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A.F.L. Thread II

Spikey

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nah Melbourne are screwed because they bottomed out, got the top picks, and players like morton and watts have turned out to be spuds despite the near on universal agreement in their selections, and have to bottom out all over again like richmond in 04 and then in 09 or whatever. it's sucky. but that's what happens when you place too much importance on the draft, as the afl has done for the last 10 years. luckily that's changing.

there's enough talent. it's an equalisation problem. or in that universe, anyway
 
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NUFAN

Y no Afghanistan flag
I don't think its too even for the way its structured, but thanks for letting me know that its never been better, that's great to hear.

I was just thinking about how large AFL rosters are and how many players get to play in the top tier comp every weekend, its just so much more than say the 66 domestic cricketers, or the 150 A League players and they can get players from around the world, it must be hard for a code to sustain a good level across the board with the number so high and the resources catchment pool relatively low, in some ways.

I know its only two new teams, but I just think with the amount of different career options for Aussie kids its very hard for a comp to sustain a good standard in the top league. The NRL standard overall isn't anything special at the moment and the thing that helps it from being worse is the number of footballers from overseas.

Not attacking AFL this time, just think its a problem in our country at the moment and was wondering if the drain is noticeable or not, sounds like its not..
 

benchmark00

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I don't think its too even for the way its structured, but thanks for letting me know that its never been better, that's great to hear.

I was just thinking about how large AFL rosters are and how many players get to play in the top tier comp every weekend, its just so much more than say the 66 domestic cricketers, or the 150 A League players and they can get players from around the world, it must be hard for a code to sustain a good level across the board with the number so high and the resources catchment pool relatively low, in some ways.

I know its only two new teams, but I just think with the amount of different career options for Aussie kids its very hard for a comp to sustain a good standard in the top league. The NRL standard overall isn't anything special at the moment and the thing that helps it from being worse is the number of footballers from overseas.

Not attacking AFL this time, just think its a problem in our country at the moment and was wondering if the drain is noticeable or not, sounds like its not..
Yes the standard is higher than it's been. The worst player in the AFL today is still better than the worst player in the AFL ten years ago.

The league would be of a higher standard if you got rid of five teams, but that's the same with every single league in the world. I don't watch a game today and think that the level is poorer than 5 years ago. There are always going to be **** games, but they're still better quality than five years ago.

AFL is played by so many people in Australia that there is a big enough pool, and when this generation in western Sydney and south east Queensland grow up there will be an even bigger pool. In junior participation rates, in western Sydney the participation rates of kids playing aussie rules has increased by 30% with the AFL's introduction into the league. Imagine how much of an effect that's going to have in years down the track.

The game is ultra professional now which has lifted the standards so much that it has compensated for the two teams coming in.
 

benchmark00

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To give you some idea, in 2009 aussie rules had 223,000 kids playing. Since then there's been a massive jump in participation rates in western Sydney and Queensland. So now there'd be around 250,000 kids playing the sport.

For comparison sake (because you brought up NRL), rugby league had 97,000 in 2009. So the pool that they're drawing on is much smaller, even with the NZ participation.

Basically what I'm saying is that the pool of players is big enough, and will get bigger when these expansion teams begin to pay off.
 
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Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
Not exactly the point I was trying to make. Yes, there aren't any sports where every team finishes the season with a 50% win, 50% loss record or anything like that and even if it did it wouldn't necessarily mean high standard, it was a genuine point though that I think that it really does get difficult for one country (with minor help from Ireland and Canada, happy Spikey) to fill 18 rosters with enough very good players to make the league good.

There are roughly 400 AFL players playing in the sports top division, how many top tier AFL footballers are there? How many of the 400 would you consider good and how many are fairly ordinary? I don't know the stats, interested though.
Because the afl has more teams afl clubs are recruiting from other avenues they generally wouldn't, and also recruiting players older than thu are generally doing. This has had a positive effect on the afl as many of the mature age recruits from the lower leagues were missed or not up to it when they were younger but are now ready for elite football. I think it's been good for recruitment.

Additionally the afl wants to expand its grassroots fan base. Clearly this means making the pool of potential players larger. The afl has expanded the clubs because they believe they will expand the sport in general and hence ideally there won't be a lack of quality
 

Burgey

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Yeah just saw the "highlights" of the game and the post-match stuff.

You can't blame a coach for that type of performance, no matter the code. There's personnel issues there but you have to have a bit of pride in your performance as a player. They're all saying the right things this morning, but that's all well and good. Was a diabolical performance.
 

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