What unpopular AFL opinions do you have? (Part 1 - cont in Part 2)

[Papa G]

AFL headquarters should be based in Alice Springs, not in Melbourne.

 

[Bluelegs]

AFL headquarters should be based in Alice Springs, not in Melbourne.

I disagree, I think Demetriou's lair should be in a volcano base in the tropics

 

[SydneyGoose]

I disagree, I think Demetriou's lair should be in a volcano base in the tropics

I think you'd find that that is a pretty popular idea though.


For me:
1. While I think they were right to turn-down the Gold Coast move, I think the Kangaroos were wrong to cut ties with Canberra. I moved to Canberra two years ago and the number of people I've talked to at work about sport are all quite disenchanted about that decission. Canberra has a fairly high population turn-over as very few people stay here their whole lives, most seem to be here at most 15 years before moving on. It is the perfect environment for the Kangaroos as they generally (other than the various relocation/off-field finance) have a good image and what Canberra needs is a club that can be everyone's second team. The Kanga's would have fit perfectly.

2. I think there is no such thing as Ugly Football, just Ugly Players. I don't care if a team scores four or forty goals, but if a team just role over and barely play it's an ugly thing to watch. GWS have been good to watch because even though they have had some big defeats, they're playing their hearts out and making every team earn their win. Some of the footy we have watched over the last four years has been attrocious and the players have looked like the AFL equivalent of a teen working at Macca's; They're only there for the pay-cheque.

3. No-one wins in a merger, everyone loses. Growing up I saw my league team merged (North Sydney Bears merged with Manly Sea Eagles to form the Northern Eagles) and it just wasn't... anything. They disappeared quickly and without a yelp. The West's-Balmain merger went better, but in reality most West's fans were lost to the game, commentators still occasionally say Balmain when they talk about the tigers and you never hear a whisper of the Magpies. A lot of the Swans fan base is made up of people who had their connection with League killed by the removal of their clubs (followed by the Swans 1996 season, then Plugger's Record Breaking kicking). If you walk around ANZ during a swans match you will see a lot of North jerseys floating about. Relocation is the only option, merging is the same as being removed. Brisbane is hardly a roaring example of a merger working either. In the end the AFL basically killed the B Bears off and moved Fitzroy, just like they'd wanted to before the Bears were created.

4. At least two out of North Melbourne, Footscray, St Kilda, and Melbourne have to relocate. Melbourne is a crowded market and while all of these teams can survive there without relocation and without merging, they will never be as formidable as they would otherwise be had they relocated. Personally, I think the most likely candidates are ATM North and Footscray, but I think Saints would do really well in nearly any market.

5. Players deserve SOME of the scurtiny their personal lives receive. I don't care who they date, who went out one friday night and had an absolute bender, or anything else for that matter. However, if they don't get scruitiny eventually we will end up in a situation where some player drink drives and runs over a kid in a hit and run but gets away with it because the right people will be able to operate outside media scruitiny to ensure nothing happens and it all disappears. I know people will bring up the "Milne Rape" saga as and example of it already happening, however the media saga around that is pretty good evidence that Milne is either innocent or guilty and insufficent evidence existed to go to trial with. Either way, too much scruitiny is better than not enough.

6. In 20 years time, a NEAFL team would be expected to wipe the floor with a SANFL team. I'll admit that this looked pretty ridiculous earlier this year when Sydney Uni were looking truly pathetic and Tugger's are laughable, but the quality of football being played has skyrocketed over the last two years. With the Swans and Giants Academies churning out Sydney kids with elite training, there should be a decent crop of people running around who got really close but didn't quite get to AFL level. The whole thing will mature and evolve and eventually...

To the Gent who liked Kelly Underwood's commentary, I will give yout his much: I liked what she said, but didn't like how she said it. With the exception of her commentary when Lewis Jetta finally got his first goal (but try and find me a commentator who wouldn't have sounded excited about that, they were all loving the straight behinds. Any other player would have been crucified by the media for that inaccuracy). It always sounded like she was trying to inject excitement into something that wasn't there. This was a bit exacerbated by the fact that I usually heard her commentating on Geelong games in Geelong so a third of the time she'd be commentating on the away team doing something good and so there would be no crowd noise to go with it.

