Is AFL turning into WWF?

[BENT_8]

I am a huge footy fan, i love to watch it and talk about it but i'm seriously losing interest with what i interpret as blatant game throwing.

Everyone knows that sides which sit at the bottom of the ladder this late in the season have little to play for and although clubs wont come out and admit it, they play for draught picks.
Not really in the spirit of the game but i guess it can be disguised with tactics like playing fresh recruits and sidelining injured players with surgery etc. in prep. for next season.
Although i hate to hear of this stuff i'm not gullible and believe it definately happens.

What i cant understand is when a side that is clearly in better form than it's opposition 'laying down'.
With this i'm referring to tonights clash between Adelaide and Port Adelaide.
Being a Soth Australian these games are the highlight of the footy calander as they provide a finals like buzz, nothing new there, and so when they come around i find myself glued to the tv.
I was appauled at Ports blatant game throwing in tonights clash.
I was sus from word go when they said Brogan was out injured in a pre-game warm up incident. Considering Port would have smashed Adelaide around the stoppages if Lade wasn't left to Ruck all night.
Then there was the continued 'blind' kicks forward which seemed to always find themselves in the hands of the Adelaide defenders.
In the last quarter when Lade was stuffed, Choco put Thurstans into the Ruck and Port had three clean wins in 4 mins after being down 16-0 in the clearances upto that time in the quarter. Port started coming at the Crows again and he took Thurstans back off the ground and put the knackered Lade back on...WTF
Even the commontators thought it was strange, at one point Malcolm blight added that Port could win if they showed some intent, which coming from Blighty was right on the money because he calls it as he see's it and is always controversial.
I cant help but think that Port would feel more comfortable playing Adelaide in the finals than some of the other sides vying for the last few spots and so 'helped them out'.
Yes it was a wet game and the skill levels were not going to be as good but Port were far from believable.

What are your thoughts. :

[Sourbastard]

my thoughts on AFL after giving up on it

Over regulated
Far too commercial
Self important
Over paid
Over Priced
Far too much media interference.

Football is dead, what we have now is MediaBall.

[big_pete]

switch to real footy and you'll never look back ;)

[SpoolMan]

Originally Posted by big_pete

switch to real footy and you'll never look back ;)

Soccer :

[svo347]

Rugby league or union for me thanx Spooly

[DOC]

? little to play for, they can still make the 8, port boys fell over their big boots again.

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by DOC

? little to play for, they can still make the 8, port boys fell over their big boots again.

Who?....Carlton.

The Port boys must have been wearing different boots 3 wks ago when they played West Coast.

[DOC]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Who?....Carlton.

The Port boys must have been wearing different boots 3 wks ago when they played West Coast.

LOL Winners are grinners

[ELtim]

AFL to me looks like thugs running on testosterone rather than a respectible sport.

[herbs]

To respond to the original poster, why the hell would Port throw a game against their arch rivals when Port are in the top 4? If you were to say Richmond you could have a point, but them and Carlton are just crap anyway. To solve 'tanking', a draft lottery should be implemented that is similar to the NBA and NHL draft models, but in this case have the bottom 4 go into a lottery for the no. 1 pick, but the lower teams have a greater number of balls in the lottery. Please lets keep this from a Aussie Rules vs rugby league vs soccer thread everyone.

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by herbs

To respond to the original poster, why the hell would Port throw a game against their arch rivals when Port are in the top 4? If you were to say Richmond you could have a point, but them and Carlton are just crap anyway. To solve 'tanking', a draft lottery should be implemented that is similar to the NBA and NHL draft models, but in this case have the bottom 4 go into a lottery for the no. 1 pick, but the lower teams have a greater number of balls in the lottery. Please lets keep this from a Aussie Rules vs rugby league vs soccer thread everyone.

To manipulate the final 8 and their placings there-in

[herbs]

Neither of the Adelaide teams would throw a 'Showdown' game, get a grip FFS! Does that mean that Collingwood threw the game against Brisbane? No, they just got royally owned. Silly conspiracy theory.

[BZINGA]

Port had the chance to go into 2nd position if they won. To finish the year in 2nd position means a home final, if they win they get a week off, then another home final then into the granny if they win that. Perfect for interstate clubs. Crows just finished better.

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by TRIK67

Port had the chance to go into 2nd position if they won. To finish the year in 2nd position means a home final, if they win they get a week off, then another home final then into the granny if they win that. Perfect for interstate clubs. Crows just finished better.

Port finished top in 02 and 03, and didn't appear in either grand final so it doesn't necessarily do anything for interstate teams.
Adelaide won both it's flags from the last two spots in the eight.

[BZINGA]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Port finished top in 02 and 03, and didn't appear in either grand final so it doesn't necessarily do anything for interstate teams.
Adelaide won both it's flags from the last two spots in the eight.

Its not a guaranteed flag but what im saying is its an ideal run to the grand final if you want home games.

[ED Classic]

Originally Posted by sourbastard

my thoughts on AFL after giving up on it

Over regulated
Far too commercial
Self important
Over paid
Over Priced
Far too much media interference.

Football is dead, what we have now is MediaBall.

And its turned into netball with all this crap uncontested possesion stuff.

Was watching a Essendon vs Kangas game from the mid 90's the other day (and I dont barrick for either) and the tackling and style of game was at its peak IMO, gone downhill fast since those days. Now its about as entertaining as watching some amateur athletes jog laps around the oval without a ball.

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by TRIK67

Its not a guaranteed flag but what im saying is its an ideal run to the grand final if you want home games.

