If the AFL really want to improve the game here's how.

collie dog · Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2014 6:47 pm

Two areas need to be fixed up immediately for the good of the game:

A. Injuries

Just watching the footy again this afternoon and like most games this season players have gone down with serious injuries. In this case it was Goddard. Brisbane has already been decimated with injuries this season. They picked up two more long term injuries yesterday. As we know Collingwood has had three years of wretched luck with injuries. Something is going on.

B. Flooding the footy

Patrick Smith calls it the "muck", but whatever name you give it it's a recipe for ugly footy. There is nothing worse than seeing all 36 players on the field surrounding the ball in a single pocket. It's like my memories of watching Under 12 footy. Players are running more than ever and this is contributing to more injuries, So my Point A is directly related to Point B.

- We are seeing record numbers of uncontested possessions.
- Marking stats are irrelevant now because the vast majority of marks are uncontested.
- Players no longer play in positions any more.
- Short dinky kicks and handballs are the order of the day as players are too scared to kick to a contest.

All of the above makes for boring and a quite un-Australian Football style. Our game is fast resembling soccer or basketball and all the great unique facets of our game are being destroyed. No longer can we say that a player is a great Full Forward, Rover or a great Centre Half Back. He's either a "mid", "forward", "back", a "tall" or a "small". This is the ultimate dumbing down of footy and I believe that fans have had enough (hence the declining crowds).

So for the good of the aesthetics of the game and the safety of the players' workplace (cutting numbers of injuries due to increased fatigue levels) it is time the rules were altered to force us to rediscover the great features of our indigenous game. This is what must be done.

1. Restore all original player positions. You can do this by making it illegal for defenders to cross the centre line when the team is going forward, and forwards crossing the centre line when the team is defending.

[If defenders and forwards wear different armbands and the coach wants to make a shift during the game, they simply exchange the armband with another player. Umpires make the call based on the colour of the armband and the penalty for crossing the centreline illegally is a 50 metre penalty from the centre like the interchange infringement now.]

Only designated rucks, rovers and ruckrovers (remember those positions?) have license to move all over the ground. Mark my words, this will force coaches to play positional footy again. Bringing this into effect will immedietely force players to play one on one contests.

It will also mean that the sides with better KPP will win more games.

2. Because the play won't be so congested and players not so fatigued it will see fewer injuries and more high marks and longer kicks.

3. If you wanted to add another improvement to the game you could raise the minimum kicking distance for a mark to 30 metres and/or banning kicking the football backwards (in the same way that rugby bans the forward pass).

These changes will improve the game and keep more players on the field each week. At the attrition rate we are going down the average span of a player's career is falling to less than 10 years before they are utterly clapped out.

What do you think?

September Zeros · Joined: 04 Oct 2012 Location: Behind you

What I think is it sounds like netball.

No offence as I don't have a better solution.

collie dog · Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2014 6:57 pm

At least Netball is an Australian game isn't it?

Dave The Man · Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2014 7:02 pm

It heading to be Touch Footy

Mugwump · Joined: 28 Jul 2007 Location: Between London and Melbourne

I think it's a great post on a very important issue that's been on my mind for some time now. The rolling maul has got way out of hand, injury rates seem to have gone through the roof, and the game itself is increasingly ugly and frustrating to watch (perhaps this is the cause of Joffa's recent "what's wrong with me" post). There was also a good article on this question in The Age - few days ago,about the offside rule.

Now, I simply don't believe that an already over-officiated game can operate with the "imaginary line" principle - but I agree that something needs to be done. Personally, i would start by trialling a reduction in the number of players on the ground, to 17 in the first instance, then perhaps 16. We need to recreate the space and flow that the game had in the past, amd this seems most likely to do it without turning it into gridiron with the kinds of rules that need a jeweller's screwdriver.

Woods Of Ypres · Joined: 27 May 2003 Location: Yugoslavia

I am on a different page to you guys, I am actually enjoying the football more than I have in the last few seasons.