 

[imadodgyumpire]

Scott Pendlebury? I'm not saying he's s***. I'm just saying for a guy who does routine things like kicking, handballing accurately to a team mate (stuff you're supposed to do!), he's made out to be like some wunderkind. A tad overrated, me thinks.

He had gastro during GF1? Bull****! He was just s*** and got pounded by Ray. Extremely lucky he (and Collingwood) got another chance.

 

[IvanTudorCMcHock]

My answer to the thread title question would be that Aussie Rules is a game which in the most part is played by, and for, morons.

Listen to 90% of players when interviewed and the derp is very strong. Even the few who do have a clue seem to feel the need to dumb-down their language so as to fit in.

As for the spectators, the inane garbage which spews from the mouths of most of the knuckle-draggers at any game leaves no doubt as to the fact that their IQs are firmly placed in the two-digit range.

/Just saying.
//Love watching the game, but only on TV. Live AFL crowds sicken me.

 

[inbetween]

Ross Lyon is good for football. He introduces new elements of coaching strategy and adds depth to the game. Also proves that coaches can make players, and dont simply babysit.

 

[Hollow Knight]

6. In 20 years time, a NEAFL team would be expected to wipe the floor with a SANFL team. I'll admit that this looked pretty ridiculous earlier this year when Sydney Uni were looking truly pathetic and Tugger's are laughable, but the quality of football being played has skyrocketed over the last two years. With the Swans and Giants Academies churning out Sydney kids with elite training, there should be a decent crop of people running around who got really close but didn't quite get to AFL level. The whole thing will mature and evolve and eventually...
.

Morningside beat Port Adelaide Magpies 2 weeks ago.

The standard of the Northern (Queensland & NT) NEAFL conference is really getting quite good. The Eastern (NSW) conference has a long, long way to go though.

 

[Strahany]

Dane Swan is disgustingly overrated.

Never have I seen a player so heavily stat padded week in, week out. Yes, he racks up high numbers, but up to 10 disposals a game are just one-two passes that travel <5 metres.

Also he's one of the worst kicks of all the league's midfielders; it amazes me that commentators and fans alike could think otherwise. I'd rather a player with 20 good disposals than someone with 35 mediocre ones.

 

[Books]

Equity schmequity. It's horrendously unequal as it is. 3 conferences of 6 is the best way of going about it as it gives a really nice 22 game season. The lack of travel for one of the conferences would be offset by the lack of a genuine home ground advantage throughout that conference.

It's still a lot fairer than the fixturing for $$ that we have today.

Agreed. It's the best option available.

 

[Doss]

Not sure if anyone else has mentioned it in this thread (or even if it's unpopular, really)...

But I think Western Bulldogs is a soulless name for a team. Really wish they would take a leaf out of North's book and change back to their original name.

They will always be Footscray to me.

 

[Vdubs]

I hate the 18 team competition, and will live the rest of my supporting days thinking and knowing that this is grossly unfair and will remain so until each team can play each team twice. That means a 12 team competition if we must have 22 h & a games. 14 teams could result in a 26 game season, which is kind of perfect. GWS & GC are unnecessary additions, and there should have been subtractions rather than additions.

 

[TheKanga]

I'm not obsessed with Buddy Franklin
I don't think Gold Coast/GWS will win a final/or flag in the next 10 years.

 

[liam_13]

With the exception of her commentary when Lewis Jetta finally got his first goal (but try and find me a commentator who wouldn't have sounded excited about that, they were all loving the straight behinds. Any other player would have been crucified by the media for that inaccuracy). It always sounded like she was trying to inject excitement into something that wasn't there. .

That has to be just about the worst commentary I've ever heard. Was cringeworthy.

Mine: The Geelong/St Kilda game round 1 2011 was a very good match and exciting.

I love those contested, each team holding on defensively just trying to outlast the other, mentally and physically. Truly exhausting contests those games are.

