Steve Hocking | PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
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Steve Hocking

If AFL had any real interest they would send a survey out to members via the clubs and ask what the only people who really matter (the fans) think of the state of the game. Relying on sychapants of the media to make these comments is the height of nepotism. Without the fans there is no national game..
Well said Perce.
But it goes to show that the AFL are blind to what club members think of the game. Or don’t care, or are too scared to ask others opinion.
They exist in their own boy’s club bubble. As long as they meet their own kpi’s and are well remunerated they just don’t care what the “grass roots” feel about the game.
As long as they can manipulate the game to sustain the pig trough $s and employ the boys club they’re happy.
That and to serve the masters of the game - TV broadcast rights holders.

Gimpdick Gil and sHitdick sHocking have a lot to answer for. Why doesn’t The Commission see the results of how the game has changed for the worse and act accordingly?

Maybe the “independent“ club presidents should force the hand.
Maybe club members should email their respective clubs and actually voice their views. Are clubs just happy to take the members money and not act in the best interests of the game.

I believe we’re being taken for granted. We need a voice. Exercise your rights as members and your love of the game.
Email the club. Email radio and tv stations. Be rational about what is turning people off. The only way change can happen is if enough people act in unison. It’s death by a thousand cuts.

viva la revolution.
 
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I particularly liked it when the commentator said that Geelong were streaming through the middle of the ground and the player with the ball then kicked it backwards.

What a boring brand of football.

Yeah, that should bring the crowds back, what a joke.

Basketball by foot, not football at all.

DS
Yes, the commentator was BT and he was I think being ironic; think he is just capable of that.

It's incredibly boring; the game sent me to sleep in Q2. It's driving crowds away. Whom would pay to see this in finals?

TBF, there is far more body contact and physicality in not only basketball, but also netball, in most scoring passages than in that virtually uncontested football until Ratugolea marks.
 
What's next?

They are preventing the way we played which was to grind down other teams and then unleash. The result is a possession game with little kicks to each other, boring as.

So, to fix this they will probably go for a 20m minimum pass for it to be a mark - which would be creating another silly rule change to compensate for the mess that their previous rule changes have caused.

FFS, wind back the useless rule changes and let the game evolve.

DS

PS: maybe they could bring back the "short kick" from the late 1800s, this was the original reason for the minimum distance rule as teams would literally kick it inches to each other and progress down the ground that way. Wouldn't be all that different from the clip above.
 
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Salty Scott - "Do we really want the game to look like this?"

his jab at us after the 2017 GF.

Dimma and Benny should return serve with interest.
But seriously how many passes go 15 metres?
That's the real issue
 
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I particularly liked it when the commentator said that Geelong were streaming through the middle of the ground and the player with the ball then kicked it backwards.

What a boring brand of football.

Yeah, that should bring the crowds back, what a joke.

Basketball by foot, not football at all.

DS
My favourite slice of commentary was when one of the commentators (forget who now) referred to Geelong’s kicking and marking as ‘poetry in motion’.

It was super exciting watching what felt like 1000’s of uncontested marks.

And I totally get where Scott was coming from when he questioned whether we wanted to watch a game like Richmond’s.

Who wants unrelenting pressure that leads to turn overs from the opposition pooping their pants, combined with a swarm of rabid athletic dogs that move the ball constantly and quickly?

Geelong’s footy may be good footy in terms of winning footy is good footy, but I ain’t watching it.
 
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Yes but by the time they arrived at those 2 minutes they would have played 4 minutes less, makes a huge difference in the ability to run through a zone.

Gee I thought we were meant to be tiring players out to get higher scores and, apparently, more Dusty moments. Now we need them fresh to score more.

The AFL have absolutely no idea, one minute they're reducing interchange rotations to increase fatigue, next minute they are complaining about fatigue and want to shorten quarters.

Nice bursting of the lines in that Geelong clip too, bursting chip kicks, bursting uncontested marks, bursting backwards . . . FFS what a borefest.

DS
 
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Gee I thought we were meant to be tiring players out to get higher scores and, apparently, more Dusty moments. Now we need them fresh to score more.

The AFL have absolutely no idea, one minute they're reducing interchange rotations to increase fatigue, next minute they are complaining about fatigue and want to shorten quarters.

Nice bursting of the lines in that Geelong clip too, bursting chip kicks, bursting uncontested marks, bursting backwards . . . FFS what a borefest.

DS
No one is willing to say it, but could fatigue also be contributing to the increase of injuries? Who would have thought?
 
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I think this clip from last nights match really captures the state of the game right now.
That is the most boring passage of football I’ve ever seen in my life. It took 7 possessions to move the ball outside defensive 50. After that I lost count because I dozed off.

*smile* off SHocking.
 
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No one is willing to say it, but could fatigue also be contributing to the increase of injuries? Who would have thought?
Coaches have maintained running demands on their players in order to preserve defensive structures. None of the rule changes have enforced positional play or dissuaded players from roaming the field. Fewer rotations, same running.

Years ago when a rotation cap was first mooted, coaches were warning that it would lead to an increase in injuries. That wasn't immediately borne out, but maybe they're reaching their limits.
 
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So many “Dusty” moments. Throws the Normy betting market wide open…
Smith had about 7 possessions in that video. And most of them went 7 metres and were paid marks. But that’s okay other clubs are allowed to do that.
 
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My personal view is if you want to increase scoring then you cut rotations dramatically, perhaps even to injuries only. That will force players to cover less ground and reduce the numbers available to fold back. Of course the risk is the coaches will fold them all back to reduce fatigue and just sit behind the ball for large periods of the game, with little chance to score.
You also risk a godawful mess. Not the mess we have now, but literally the death of the sport.

Anything that doesn't require the coaches to radically change the way they approach the game is doomed to failure.

I half-joked years ago that the AFL should abolish coaches and just let the players go at it. It might be the only salvation.

In the meantime they could try applying the existing rules unmercifully. They may need to pay a hundred frees a game to begin with, but so be it.
 
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