It's official, Hocking and the AFL are dumb-arsed, half-baked clowns who are trying to stuff the game | PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
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It's official, Hocking and the AFL are dumb-arsed, half-baked clowns who are trying to stuff the game

What about making the goal line 21 meters wide, it will reduce the points kicked and increase scoring with more goals and everyone will be a Dusty overnight.
Or......
Let's make a goal worth let's say 12 points, that too will increase the scoring and make the game better.
These people are purely simpletons. Who gives them the right to *smile* with the game?
 
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HA HA, thanks jb.

The changes are generally just dumb, but the man on the mark rule has got me furious. Stuffing with the fabric of the game, for what?

Hocking: 'how about we turn the man on the mark into a witches hat?' then they can get around them and kick over them easier", other AFL overpaid hack: "great idea Steve-o, you're onto something I reckon".

you cannot make this *smile* up.
I can see a game or two being lost because of an umpire interpretation of a player's actions on the mark. It's going to be another fiasco
 
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I wonder why Shocking hasnt thought about doubling the goal width o_O
That goose (Jennings?) that Whateley has on every week made that suggestion. Increase the width of the goals to make it easier for players to score!! He was serious!! He's a genius that bloke. Next week he'll probably suggest no tackling or impeding a player with the ball as that will make it easier to score as well.

I'm really surprised that this genius no longer has a job in the AFL system.
 
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SHocking has got to be the worst administrator in VFL/AFL history.
 
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So what was the outcome of the change to the rule on kick ins that came in at the start of 2019? That was brought in to increase scoring but it hasn't made a difference, because most teams sagged back the extra 5m and forced either a kick in that goes long to a contest, or forces a short kick and then the press moves forward. I would think stats would show that this has reduced the ability to break the forward press, not improve it.

So then he goes, ok extend it by another 10m! Why because your previous decision worked so bloody well eh Shocking? Why not just pull all opposition players out of the F50 when you have a kick in, go the whole hog. Oh because that will then create an outnumber at the stoppage down the ground, yeah no *smile* Sherlock.

I've read online many people claiming that the rotations is the right way to go as the SANFL shows that scoring is higher. The problem is they also brought various rule changes in at the same time (like the AFL does) so it makes it impossible to know which rule change results in any change to scoring, so essentially makes it too hard for them to assess if they are working so just go with it. In the SANFL it seems more logical that scoring has increased from the last touch out of bounds rule (which I hate by the way) as it takes a contest away and allows a team just to move the ball forward.

From a largely outsiders perspective (as I didn't grow up with this game), I hate all the incessant changing of the game to get back to "the good old days". This is the same for most sports. Soccer doesn't resemble the same game as it did when I grew up, its less contested but a lot more skillful. It almost seems to be higher scoring, but its turned me away from the game, I love the rough and tumble contest of sport and fear this is where AFL is going, removing the contest. Give me a hard fought 1-1 draw in the mid 90's compared to a 5-0 or 6-1 these days.

On a side issue, membership numbers, crowd numbers (pre Covid) and TV audiences are at all time highs, doesn't that suggest that the product is GOOD, so the moral of the story is STOP *smile* WITH THE BLOODY GAME.
 
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So more rule changes to make players more tired. The more they change the more it stays the same for us. Surely a club that has had a recruitment strategy over the last 5 or 6 years to select mostly players with speed and endurance will benefit greatly by tiring players out.
 
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Also can see the rotation of players from game to game becoming a regular thing. ie resting players will happen more often to keep them fresh. Depth in a list will be handy
 
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On a side issue, membership numbers, crowd numbers (pre Covid) and TV audiences are at all time highs, doesn't that suggest that the product is GOOD, so the moral of the story is STOP *smile* WITH THE BLOODY GAME.
There is no question whatsoever in my mind that the game is not as good to watch as it was, say, 25 years ago. But as you say, interest is at a peak. People evolve with the game and they aren't turning away in droves that I'm aware of. Perhaps that's what they're trying to guard against, given all the negative talk in the media, but if they alienate the rusted-ons then they are in trouble.

