The state of The Game and our game

[howlinwolf]

There's been much conjecture this year about the state of the game in general.
So much so that the AFL has convened a panel as a thought bubble on the issue.

I can see there are some lousy games each week but are they a result of the competition expansion and the drain on talent nationwide ?

Or is it coaching tactics ?

This weekend I have watched both games so far and thouroughly enjoyed them. (Last night especially ).

Richmond don't look flushed with high end talent but are playing a high pressure fast brand that is proving hard to beat.

The Dogs were right down on the best side due to injury before the game and during yet won with a similar brand to Richmond although not quite as good.

So coming to our situation. Why can't we play a similar brand ? I know we sort of did last year.
Have we had too many new assistant coaches with too many different ideas thrown around ?

[remboy]

A combination of things. I think most clubs are playing a similar style based on high pressure. As a result, pretty much all teams mids and forwards push up the ground and we see 36 players in a half (or third) of the ground. It makes for an ugly spectacle.
It wasn't that long ago that teams would have different styles of play to suit their needs and would play to their strengths. That seems to have gone out the window. Most matches look the same no matter who's playing.
The depth of talent is another one. We've got 18 teams now. That's a lot of teams competing for players compared with 35 years ago when we had 12.

[stevie]

Not just the Afl but other sports have dropped a lot in standard. Cricket is the obvious one but even football isn’t as it used to be, certainly not at World Cup level. For example the Aussie football team of 2006 would just about have won their group in Russia. And I remember watching entire World Cups of years past and nearly every game was decent. 1982 and 86 were just superb. 1994 in the US was the best ever for me but the Final was dogshit so it doesn’t hold up. Anyway just my thoughts lol

[Scollop]

So coming to our situation. Why can't we play a similar brand ?

One reason and one of the most important reasons is that Richo doesn't come across as an aggressive, ruthless, demanding head coach.

Watching Luke Beveridge at press conferences you can smell the fear from some of those journos. He wants his players to play an aggressive style and be aggressive with their pressure, so he leads by example with his demeanour.

With Luke Beveridge or Hardwick ( or Al Clarkson ) you get the feeling that you better not get on the wrong side of them as a player. Bevo and these other successful coaches instill belief first but I believe that they don't forget that one of the best motivators for anything in life is fear. I'm sure that Bulldogs players are under no illusions and genuinely fear for their positions at the club. Bevo uses this as a tactic and would be aware of when to give the team and certain players a spray but it isn't an act....They have seen how fair dinkum he is with players like Libba, and Stringer being dropped and also Stringer being shown the door because he did not display behaviours that the coach demanded

The classical legendary coaches that we grew up listening to in Barassi, Jeans, Kennedy and in recent times Pagan, Lethal and Sheedy also exuded this style in various ways. Ross Lyon probably took a leaf out of their book but thye fact is that it suits his personality.

Not saying that Saints need an old school type of ranting and aggro coach, but unless the board and management of St. Kilda think that all of a sudden Richo's going to become a hard=ass I don't think we are climbimg the ladder to become finalists under his coaching

[parkeysainter]

TV, sponsors and big selfish corporations have made sport worse, not better. There are just too many teams in the AFL for example but it brings in more money for the above. The AFL has become a selfish money making machine that cares little for the aussie battler turning up to a stadium to watch their side most weeks.

Players are happy though as they are getting paid ridiculous amounts of money. The world really isn't fair when you have a deadshit like De Goey earning nearly a $1 mil a year just for playing footy as a 20 something year old. Compare that to someone that has probably studied at a uni for 10 years and will never even come close to getting paid that amount once employed - even after 30 years in their industry.

Too many pricks, too many players and too many teams equals a shitter product.

[Scollop]

The supporters of clubs who are in the finals hunt aren't complaining...too much

The supporters of clubs who have won recent premierships aren't complaining too much either because you have to play good footy to get to finals

Did you see the smile on Dimma's face when he said on Thursday night that he reckons there's nothing wrong with the game?

It's a great product when your team is winning

[Toy Saint]

Performance enhancing drugs have been banned, it's no surprise the standard has dropped

[sunsaint]

It was not long ago when a game between Stkilda V Swans was a snore fest & considered a blight on the game and the powers that be were being urged to do something about it.
Any Stkilda fan that sat watching saints game during 80s werent complaining about the shallow talent pool due to the expansion comp. WE were just oh so very poor

Anybody who watched the Bulldogs vs Cats game saw two rising stars from both sides make considerable contributions (Narkle and Richards) while a 34 yr old abllett kick an amazing goal to level at the end.
It was simply an amazing game to watch for the pure joy of AFL
There is nothing wrong with aussie rules

I do however think there is plenty wrong with whinging media who "HAVE" to make some sort of controversy
In particular has beens like B Taylor S Newman and a plethora of Fox media personnel

[To the top]

"fast"

leg speed, reaction speed.

Then effective ball usage to maximize fast into opportunity

[The_Dud]

The game is fine, different than what it was in the 80s and 90s, but that doesn’t mean worse. People just like to fondly reminisce about ‘back in the day’, which applies to most things.