Same with 05/06 GF's, and Geelong/St Kilda 2009 GF

 

[Dory_77]

I really loved the 2005/2006 GF's too; they were tight, close contests. Yes, the games were scrappy, but it was fought so fiercely by both teams and simple things that usually wouldn't be that celebrated made the difference (e.g. Chick's smother in 2006).
Personally though I thought that the 2010 drawn GF was one of the best games I've ever watched, although the result was horrible, the game was brilliant.
GWS/GC aren't going to just march up the ladder in the next few years. Yes they have talent, but so does every team.
Also, agree with the poster a few pages back about Judd and the Carlton captaincy. He's a great leader, no doubt, but it does set a poor standard for the club if they have to bring in a new captain from somewhere else on the big bucks. Dunno that Fev would've been the wise choice though.

 

[UpForGrabs]

My number 1

The fact that someone played at the highest level doesn't actually mean they know anything about the game, doesn't automatically give them a higher intelligence of the game, and their opinions shouldn't necessarily hold greater weight over someone who never played at the higher level.

 

[JP Sauce]

My answer to the thread title question would be that most sports are games which in the most part are played by, and for, morons.

Listen to 90% of players when interviewed and the derp is very strong. Even the few who do have a clue seem to feel the need to dumb-down their language so as to fit in.

As for the spectators, the inane garbage which spews from the mouths of most of the knuckle-draggers at any game leaves no doubt as to the fact that their IQs are firmly placed in the two-digit range.

EFA.

 

[mytym]

Dane Swan is disgustingly overrated.

Never have I seen a player so heavily stat padded week in, week out. Yes, he racks up high numbers, but up to 10 disposals a game are just one-two passes that travel <5 metres.

Also he's one of the worst kicks of all the league's midfielders; it amazes me that commentators and fans alike could think otherwise. I'd rather a player with 20 good disposals than someone with 35 mediocre ones.

That's one of the reasons why he is rated. For such apparently poor kick, he rarely misses a target, or more importantly, a shot on goal. Same goes for his running action. He's all class!

On to the OP's question:
This is probably the most unpopular of them all, but I would like to see the current league downgraded to second tier and a new truly national league with 10 teams: QLD (Brisbane), NSW (Sydney), VIC (North & South Melbourne), SA (North & South Adelaide), WA (North & South Perth), TAS (Hobart), NT (Darwin)

 

[Necromancer Beth]

On to the OP's question:
This is probably the most unpopular of them all, but I would like to see the current league downgraded to second tier and a new truly national league with 10 teams: QLD (Brisbane), NSW (Sydney), VIC (North & South Melbourne), SA (North & South Adelaide), WA (North & South Perth), TAS (Hobart), NT (Darwin)

So...... You want to see your own side Collingwood, reduced to playing second tier football. Lol.

 

[wce4premiership]

I like Tom Swift

 

[Jonts]

10) Jay schulz can be a dangerous forward and takes a good mark

People think otherwise?

 

[Jonts]

Morningside beat Port Adelaide Magpies "reserves" 2 weeks ago.

EFA

 

[El_Scorcho]

My number 1

The fact that someone played at the highest level doesn't actually mean they know anything about the game, doesn't automatically give them a higher intelligence of the game, and their opinions shouldn't necessarily hold greater weight over someone who never played at the higher level.

This is an excellent one.

Look over in the states. The people calling games, writing sports articles in newspapers and on TV discussing sports are for the most part not former players. They are journalists that have watched thousands and thousands of hours of the sport they report on and as such, are experts.

It's good to get some inside knowledge but there are far, far too many former players living a cosy life as radio presenters or special comments TV presenters who show very little footy knowledge.

 

[Holy Foley!]

I like the paddle pop lion
I like Carlton and Collingwood......well don't hate them as much as I should!

 

[Morris Major]

AFL is right to ban umpire criticism from players, coaches and club officials

 

[qman]

That Paul Kelly was not a ' champion of the game ' due to his deplorable kicking skills .