I love how the umpires have put the whistles away, and have stopped paying those tiggy touchwood frees. The game now actually lets player use their physical strength in a contest. You can talk about rolling mauls but the game is still flowing none the less.

This is tough, hard, old-fashioned footy and I am loving it. The players are too.

mattys123 · Joined: 07 Jul 2009 Location: Narre Warren, VIC

Woods Of Ypres · Joined: 27 May 2003 Location: Yugoslavia

Also the problem is that you guys have been brainwashed by the over-officiation of recent seasons, and now think that is normal football. It is not. Ridiculous numbers of free-kicks is not normal football.

Kevin Bartlett is hating it - suck eggs Kevin. REAL footy is back.

Museman · Joined: 06 Jul 2009

I agree theres a problem, sorry cannot agree with your fix.

There is however a fix though and it is a relatively easy one....the problem is no one wants to here about it...

no interchange , zero, none, subs yes, interchange no, they cannot run all day one end to the other if they cannot rest.

the one thing that we must not do is listen to coaches, they re the clowns that have driven the game to what it is....and what it is is shit.

Mugwump · Joined: 28 Jul 2007 Location: Between London and Melbourne

The rolling maul thing is part of it, but the other thing that I dislike about the current game is the ultra-high pressure and the difficulty it places on players executing skills. It just seems as though noone gets much freedom to be creative any more - get the ball, bang, tackled, sloppy handball or kick as fast as possible to the next bloke, where that instant repeats. For me, it's lost much of the flow and the time to execute sublime skills. But this is an area where subjective opinion is all there is, I accept.

Didaksgoal · Joined: 12 Mar 2004

For injury sake, drop the sub rule, and increase the interchange back to 4, and perhaps think about 5 on the bench.

Hiss · Joined: 09 Jul 2003 Location: Geelong

Best way for the AFL to improve our game is to get rid of the AFL and appoint a Government department to run the game. Umpires would then have flexi time, RDO's, maternity leave, long service leave, work from home opportunities, etc. We would see much less of them which has to be a good thing. In order for the ball to be bounced a form would need to be filled in and signed by both captains in triplicate then witnessed by an independent club official. Fans would pay stamp duty on admission tickets and fast food would be taxed by local government. The tribunal would be transferred to the Magistrates' court where players could be remanded for time wasting stuff like Hawthorn do. Yep hand it over to the Government to run and things would be much better for the fans.

yin-YANG · Joined: 03 Oct 2011

What are you working for Gina now Hiss and trying to get rid of the 'welfare state'?

I am with Wood of Ypress on this one... I like the packs and hard ball stuff and think the umps have been better generally this year. Players are rewarded for trying to get the ball and a bit more contest has been allowed.

Aussie Rules is always evolving and I would argue when the game was stop start with less flow it was more boring... but too fast is also boring just up and down with no contest. No way to the suggestion of turning the game into netball Collie!

The Hawks are playing a good brand of footy with a mix of speed, skills, pressure and strength... I think it is exciting to see a team knock them off and I am hoping it will be the pies... Smile

John Wren · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2014 8:48 am

the age of entitlement is over. collie dog and his are no longer entitled to an opinion.

the game is ok. there's nothing dreadful about it that would stop me from watching. we're still seeing players create or get in to space. the high marking is still there. goals are being scored. the great players can still showcase their skills and it's more evident when the ball is in a pack. i marvel how some of them can negotiate the traffic and get the ball moving.

the game will continue to evolve as it always does.

Warbler · Joined: 12 Mar 2003 Location: Tyaak Vic

I love the new umpires attitude , & the fact that the weasel KB hates it just confirms to me that we're headed in the right direction .

I wouldn't have a problem with penalizing ( a free kick ) kicking the ball backwards .

I don't understand how OH&S is all over every facet of every other workplace , but injured players are allowed to be jabbed & return to the field .
If someone is injured ( and I'm not talking about the blood rule etc , also the injured player may not play the following week - to stop the rule being exploited ) then they should be replaced with another player & still have 4 fit players on the bench .

GO PIES