came from 1/3 of the games.

 

[StonesThrow]

Absolutely stupid it was, no change he was ever going to get the ball and at no stage did he try.

Exactly. If Archer couldn't tell he wasn't getting that ball before the dogs player, he shouldn't be playing footy.

 

[Coopers]

Exactly. If Archer couldn't tell he wasn't getting that ball before the dogs player, he shouldn't be playing footy.

Well yeah, but he wouldn't have expected him to fall over and forwards. He would have slammed into him for a mega tackle though.

 

[spenze]

Exactly. If Archer couldn't tell he wasn't getting that ball before the dogs player, he shouldn't be playing footy.

To me the worst part is Archer makes no attempt to pull out at all, he just goes through the guy from 5 metres out. It really should have been 5, especially given Macadam was 3

 

[FR0GGY]

Well yeah, but he wouldn't have expected him to fall over and forwards. He would have slammed into him for a mega tackle though.

His teammate was already there to tackle.
If they stayed upright it would have been reckless hitting a 2 man pack upright at that speed.

 

[Mr MysteryGuest]

Exactly.

All the "players have to be allowed to contest the ball" claims are irrelevant

The ball was on the ground and at no point did he contest it. He literally ran at two players on the ground and hit them with his legs. No attempt to get the ball, and really be should have jumped over them

He contested the ball even less than Maynard did when he ended Brayshaw's career, which the AFL now admits is an act that should be suspended

he was probably planing on tackling him, cleary goes to ground pretty close to when they hit. I am not convinced he had enough time to make an alternative choice

 

[GreyCrow]

View attachment 2252670

To me the worst part is Archer makes no attempt to pull out at all, he just goes through the guy from 5 metres out. It really should have been 5, especially given Macadam was 3

Given that vision Archer makes a few mistakes - one going for the man when the better option was recognising his temmate was on his hammer - 2nd mistake is if he sidesteps ( and going on vision only ) he sidesteps into the area a teammate already is

His move should have been slow down and right in case the Dogs player gets up and moves forward - then he can be corralled

 

[baldandbroke]

We as a sport are basically saying that you can't attack a contest at that speed ... that is the bottomline. If that's the new duty-of-care line-in-the-sand, then fine, but that's changed a lot.

Because no way he knew that the player was going to go to ground and he would basically be risking a full-blown knee injury via the opponents head!

We are now saying (correctly) that pulling out of a contest is the right way. Taking a short-step is good.

Potential for head injury far outweighs the rest.

You cannot stop concussions in our sport, but players that multiply the risks will be stamped out ... like it or not.

 

[CharlieCrow]

The issue for Port in the 2024 trade period was they expected to get Perryman and were also a chance for Cumming as free agents, or so it was believed at the destination club. And Houston was initially going to Melbourne(?) where Port thought they could screw them for their two high picks, which turned out to be picks 8 and 11. It may have been North - but it was a similar sort of deal.
So, it would have added two great draft picks, 2 experienced FAs and Lukosius - not a bad haul.
They considered this doable as they see themselves as the masters of the trading universe after the JHF deal and the Rozee, Butters deal and it would just fall into place. Alas it didn't and they paid too much, didn't get enough in return, got lumbered with at least two duds and traded out some of their future. From heroes to zero in one draft.

 

[Cromulant]

View attachment 2252670

To me the worst part is Archer makes no attempt to pull out at all, he just goes through the guy from 5 metres out. It really should have been 5, especially given Macadam was 3

I agree, he did need to slow down.... a lot.

 

[Redline]

Yeah had this discussion with someone the other month. Clearly if Butters is going to leave over the next 18 months Power want it done in 2025 as they will earn MUCH more than the standard 1 x Tier one FA compo

BUT, its not in Butters OR the acquiring clubs interests to do it this year. Butters will get paid a PREMIUM as a FA (Perryman 900k done, talk of TDK 1.5m per year etc) as clubs dont need to give up draft collateral

eg if Crows were acquiring say LDU would you rather :

2024 - give up best part of 2 x first rounders to Kangas and pay LDU 1m/year
2025 - get as FA (no draft picks involved) and pay higher salary. Like 1.3-1.4m per year.

Thats the scenario Butters is looking at. Wait until he is a FA and he will maximise $$$$

Your right but I think it's possible still.

A footballers life is fairly short, do you want to waste a year if you feel the team is not going to perform and put up with constant speculation about your future.

For the club he is going to, 12 months is a long time maybe you just get him while you can so he can make your team better in 2026 and in case he changes his mind.

I agree though it's unlikely.

 

[StonesThrow]

View attachment 2252670

To me the worst part is Archer makes no attempt to pull out at all, he just goes through the guy from 5 metres out. It really should have been 5, especially given Macadam was 3

Even further out from this he was right over the ball (and low) and Archer could see that. It would never have been possible to tackle legally if he had not gone to ground. Completely reckless and unnecessary action imo. He could have broken its own legs as well.

 

[FR0GGY]

We as a sport are basically saying that you can't attack a contest at that speed ... that is the bottomline. If that's the new duty-of-care line-in-the-sand, then fine, but that's changed a lot.

Because no way he knew that the player was going to go to ground and he would basically be risking a full-blown knee injury via the opponents head!

