A.F.L. Thread II

[vicleggie]

What a grub Tom Morris is. His second video (not about the female journo) was just as bad.

I went to a very elite private school and I certainly know the type- guys like that stay in their bubble their entire life and don't face reality.

I feel for the female journalist- she is terrific at what she does. Must be very shattering.

 

[duffer]

What a grub Tom Morris is. His second video (not about the female journo) was just as bad.

I went to a very elite private school and I certainly know the type- guys like that stay in their bubble their entire life and don't face reality.

I feel for the female journalist- she is terrific at what she does. Must be very shattering.

Said some really homophobic and racist stuff in the second video from what I heard?

 

[vicleggie]

Said some really homophobic and racist stuff in the second video from what I heard?

Yes, he said if you are gay, black, Asian or a woman you deserve to be treated like ****, and because he is not any of them he deserves respect.

 

[duffer]

Yes, he said if you are gay, black, Asian or a woman you deserve to be treated like ****, and because he is not any of them he deserves respect.

That's really bad, holy ****

 

[Burgey]

I was at the SCG on Friday night sitting in the Noble Stand when Buddy kicked his 1,000th.

Just reinforces how sport is about moments. Honestly can't think of many better sporting moments, certainly none other than maybe Steve Waugh's ton matches it from what I've seen at the SCG.

After he kicked the goal, we waited about ten minutes before deciding to leave as there was only six minutes to play once they got back on.

We walked out of the ground, caught a bus to Central (don't judge, was over the limit for driving), alighted from the bus, walked to a pub and were half way through a drink before they got play back underway. Absolute scenes.

 

[Uppercut]

In an effort to break a series of fever dreams this morning I turned on the TV and discovered the great Australian sport of Scraps (the sound was down but I’m guessing that’s what it’s called).

Scraps consists of a series of violent scraps over a large egg. In an Air Scrap, the goal is to catch the ball cleanly. Ground Scraps appear to be more or less to the death. There were about ten lads in yellow who I thought were referees except that they never once called a foul. I assume fouls exist, but I’ve established that DDTs and clotheslines are both fair game. I figured people might get hurt a lot, and it seems that someone has paid to sponsor the Injury Report - always the sign of a good sport.

Despite the near constant violence, however, the winner of an Air Scrap is always fully respected. He wins the right to freely boot the egg into the air, thereby kicking off another Air Scrap.

Points are scored by kicking the ball between four large poles. Strangely, a lot of players seemed to struggle to kick accurately. My theory is that either players are selected primarily for their scrapping ability, or the egg is made deliberately awkward to kick, to make the game more scrappy.

Another charming feature is that while points are about as common as basketball baskets, they’re celebrated with the intensity of soccer goals. This means that every few minutes the scrapping is interrupted by unbridled joy. It’s great to see.

 

[Uppercut]

At half time they’re showing an intensely homoerotic ‘team bonding’ feature. I’m not sure whether this means the sport is extremely progressive or extremely repressed.

 

[Aritro]

In an effort to break a series of fever dreams this morning I turned on the TV and discovered the great Australian sport of Scraps (the sound was down but I’m guessing that’s what it’s called).

Scraps consists of a series of violent scraps over a large egg. In an Air Scrap, the goal is to catch the ball cleanly. Ground Scraps appear to be more or less to the death. There were about ten lads in yellow who I thought were referees except that they never once called a foul. I assume fouls exist, but I’ve established that DDTs and clotheslines are both fair game. I figured people might get hurt a lot, and it seems that someone has paid to sponsor the Injury Report - always the sign of a good sport.

Despite the near constant violence, however, the winner of an Air Scrap is always fully respected. He wins the right to freely boot the egg into the air, thereby kicking off another Air Scrap.

Points are scored by kicking the ball between four large poles. Strangely, a lot of players seemed to struggle to kick accurately. My theory is that either players are selected primarily for their scrapping ability, or the egg is made deliberately awkward to kick, to make the game more scrappy.

Another charming feature is that while points are about as common as basketball baskets, they’re celebrated with the intensity of soccer goals. This means that every few minutes the scrapping is interrupted by unbridled joy. It’s great to see.

This is fantastic. Love it. I might be copy pasting this in Whatsapp groups unless you're worried about IP.

Was that really the first time you've watched it? It's a good game. A less skilful one than most - as evidenced by the fact that we've had a horde of high quality Irish players who make the transition from Gaelic footy, and even a couple of North Americans who learned the game from scratch when they were already about 20 - but it's not without it's charms.