What I hear consistently is past players saying the rules don't need to be changed, they just need to be enforced.
 
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Interesting seeing Gil and Hocking watching us receive the cup at the Gabba. Gil would have whispered "Make sure they don't win it again next year or else"
 
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There is often only a problem when they say there is a problem - if they didn’t say there were problems with the game then people would agree and all would be good in the world of AFL.

Gill and his mates are damaging the brand by creating problems that aren’t really there.

We just played in two ripping finals - the prelim and granny. They weren’t the highest scoring games cause the conditions were wet and slippery and they were both high pressure contests - it’s hard to kick 100 pts in those conditions regardless of the rules. Surely they should celebrate those games rather than moan and whinge about the state of the game.
 
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Interesting seeing Gil and Hocking watching us receive the cup at the Gabba. Gil would have whispered "Make sure they don't win it again next year or else"
Gil watched the game from the Richmond corporate area, didn't he? He'd done the rounds of the other clubs in previous weeks including Geelong and was probably hoping he could avoid us!
 
There will be at least one consequence of the new man on the mark rule: five goals to Carlton in Round 1.
 
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Thank You Gil & Hocking.
You just made our job easier of getting a 3peat.
Cut rotations.HaHaHa
Plays into our hands.
 
The fundamental problem with middle aged men running the game is they want the game to look like it did when they were 15-20.

They need to some time with the youth players of today who have no issue with how the game is played or how it looks.

These guys are like creationists who refuse to accept things evolve.
 
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Im bewildered by the changes and a little concerned for the future.

Im bewildered because the AFL seems to think there is any going back to some imagined glory days of the 90's. There isn't. We know that football isn't won playing man on man, we know football is won by controlling space and we know that happens by positioning players in a 0 to 60 meter circle around the ball and carefully picking the moment you break away. As rotations dwindle coaches arent going to revert to old tactics, they are going to get players that run even more, run even faster, run even longer to make the tactics that win continue to work. BTW, in this world there's less and less ability to carry the 'pure' footballer who might be a bit slow or the aging veteran playing good footy but struggles with recovery. They arent playing AFL anymore except perhaps in struggling teams trying to rebuild.

Im concerned because the only way of addressing and correcting the game style we know will always win in the end is to enforce strict and lasting zones netball style and when that happens the very fabric of the game has changed and it simply isn't our game anymore, its another rugby or soccer with stupid offside traps and crappy technical trickery.
 
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There will be at least one consequence of the new man on the mark rule: five goals to Carlton in Round 1.
Yep it'll be like the first game of the 2018(?) season when they introduced the *smile* protected zone rule. From memory Carlton got 7 x 50m penalties from it and at least 4 of them directly resulted in goals.
 
What I hear consistently is past players saying the rules don't need to be changed, they just need to be enforced.

This.

Plus, ball it up quickly and don't give packs so much time to form. Look at old games: the pack forms, 10 seconds later the ball is being bounced or thrown up. Now: pack forms, writhes around for a while, ball goes a few inches and then back in the pack, umpire, after waiting for an eternity, blows whistle, rucks run in, nomination is settled, ball is thrown up. They want someone to blame for congestion, they need to look in the mirror, too many rules, too much discretion in interpreting rules, not enough gettitng the game moving.

There is often only a problem when they say there is a problem - if they didn’t say there were problems with the game then people would agree and all would be good in the world of AFL.

Gill and his mates are damaging the brand by creating problems that aren’t really there.

We just played in two ripping finals - the prelim and granny. They weren’t the highest scoring games cause the conditions were wet and slippery and they were both high pressure contests - it’s hard to kick 100 pts in those conditions regardless of the rules. Surely they should celebrate those games rather than moan and whinge about the state of the game.

And this.

The people running the game keep talking up issues like congestion.

Gil, Hocking et al - don't like the game the way it is now? Go and work for FIFA and mess up their young football code - the oldest code of football in the world doesn't need your interference.

DS
 
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