Observations from overseas

[Puntrd64]

As a resident of the UK and having just renewed my AFL web site membership, I have just watched my first game for the year. ( Rich v Carlton)

Some observations:

The kick in before the flag is waved creates speed but makes the game look more than ever like basketball. ( Unaccountable mayhem). Should this rule be scrapped ASAP?
Should we just ditch the interchange (and go back to two non interchangeable reserves) so as to slow the game down
Was the ball (s) overinflated the other night, so many kicks floated instead of tumbling end over end , I cant remember so many easy goals missed

Call me old fashioned (dinosaur etc) but I prefer contests, marking in packs and hard possessions, I also preferred it when you had to kick over the mark and to kick across goal was a mortal crime.

Rich v Carlton was an example of rushed mayhem and I doubt anyone can be consistently skilled at that tempo

 

[JR8]

The kick in before the flag is waved creates speed but makes the game look more than ever like basketball. ( Unaccountable mayhem). Should this rule be scrapped ASAP?

I was thinking exactly the same thing puntrd64. Basketball like.

Not sure if I like it to be honest.

the game is quick enough as it is. We dont need to make it quicker.

BTW "Unaccountable mayhem" is an apt description for that game last Friday night. Left me breathless!!

 

[BalmyArmy]

Is this Sam newman?

What we have to remember, is that as the game becomes more professional/technical, the game style will speed up and no matter what rule changes the AFL throw at clubs, coaches these days are much more switched on in regards to defeating that rule.

The kick in rule is one particular rule which everyone is saying has changed the game, yet teams are recruiting more athletic, running type players which regardless of that new rule, would've sped up the game anyway.

P.S. Go Liverpool

 

[Tony Braxton-Hicks]

I'd rather watch a game like last Friday's (with more skill) than the chip around the flood games we've been subjected to.

And I'd rather see 16 on the ground (like the old VFL) to open up more space than some of the other convoluted suggestions for avoiding floods.

 

[tigersnake]

Welcome to the dinosaur gang 64. Some good points. I also reckon old VFA 16 a side should at least be looked at tony braxton.

 

[Rosy]

The kick in before the flag is waved creates speed but makes the game look more than ever like basketball. ( Unaccountable mayhem). Should this rule be scrapped ASAP?

Yep. :blah

Call me old fashioned (dinosaur etc) but I prefer contests, marking in packs and hard possessions, I also preferred it when you had to kick over the mark and to kick across goal was a mortal crime.

I'm that kind of old fashioned dinasaur too. I've noticed it's becoming more common to kick across goal and it makes me very nervous still.

 

[Mac]

Have to strongly disagree that basketball is unaccountable mayhem.

Friday night saw two sides that both need heaps of work on their skills coupled with them making more than the usual amount of skill errors even for them.

Loved the footage of Wallace when at one point in the game we had a rare passage of play with two clean possession down the guts into the leading foward - he threw his head back and his hands up and shouted "HOORAY!"...literally. Great stuff.

 

[Boyanich]

There are several codes of football played in Australia-

Soccer, Rugby League, Rugby Union, AFL and then Australian Rules Football.

The AFL is becoming further removed from the game that is played on public parks in suburbs or country towns.

Scrap the immediate kink in rule. And if teams want 4 on the side lines, why not have two of those players designated as "21st & 22nd men" to replace injured players only?

As for being compared to basketball, I agree, it is becoming more like that game, which is terrible. Our game is, or was, unique.

Also, it annoys me that when changes are mooted regarding Australian Rules Football, those championing change say it happens in other sports.
(Eg- Alternate Jumpers [not strips] "They have them in Soccer". So what?
We aren't soccer, we aren't basketball...we are Australian Rules Football.

 

[Boyanich]

Is this Sam newman?

What we have to remember, is that as the game becomes more professional/technical, the game style will speed up and no matter what rule changes the AFL throw at clubs, coaches these days are much more switched on in regards to defeating that rule.

The kick in rule is one particular rule which everyone is saying has changed the game, yet teams are recruiting more athletic, running type players which regardless of that new rule, would've sped up the game anyway.

P.S. Go Liverpool

Up The Hammers!!