Toast The media....*Nods Head*

[stanmack]

You could say the same about most if not all sports. Look at tennis for example, try comparing Rod Laver to Federer.

Could be right but I don't know enough about tennis to comment. Every sport is different but it seems to me that there is a general improvement in most.

 

[Jello_B]

Maybe I'm just going by the comments of people like Sam Newman, who continually lament the "lost art" of ruck work and goal kicking. The latter most likely resulting from the fact the modern day goal kicking forward is usually knackered from all the running and chasing he does prior to lining up for goal.

I quiet like Sam Newman for what he is, a trickster. I can't really take what he says seriously.
Agree on your second point.

 

[wharfietilidie]

What must be pointed out is how good someone like Gary Ablett Jnr (and maybe two or three other players) must be in our own day. To be able to be so clearly distinguished in talent from a cohort of AFL players who are hardest-trained, most professional, monitored and coached group of players ever is quite something.

 

[tribey]

Maybe I'm just going by the comments of people like Sam Newman, who continually lament the "lost art" of ruck work and goal kicking. The latter most likely resulting from the fact the modern day goal kicking forward is usually knackered from all the running and chasing he does prior to lining up for goal.

Yep.

If Tredders was permanently camped 20-40m out from goal like the Hudsons, Dunstalls and Locketts of years gone by, his accuracy would be through the roof as well.

On the 2004 Season Highlights DVD, in the home game against West Coast(?) there's a play where Warren chases down and tackles an opponent to trigger a turnover in the centre square, then doubles back to deep forward, before leading out again to take a diving chestmark 25m or so out, all within 30 seconds.

He nailed that one, but it's not hard to see why modern galloping forwards like Warren, Riewoldt and Buddy miss so many when they cover just as much ground as some premium mids - and then have to recover and launch it straight all within 20-25 seconds.

 

[Stewart2Austin Reborn]

Yep.

If Tredders was permanently camped 20-40m out from goal like the Hudsons, Dunstalls and Locketts of years gone by, his accuracy would be through the roof as well.

On the 2004 Season Highlights DVD, in the home game against West Coast(?) there's a play where Warren chases down and tackles an opponent to trigger a turnover in the centre square, then doubles back to deep forward, before leading out again to take a diving chestmark 25m or so out, all within 30 seconds.

He nailed that one, but it's not hard to see why modern galloping forwards like Warren, Riewoldt and Buddy miss so many when they cover just as much ground as some premium mids - and then have to recover and launch it straight all within 20-25 seconds.

IIRC accuracy has improved in recent times rather than gone down anyway

 

[Portress Hill]

it takes a completely different person to become an elite athelite these days. gone are the days of the naturally gifted person becoming a champion by default. today, these guys have to be very focused and determined to become a top player. natuallally back then they worked hard too, but a player nowadays could never get away with being a drinker or a smoker.

 

[mic59]

In the last 20 years there seems to be very little difference in overall goalkicking accuracy. For example, in 1995 one team may have kicked on average 14.12. In all the years up to 2014 that team's average is not likely to change much. Maybe one year it will be 12.13, another year it will be 16.12. Looking at the stats for the last 20 years the average goals/behinds differential for any team was generally between -1 and +4. St Kilda was +6 in 2004, when they made the PF. Making finals does not necessarily mean a team will be accurate, Sydney made the finals one year with -1 and last year our differential was 0.
Hawthorn was +5 last year, showing that accuracy is a big part of winning, probably bigger than a lot of people like to say.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

IIRC accuracy has improved in recent times rather than gone down anyway

Nope stagnate.

 

[Port01]

If Tredders was permanently camped 20-40m out from goal like the Hudsons, Dunstalls and Locketts of years gone by, his accuracy would be through the roof as well.

IMO his accuracy would have been better if he was camped 45 out, 45 degrees and on his left foot.

 

[Papa G]

Nick Ryan's New Years resolution list includes:
"there will be concerted effort to be more open to the opinions of other people and to no longer assume everyone is a dickhead until proven otherwise (The exception being anything Graham Cornes or David Penberthy have to say of Port Adelaide and the SANFL).

 

[Grave Danger]

Nick Ryan's New Years resolution list includes:
"there will be concerted effort to be more open to the opinions of other people and to no longer assume everyone is a dickhead until proven otherwise (The exception being anything Graham Cornes or David Penberthy have to say of Port Adelaide and the SANFL).

