The real reason footy is "ugly" in 2014

[Billyc]

The expansion sides.

It has nothing to do with high possession game plans, the "rolling maul" , the death of full forwards, the death of the bump.

Anyone who watched Hawthorn-Geelong or Collingwood-Essendon in the last week wouldn't say the game is ugly. Played by the best competitors and the best sides, modern footy is fantastic to watch. The problem is that with 18 sides the talent pool is spread too wide. We do not have enough capable footballers to support an 18 team domestic competition.

I watched Melbourne-Sydney last night and it was truly torturous - mostly because of the complete lack of ability in the majority of Melbournes players. About 80 people are on Afl lists that wouldn't have been four years ago. This largely pile up on the lists of the worst sides making 4-5 games every weekend very difficult to watch.

Australia doesn't have the talent to supply 18 afl teams so the standard has inevitably dropped.

 

[keithrichards]

There are plenty of good AFL Level footballers out there, its just that they are all playing second tier football, as the AFL Clubs would prefer to "get some games into" an under developed 18 year old, in the hope that he will benefit from it in 5 years time when he has the capacity to physically compete.

The second tier competitions should be where this development occurs in the kids. Too often there are kids playing in the top level who just aren't up to it

 

[Slax]

When the level of overall talent drops as it has with the inclusion of the expansion teams then the result is a drop in the standard of the game. Clubs with less talent will try and operate on a roving maul to minimise the opposition blowing them out of the water. It's about stopping 10+ goal loses not winning football games.

 

[vide0n]

lol

What a unique thread OP

 

[Hipster Doofus]

No the real reason footy is a 'rolling maul' is because of the tactics employed by the coaching staff in a bid to not leak goals and save their jobs.
Don't blame the players.

 

[Demonic Ascent]

I agree the shallow talent pool is a problem. The expansion sides have contributed to this as has the infatuation with youth (which Melbourne was a huge proponent of).

The other reason is the umpring/rules. Most of the problems people whinge about are due to the directions to the umps on how to "interpret" the rules.

 

[V_23]

It probably is a contributing factor in the short term but hopefully the AFL starts to get a better presence in NSW and QLD as a result of the expansion sides and juniors from those two states can enhance the talent pool in the future.

 

[The Blue Baggers]

i have saying this all season .... the 2 teams with the best young talent are the worst supported teams in the league ... no wonder crowds are down

18 teams is too many for an elite competition

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Spot on, I started this thread last week.

There's too many clubs and not enough elite talent.

Many players on lists don't belong anywhere near the truly elite. Yet they're on the same field.

The guns see the defensive tactics and just punch their way through it. The rest can't.

 

[FootyJunkie]

20 teams is the ultimate goal... more expansion sides are on their way.

 

[Paganism]

The standard of field kicking, kicking for goal etc are putrid. I don't care about the mistakes under pressure, but when players miss targets under no pressure at all it's frustrating

 

[fabulousphil]

Spot on, I started this thread last week.

There's too many clubs and not enough elite talent.

Many players on lists don't belong anywhere near the truly elite. Yet they're on the same field.

The guns see the defensive tactics and just punch their way through it. The rest can't.

yes i remember , and my post is also the same.

the AFL and clubs have attemtpted to increase the talent pool by increasing the size of the overall pool.

USA, NZ and Pacific Island, PNG, Ireland and the extra money spent on NSW and QLD including their academies.

Hopefully that will all contribute but ATM it is lagging behind the 18 teams.

The other thing of course is that clubs can pick up good physically capable players, but choose to go with young skinny 18 year olds.

 

[aCunningPlan]

There needs to be 22 sides in the competition so everyone plays each other once and make the scheduling fair. The reality is in every elite competition there are crap teams. If you really want them to have something to fear instead of getting top picks then introduce relegation.

 

[I am Jack]

Lack of talent isn't the sole reason, but it is part of the problem.

 

[BlakeyNoFlakey]

When I read the title of this thread I was hoping for some LuLz, or some cool meme's, but sadly it's just the same old crap dished up on a different plate

 

[Bunk Moreland]

I went to Hawthorn v Geelong last week. Pretty sure it was still the year 2014, and no ugly footy in sight. Wonder why

 

[brendan84]

I blame video games. Get outside and kick a footy you little punks, and stop beating me at Fifa.

 

[EasternTiger]

You kids have overdosed on footy and pumping up your sides in the pre-season has lead to disappointment. Anyone with more than 3038 posts is not fair dinkum about life and needs to get out more.

 

[FootyJunkie]

You kids have overdosed on footy and pumping up your sides in the pre-season has lead to disappointment. Anyone with more than 3038 posts is not fair dinkum about life and needs to get out more.

Never post again!

 

[vide0n]

You kids have overdosed on footy and pumping up your sides in the pre-season has lead to disappointment. Anyone with more than 3038 posts is not fair dinkum about life and needs to get out more.

Haven't left yourself a lot of breathing room there mate

 

[longsuffreosupp]

I went to Hawthorn v Geelong last week. Pretty sure it was still the year 2014, and no ugly footy in sight. Wonder why

Hawthorn and Geelong are more the exception these days. Most other sides don't have the depth when a couple of important players are out, and really need their full side to be out on the park to be competitive.

 

[Colonial]

So the answer is less vic sides? After all this is the AFL not the VFL (anymore)
Same crap anti expansion threads, different day...

Sent from my GT-I9300T using Tapatalk

 

[BM123]

The expansion sides.

It has nothing to do with high possession game plans, the "rolling maul" , the death of full forwards, the death of the bump.

Anyone who watched Hawthorn-Geelong or Collingwood-Essendon in the last week wouldn't say the game is ugly. Played by the best competitors and the best sides, modern footy is fantastic to watch. The problem is that with 18 sides the talent pool is spread too wide. We do not have enough capable footballers to support an 18 team domestic competition.

I watched Melbourne-Sydney last night and it was truly torturous - mostly because of the complete lack of ability in the majority of Melbournes players. About 80 people are on Afl lists that wouldn't have been four years ago. This largely pile up on the lists of the worst sides making 4-5 games every weekend very difficult to watch.

Australia doesn't have the talent to supply 18 afl teams so the standard has inevitably dropped.

Melbourne have always been boring. Just a vanilla side with no x-factor.

Even Carlton at their worst at Fevola running around providing great entertainment.

 

[giggler99]

Its all North Melbourne's fault, they should have gone to the Gold Coast.

 

[dmc333]

The standard of field kicking, kicking for goal etc are putrid. I don't care about the mistakes under pressure, but when players miss targets under no pressure at all it's frustrating

I hate to bring the notorious Jimmy Hird into it, but I remember reading a couple of articles from his early days which covered the time he'd put into his skills away from Essendon.

He'd wear Sherrins (stolen from Essendon, yes Bombers fans he's been screwing you since day 1) down to the bladder kicking them at a chalk circle on a wall. He'd have to hit the circle like 100 times straight on his left and right before he'd quit. He'd do something similar kicking the ball against the wall and marking it on the rebound.

It illustrates being highly skilled doesn't come without work. It's a highly repetitive process. It would be interesting to know if any poorly skilled player today comes close to the amount of time Hird spent in total on skills back then.