The thread where stephen & jimmy debate NRL vs AFL

[jimmy101]

Aussie Rules, the Australian national sport, has a league made up of 18 teams spread across the whole mainland of Australia, including four teams 'behind enemy lines'. Has been going strong since the 1850's and is the most popular code in Victoria, Tassie, SA, WA, NT as well as southern NSW. Fast flowing & tough sport with high marks, long kicks and loads of strategy.

Rugby League, an imported game, really only ever got going in NSW/Qld. The NRL is made only of teams from those areas, apart from a team in Melbourne who are nothing but a pack of cheaters that no-one likes. It's basically the T20 version of rugby union, pretty much a dumbed down version of the real deal, only good for teaching the game to primary school kids due to its simplicity.

 

[Ausage]

Nah.

 

[the big bambino]

There are no skills required for Aussie Rules. You don’t even have to control the ball or deal with intricacies like offside rules. Basically every play is a coin flip. Glorified version of two up.

 

[jimmy101]

There are no skills required for Aussie Rules. You don’t even have to control the ball or deal with intricacies like offside rules. Basically every play is a coin flip. Glorified version of two up.

Of course ball control is needed mate. Players have to mark the ball overhead as well as fielding the ball at ground level. Granted there is no offside, but that just means players' fitness needs to be at a really high level due to the fact you have to run around a field the size of a cricket ground for 2 hours plus. Whilst on the surface it may seem that every play is a coin flip there's actually quite a lot that goes into positioning.

 

[stephen]

Rugby league is the quintessential Australian football code. Just like Australia herself, rugby league broke off from its English ancestor (in this case union) and became the people's choice of football codes. It did so by constantly reinventing itself, improving and becoming faster and more intense.

Rugby league is the combination of big tackles, skillful passing, fleet footwork, speed, strength and endurance. No other sport creates such a ferocious whirlwind of big hits and clever play.

Even the scoring is well thought out. Unlike soccer there are enough points on offer each game that the game does not feel as unsatisfying as a pimply teenager's love life and unlike AFL, points are hard earned and meaningful.

It is the ultimate football code. No other sport is capable of creating something so perfect and poetic as the Mark Coyne try.

 

[the big bambino]

Nah you get paid marks for a fumble, knock on as much as you like, given points for missing and no off side means you can place blokes anywhere on the ground without earning it. Then to fool you into thinking they’re tricky they voodoo up that stupid hand ball pass when a game less sensitive about its skill levels would just pass the ball normally.

 

[Athlai]

CPL > both

 

[stephen]

The analogous American sports are:

Cricket: baseball
League: nfl
Union: hockey
Afl: basketball

 

[Burgey]

Why can't you like both? The obvious answer is that reasonable people can, however, Queenslanders are all troppo because of the humidity and heat, and Victorians are always miserable and walking around with their heads down trying to stay warm in bleak city. The result is residents of both States are incapable of having sufficient brain cells to support two codes of football at once, and as a result take an either/ or approach. Whereas we in NSW, as the sensible centrists in the best, most temperate climate, support both because we have the brain capacity to do so.

It's the same reason we are the beating heart of the sensible centre of the country. Most (though by no means all) hard line Antifa, deep State, Cryto-Commies (did I say all that conspiracy **** correctly, Ausage?) are from Melbourne. Most of the loony rightwing ****tards are from Queensland - the State where the Tories are somehow still popular, and which gives us Dutton, Hanson and Clive Palmer.

We in NSW are in between these two extremes geographically and ideologically. We are the sensible centre and therefore support both codes. The rest of you can **** off.

 

[Ausage]

Antifa is a state of mind man. It's like, everywhere.

 

[Spark]

nrl is bad

 

[Ausage]

No.

 

[jimmy101]

Rugby league is the quintessential Australian football code. Just like Australia herself, rugby league broke off from its English ancestor (in this case union) and became the people's choice of football codes. It did so by constantly reinventing itself, improving and becoming faster and more intense.