And as I watch football turn more and more into a real life parody of lassez-faire capitalism taken to its most grotesque extremes, I've really started to appreciate the AFL's salary cap and draft system, which gives every team a hope of competing at the top, and the clubs themselves being non-profit entities, which allows Aussie Rules to bypass the self-serving greed that has ruined football.

 

[Burgey]

A less skilful one than most

This actually isn’t true at all tbh.

UC, loved your missive. If you ever get a chance to watch an AFL game live, do it. Fastest of all football codes by a million miles, and the kicking skills and athleticism is next level.

 

[Aritro]

This actually isn’t true at all tbh.

UC, loved your missive. If you ever get a chance to watch an AFL game live, do it. Fastest of all football codes by a million miles, and the kicking skills and athleticism is next level.

Mate, we had Mike Pyke and Mason Cox come in from North American college basketball at the age of 20 - with zero experience of footy - and pick up the skills they needed to have AFL careers. The skill involved, while not negligible, is nowhere near what's required for other ball sports like basketball and football, and bat and ball sports like tennis, baseball, cricket etc. You'd need thousands and thousands of hours practice to even start competing with good professional basketballers for ball-handing and shooting accuracy.

It's a good sport - I've played it and it's one of the three I follow closely so I'm not shitting on it, but I don't know why it's controversial to say it takes less skill than a lot of others.

 

[Burgey]

The skill involved, while not negligible, is nowhere near what's required for other ball sports like basketball and football,

Again, this just plainly isn’t so tbh. A different skill set isn’t less skill. At all.

Just as AFL and rugby players have gone to the US and played different sports doesn’t detract from the skills in those sports. Mark and Steve Waugh were junior representative soccer players, Alex Carey was in an AFL club system - all went on to play international cricket. The fact they switched sports to do so doesn’t detract from the skills associated with cricket. This is junk logic

 

[Aritro]

Again, this just plainly isn’t so tbh. A different skill set isn’t less skill. At all.

Just as AFL and rugby players have gone to the US and played different sports doesn’t detract from the skills in those sports. Mark and Steve Waugh were junior representative soccer players, Alex Xarey was in an AFL club system - all went on to play international cricket. The fact they switched sports to do so doesn’t detract from the skills associated with cricket. This is junk logic

Except that wasn't the logic. Or even remotely an exact parallel.

Steve and Mark Waugh started playing soccer at a very young age, getting some of the best coaching in Australia at the time at Blacktown City, and developing the fine motor skills involved for years and years, while also concurrently playing cricket. They didn't switch sports, they got really good at both over 5-10 years at a formative age when your neuroplasticity and ability to adapt to new skills is at its highest, and then dropped one and focussed on the other. So did people like Alex Keith who grew up playing both footy and cricket, and Josh Rachele who grew up playing both footy and soccer, before dropping out of the Melbourne City academy to play AFL.

The fact that people like Pike and Cox can learn an entirely new sport at 23 and 24 (yes, that's 23 and 24), with no previous exposure or experience of it, and attain the skills to an AFL standard in 18 months later suggests that those skills, even honed for an elite level, are pretty accessible. Something like that would be just about unthinkable in those other sports I mentioned (which didn't include gridiron btw). Do you think it's in any way possible for someone to come from a non-cricket playing country and learn to bowl for the first time at 23 and even make it to grade cricket in five years, let alone 18 months?

The core skills of footy - kicking, handballing and marking - are not that difficult to grasp. It doesn't take a long time to learn to kick a decent drop punt or handball the ball, The fine motor skills involved in dribbling a soccer ball, or dribbling a basketball to even a moderate standard are a world away from that. Learning to bat and bowl even adequately takes a fair bit of mastery. Leaving the Cox, and Pyke examples aside, I've played all those sports and the difference was obvious.

I've played casual footy at school and in the park against guys who were in elite junior Aussie Rules programs and what they were doing with the ball wasn't terribly different to what the rest of us were doing, except they made crisper contact with the ball when they kicked. Obviously there's skill and repetitive practice involved, but the main difference was they could outjump us and run rings around us with their outstanding athleticism. I've played competitive footy and found the same to be true of the best guys there. I've played soccer and basketball against guys who were semi-professionals in the state league and what they could do with the ball even playing at that level was breathtaking. And it would have taken a lot more than 18 months to learn.