We are now saying (correctly) that pulling out of a contest is the right way. Taking a short-step is good.

Potential for head injury far outweighs the rest.

You cannot stop concussions in our sport, but players that multiply the risks will be stamped out ... like it or not.

I don’t really agree there, he can tell, as everyone can that he would be 2nd to the contest and the contest was not going to be upright.

Coming in at that reckless speed you have to be accountable.
The below the knees rule is brought in for a contest of the ball, archer is not in the contest for the ball.

 

[GreyCrow]

I don’t really agree there, he can tell, as everyone can that he would be 2nd to the contest and the contest was not going to be upright.
View attachment 2252738
Coming in at that reckless speed you have to be accountable.
The below the knees rule is brought in for a contest of the ball, archer is not in the contest for the ball.

Yes - happy for him - in this clip - to expect a tackle of a standing player - but given the next 2 seconds when the player goes to ground he still has time to change momentum as I described above

To say he couldnt do anything else is wrong

 

[MarcusP2]

I turned on MMM to catch the news.

They were playing Torn.

That is all

 

[baldandbroke]

I don’t really agree there, he can tell, as everyone can that he would be 2nd to the contest and the contest was not going to be upright.

Ok, but he couldn't have predicted what happened - that the player would go to ground in the way they did. Then its a very small amount of time to change your trajectory.

Coming in at that reckless speed you have to be accountable.

I think I said that though Froggy ... "you can't attack a contest at that speed".

The below the knees rule is brought in for a contest of the ball, archer is not in the contest for the ball.

Don't think so - wasn't it to stop the potential for a knee injury from sliding in? I hate the way any contact below the knee is now deemed a free, even if there is no slide ... but this one, I agree it's no fault of the person going to ground in terms of that type of free-kick.

 

[Mutineer]

Don't think so - wasn't it to stop the potential for a knee injury from sliding in? I hate the way any contact below the knee is now deemed a free, even if there is no slide ... but this one, I agree it's no fault of the person going to ground in terms of that type of free-kick.

Yep the "Ädam Goodes" rule, he was famous for it among several other things...

 

[spenze]

Even further out from this he was right over the ball (and low) and Archer could see that. It would never have been possible to tackle legally if he had not gone to ground. Completely reckless and unnecessary action imo. He could have broken its own legs as well.

I just don't get the "football accident" call, it was a really bad decision by Archer

 

[spenze]

The issue for Port in the 2024 trade period was they expected to get Perryman and were also a chance for Cumming as free agents, or so it was believed at the destination club. And Houston was initially going to Melbourne(?) where Port thought they could screw them for their two high picks, which turned out to be picks 8 and 11. It may have been North - but it was a similar sort of deal.
So, it would have added two great draft picks, 2 experienced FAs and Lukosius - not a bad haul.
They considered this doable as they see themselves as the masters of the trading universe after the JHF deal and the Rozee, Butters deal and it would just fall into place. Alas it didn't and they paid too much, didn't get enough in return, got lumbered with at least two duds and traded out some of their future. From heroes to zero in one draft.

Fair summation.

 

[Samcro24]

The below the knees rule is brought in for a contest of the ball, archer is not in the contest for the ball.

It’s almost as if he’s out of the contest, then runs as fast as he can to get to the contest.

 

[FR0GGY]

Don't think so - wasn't it to stop the potential for a knee injury from sliding in? I hate the way any contact below the knee is now deemed a free, even if there is no slide ... but this one, I agree it's no fault of the person going to ground in terms of that type of free-kick.

Yes from sliding into a contest.
In this case the contest had been made metres before and old mate comes barreling in with zero control.

 

[kirky]

How is this right?

AFL crowd record smashed in round one

More than 430,000 fans attended games in round one of the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season

www.afl.com.au

Melbourne vs GWS looked like a ghost town.

There weren’t games in Gold Coast or Western Sydney.

They got 69k to the WC vs GC and Melbourne vs GWS games. If both these games had been on Gold Coast and Western Sydney they probably would have got say 25k in total so the round would have been less than 400k.

Simple manipulation of the grounds.

Likely crowds for this week -

Carlton vs Hawks 70k+
Bulldogs vs Collingwood 65k+
Essendon vs Adelaide 40k+
Port vs Richmond 30k+
St Kilda vs Geelong 40k+
Brisbane vs West Coast 35k+
Fremantle vs Sydney 45k+
North vs Melbourne 20k+

Approx 345k+

 

[adelaidecrows]

The problem with this is that they've already been in a hole for 3 years:
2022 - 17th (2 wins)
2023 - 17th (3 wins)
2024 - 16th (5 wins)

3 years into their rebuild and they're still at the "bottoming out" stage?

In contrast, Adelaide finished:
2020 - 18th (3 wins) - COVID shortened season
2021 - 16th (5 wins)
2022 - 16th (5 wins)

2023 was the 4th year of our rebuild, and we were 1 umpiring blunder away from making the finals.

West Coast's hole is sooo much deeper than Adelaide's - either that, or our recovery was much better managed than many posters here are willing to admit.

100%. I personally think Reid was a mistake. Should have traded the number 1 pick for pick 2 and multiple other 1st rounders in 2023 and then that decision to trade pick 3 in 2024 in that super draft was a head scratcher.

 

[FR0GGY]