I liked this bit from a post 2013 season article by Nick:

"The emergence of a kid called Wines, a new hard-nut called Jonas and the excitement of cheering a new Chad.
And this one doesn't have a surname that sticks in the throat."

 

[philreich]

IIRC accuracy has improved in recent times rather than gone down anyway

Hopefully that also includes the Power in 2015. Several times last year our composure in front of the big sticks cost us big time, including the first quarter of the preliminary final. Bad kicking is bad footy, and we have to be better in key moments this year if we want to go all the way.

 

[tribey]

it takes a completely different person to become an elite athelite these days. gone are the days of the naturally gifted person becoming a champion by default. today, these guys have to be very focused and determined to become a top player. natuallally back then they worked hard too, but a player nowadays could never get away with being a drinker or a smoker.

Unless you're an absolute once-in-a-century freak like Michael Jordan, who could stay up til 4am smoking cigars and playing cards, get up at 7am, play 3 rounds of golf and then have 35 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals against a team of fellow elite professionals. #differentspecies

 

[Jim Dixon]

Unless you're an absolute once-in-a-century freak like Michael Jordan, who could stay up til 4am smoking cigars and playing cards, get up at 7am, play 3 rounds of golf and then have 35 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals against a team of fellow elite professionals. #differentspecies

Doug Walters played elite level cricket while engaging in industrial levels of smoking, drinking and card-playing.

 

[FPPF]

Unless you're an absolute once-in-a-century freak like Michael Jordan, who could stay up til 4am smoking cigars and playing cards, get up at 7am, play 3 rounds of golf and then have 35 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals against a team of fellow elite professionals. #differentspecies

Michael Jordan may have been very talented, he may be the greatest basketball player ever, but he also didn't make his high school basketball team on his first attempt. He also practiced and trained as hard if not harder then anyone else.

 

[DaTBird187]

Michael Jordan may have been very talented, he may be the greatest basketball player ever, but he also didn't make his high school basketball team on his first attempt. He also practiced and trained as hard if not harder then anyone else.

You've been matching this haven't you?

 

[Winestoppable]

Michael Jordan may have been very talented, he may be the greatest basketball player ever, but he also didn't make his high school basketball team on his first attempt. He also practiced and trained as hard if not harder then anyone else.

Or his high school coach was a knucklehead.

 

[philreich]

Doug Walters played elite level cricket while engaging in industrial levels of smoking, drinking and card-playing.

Dougie went on an all night drinking binge in New Zealand one night, then strode to the wicket and advanced his overnight score to 250. Legend!!!

 

[FPPF]

Or his high school coach was a knucklehead.

Was actually deemed too short. Had a bit of a growth spurt, but regardless he continued to work hard to prove he was good enough.

If you think him getting passed over for his high school team is bad, he was drafted at pick 3 to the NBA. Imagine being those two teams who passed him over. You could have had the greatest player in the history of the game..instead...

 

[FPPF]

You've been matching this haven't you?

Nope, haven't seen that one. Might find it and buy me a copy, haven't watched an MJ dvd in a while actually.
But generally I know bits and pieces that I can still remember. When I was a kid, MJ was IT. There was no bigger sports star.

 

[chiwigi]

Doug Walters played elite level cricket while engaging in industrial levels of smoking, drinking and card-playing.

Cricket

 

[DaTBird187]

Was actually deemed too short. Had a bit of a growth spurt, but regardless he continued to work hard to prove he was good enough.

If you think him getting passed over for his high school team is bad, he was drafted at pick 3 to the NBA. Imagine being those two teams who passed him over. You could have had the greatest player in the history of the game..instead...

Hakeem Olajuwon was the number 1 pick and was one of the greatest centres of all time, so Houston didn't do to badly. However the selection of Sam Bowie with pick 2 has been the stuff of legend (for all the wrong reasons).

 

[FPPF]

Hakeem Olajuwon was the number 1 pick and was one of the greatest centres of all time, so Houston didn't do to badly. However the selection of Sam Bowie with pick 2 has been the stuff of legend (for all the wrong reasons).

Poor Portland. Wonder what Jordan would have turned out like had Portland picked him instead.

 

[Papa G]

Poor Portland. Wonder what Jordan would have turned out like had Portland picked him instead.

Clyde the Glide Drexler > Scottie Pippen, so they would have been brilliant.

 

[proman_x]

I wonder if Jordan would have been a good AFL player due to his natural athletic ability. His baseball career did not seem to go so well so perhaps he would have been good or perhaps not.