Rugby league is the combination of big tackles, skillful passing, fleet footwork, speed, strength and endurance. No other sport creates such a ferocious whirlwind of big hits and clever play.

Even the scoring is well thought out. Unlike soccer there are enough points on offer each game that the game does not feel as unsatisfying as a pimply teenager's love life and unlike AFL, points are hard earned and meaningful.

It is the ultimate football code. No other sport is capable of creating something so perfect and poetic as the Mark Coyne try.

Are you kidding me? The RL/RU schism happened in England. There is nothing Australian about the origins of Rugby League. If anything BOTH codes were derived from Union.

Aussie Rules also combines big tackles, skillful passing, fleet footwork, speed, strength and endurance. Other sports that create a ferocious whirlwind of big hits and clever play akin to League include Aussie Rules, Rugby Union, American football & Canadian football.

Admittedly I like the scoring system of RL & points are indeed well earned. A friend of mine once said whilst soccer is too low scoring & AFL is too high, rugby has the best balance. He hates League mind you (nuts All Blacks fan).

The analogous American sports are:

Cricket: baseball
League: nfl
Union: hockey
Afl: basketball

Not sure about those analogies considering both hockey & basketball are both non-contact sports. Over the years several AFL players have successfully crossed over to American football & enjoyed sustained runs in the NFL (see Darren Bennett, Ben Graham & Saverio Rocca). On the flipside, League superstars such as Karmichael Hunt & Isreal Falou couldn't hardly get a kick during their respective AFL careers.

 

[morgieb]

As a loyal NSWman, 100% agree with the OP.

 

[jimmy101]

Nah you get paid marks for a fumble, knock on as much as you like, given points for missing and no off side means you can place blokes anywhere on the ground without earning it. Then to fool you into thinking they’re tricky they voodoo up that stupid hand ball pass when a game less sensitive about its skill levels would just pass the ball normally.

As long as the player is in control of the ball when marking it matters not of the ball is fumbled. And yes, naturally since there is no offside rule there is no knock-on rule. AFL players will often knock the ball on to their own, or their teammate's advantage, which is a skill in itself. 'Behinds' scored by teams often denote sustained attacking play. And yes, a player is free to occupy any part of the ground at any time, which means at the very least AFL players much be highly adaptable & able to execute a whole list of separate skills. You can't afford to be a one-dimensional player with one job like a rugby league prop.

 

[jimmy101]

Why can't you like both? The obvious answer is that reasonable people can, however, Queenslanders are all troppo because of the humidity and heat, and Victorians are always miserable and walking around with their heads down trying to stay warm in bleak city. The result is residents of both States are incapable of having sufficient brain cells to support two codes of football at once, and as a result take an either/ or approach. Whereas we in NSW, as the sensible centrists in the best, most temperate climate, support both because we have the brain capacity to do so.

It's the same reason we are the beating heart of the sensible centre of the country. Most (though by no means all) hard line Antifa, deep State, Cryto-Commies (did I say all that conspiracy **** correctly, Ausage?) are from Melbourne. Most of the loony rightwing ****tards are from Queensland - the State where the Tories are somehow still popular, and which gives us Dutton, Hanson and Clive Palmer.

We in NSW are in between these two extremes geographically and ideologically. We are the sensible centre and therefore support both codes. The rest of you can **** off.

Whilst you yourself might enjoy both codes mate, most people from Sydney are staunch anti-AFL.

 

[jimmy101]

nrl is bad

Spark on the money as always. Proper use of lower case letters for nrl.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Never has the title of a thread been more unappealing.

 

[Ausage]

Whilst you yourself might enjoy both codes mate, most people from Sydney are staunch anti-AFL.

Sounds like AFL is the national game of the arsehole of Australia.

 

[GIMH]

The idea that football (the association kind) being low scoring makes it unsatisfying is hilarious.

Anyone who thinks that will never in their life experience via sport the emotion that I did when James Norwood’s header crossed the line last May. But those who know, know.