Have you played much footy?

 

[Line and Length]

I can't agree with the assessment that AFL skills are inferior simply because a couple of North Americans and a a number of Irishmen have succeeded in the game. There are far more ex-AFL players making the big time in gridiron than there are Americans making at an elite AFL level. The Irish game has so many similarities to AFL that the transition is easy. There are even games of a hybrid AFL/Irish format between Australia and Ireland.
I have taught physical education at schools and coached at junior and senior levels as well as having played and can assure you the skills of AFL are far more difficult to master than you believe.

 

[Aritro]

I can't agree with the assessment that AFL skills are inferior simply because a couple of North Americans and a a number of Irishmen have succeeded in the game. There are far more ex-AFL players making the big time in gridiron than there are Americans making at an elite AFL level. The Irish game has so many similarities to AFL that the transition is easy. There are even games of a hybrid AFL/Irish format between Australia and Ireland.
I have taught physical education at schools and coached at junior and senior levels as well as having played and can assure you the skills of AFL are far more difficult to master than you believe.

And how do you reckon it compares to cricket, soccer, basketball, tennis and baseball?

Fair enough if you think there's a similar level of skill involved but I can't agree at all.

 

[Line and Length]

And how do you reckon it compares to cricket, soccer, basketball, tennis and baseball?

Fair enough if you think there's a similar level of skill involved but I can't agree at all.

Cricket obviously requires multiple skills but one player isn't required to possess all of those skills.
Soccer requires fewer skills IMO.
Basketball - a one dimensional sport. I found it the easiest to play at a competitive level.
Tennis requires great skills.
Baseball - fewer skills than most sports.

The point is, AFL requires skills to be displayed while under direct physical contact pressure. Gridiron and rugby have that same physical aspect but neither require the same skill level.

I guess we agree to disagree.

 

[Aritro]

Cricket obviously requires multiple skills but one player isn't required to possess all of those skills.
Soccer requires fewer skills IMO.
Basketball - a one dimensional sport. I found it the easiest to play at a competitive level.
Tennis requires great skills.
Baseball - fewer skills than most sports.

The point is, AFL requires skills to be displayed while under direct physical contact pressure. Gridiron and rugby have that same physical aspect but neither require the same skill level.

I guess we agree to disagree.

Yeah, we agree on the bolded bit but otherwise seem to have pretty different views on the skills required in those other sports.

Who do you barrack for in the footy? The Dockers are on soon.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Baseball - fewer skills than most sports.

Lmao

 

[Line and Length]

Sadly I'm an Eagles fan. They have traded away draft picks in the past and now, with Premiership players past their prime and Covid and injury woes they are struggling. At least their last 3 quarters against the Crows were competitive.

 

[Burgey]

The core skills of footy - kicking, handballing and marking - are not that difficult to grasp

The core skills of any sport aren’t hard to grasp. to get to them at an elite level is pretty tough though.

Pike and Cox both played other football codes as well. Cox was a more than decent soccer player as a kid as well, and Pike played rugby for Canada. These aren’t mugs who walk in off the street ffs. Plus, without being disparaging, they’re predominantly ruck men. You’ve chosen two blokes who play a specialist position which primarily requires loads of height

 

[Uppercut]

This is fantastic. Love it. I might be copy pasting this in Whatsapp groups unless you're worried about IP.

Was that really the first time you've watched it? It's a good game. A less skilful one than most - as evidenced by the fact that we've had a horde of high quality Irish players who make the transition from Gaelic footy, and even a couple of North Americans who learned the game from scratch when they were already about 20 - but it's not without it's charms.

And as I watch football turn more and more into a real life parody of lassez-faire capitalism taken to its most grotesque extremes, I've really started to appreciate the AFL's salary cap and draft system, which gives every team a hope of competing at the top, and the clubs themselves being non-profit entities, which allows Aussie Rules to bypass the self-serving greed that has ruined football.

Yeah haha you can repost if you like. I’d seen bits and pieces but never watched it properly before. I’ve come to really like watching sports where I have no idea what’s going on and trying to figure them out.

It’s a bit less like Gaelic football than I expected. I didn’t realise it was quite so much more violent. Plus Gaelic has moved towards shorter passes and blanket defences, AFL looks more similar to how it used to be played. But the skills required still seem very similar, the best Gaelic players are big, strong, incredibly fit, and use the same catching technique where you get up early and take it as high as possible. So it makes sense that players can make the switch.