My point is not so much where the games are played as opposed to the opposition.
As it stands now i would say Geelong and W.C. will finish top two, where do you think the Kangaroos would prefer to play, Skilled or Subiaco?
I'm sure they would play with less enthusiasm come rd 22 if they had the option to avoid a first final clash against W.C. in Perth.
They would be hindering themselves to win an extra game if it meant making their first final harder to win, you only have to make the finals and
H&A games = 0 when your in the finals.
Footy is a statistic driven sport, these same statistics can act as a crystal ball to the experienced statistician and be used to predict future outcomes.
I believe teams rely on this to try and put themselves in the best position to contend for the flag if not a front runner.

[DoreSlamR]

Is AFL turning into WWF?

If you ask Dennis Cometti, then the answer is yes! unless the WWF you're refering to is the World Wildlife Foundation...then Probably still yes with player protection and all that... :

[herbs]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Adelaide won both it's flags from the last two spots in the eight.

Incorrect, Adelaide won the flag in '97 from 4th spot while in '98 they finished in 5th.

[Kobayashi]

i'm agreeing with the fact that NO adelaide team would throw a showdown. Especially seeing it could put port out of the top 4 come the end of the year.

While home finalists dont ALWAYS win the flag, its sure an advantage most teams try really hard to get.

[sgt_doofey]

You're obviously a Port fan judging from your post.

Just face it, Adelaide was a better team on the day and finished stronger than Port. Adelaide kicked inaccurately for the first 3 quarters and Port didn't capitalise on it.

A team in the top 3 is not going to deliberately throw a game. The would be playing to finish as high as they can to give them the best opportunity come finals time.

[uranium_death]

Since the revised final eight system was introduced in 2000 the flag has been won by the team that finished:

2000: 1st (Essendon) (All home finals)
2001: 2nd (Brisbane) (All home finals)
2002: 2nd (Brisbane) (All home finals)
2003: 3rd (Brisbane) (1 home final out of 3, plus Grand Final @ Collingwood home)
2004: 1st (Port Adelaide) (2 home finals)
2005: 4th (Sydney) (1 home final out of 3)
2006: 1st (West Coast Eagles) (2 home finals out of 3, but still beat Adelaide at AAMI(who finished 2nd)

From this, it is clear that finishing in the top two is a clear advantage with 4 of the first 5 years of the system having a team in the top two with 2 home finals winning the flag.

In terms of AFL turning into WWF, no. The game no longer promotes contests or hardness. The incentive to go in hard at the ball has gone. Players sit back and wait for the opposition to get the ball, tackle them and get a free kick despite no reasonable attempt being made to get the ball themselves.

In the 1980s (my fave decade) you went in for the ball and were rewarded.

The ONLY rule change I support in the last 20 years is the head-over-the-ball rule, especially after watching the disgusting attack by Michael Long on Troy Simmonds in the 2000 Grand Final. The head must be protected.

However, all other rules have made the game weak. The push-in-the-back interpretation is weak and a disgrace. It does not promote high marking or body-on-body contests which to me, are a major spectacle of the game. Instead, we have people doing ****weak dives (Scott Lucas V Geelong) but due to a stupid interpretation, he was rightfully rewarded for it.

If I want to watch World Football (soccer) and the best of diving, then I'll watch a replay of the Japan V Australia match at the Asian Cup and watch the Japanese dive and scream like sooks, rolling around due to a little clip.

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by sgt_doofey

You're obviously a Port fan judging from your post.

Just face it, Adelaide was a better team on the day and finished stronger than Port. Adelaide kicked inaccurately for the first 3 quarters and Port didn't capitalise on it.

A team in the top 3 is not going to deliberately throw a game. The would be playing to finish as high as they can to give them the best opportunity come finals time.

Yes i am a Power supporter, but my post is not that of a whinging loser.
I'm not blaming umpiring or any other outside force on Ports loss, It was a team effort.

I spoke with two Crows supporters today both of which were at the game and they both said Adelaide were hopeless but Port weren't interested.
One of them commented on how Port displayed it's usual aggressive attack in the opening 5 mins kicking 2 or 3 quick goals and then seemed to switch off waiting for Adelaide to reply.
Adelaide were hopeless and had lots of the ball but couldn't kick straight. Port ran the ball over Adelaides goal line so many times un necessarily they said if not for the colours you would swear they were all playing for Adelaide.

[JACK250]

The thing that annoys me most is delayed telecasts, I can't be bothered listening to it on the radio because I can't keep track of it, and I refuse to watch a game that's already finished! I reckon it's just an excuse to pump it full of adds, there's nothing more annoying than sitting there at half time watching ads when they could start the play straight away or at least five minutes later!

[Sourbastard]

Originally Posted by ED Classic

And its turned into netball with all this crap uncontested possesion stuff.

Was watching a Essendon vs Kangas game from the mid 90's the other day (and I dont barrick for either) and the tackling and style of game was at its peak IMO, gone downhill fast since those days. Now its about as entertaining as watching some amateur athletes jog laps around the oval without a ball.

thats about right, although id argue the game has been dead since football players became Media Whores who have no personal lives, and are enshrined as role models for the kiddies.

For me, football was at its peak in the 70's, they were ugly, they had beards, they went the biff and it was physical football.

[uranium_death]

I preferred the 1980s. Better coverage, massive characters. I will admit though that the 1980s was a poor decade for Grand Finals with the only decent ones being 81, 82, 84 and 89. Of them, only 84 and 89 can be considered as classics. Only 89 can be considered legendary.

In the 70s, 1970, 1972, 1977 (drawn) and 1979 are all-time classics with 1970 and 1979 being considered among the best of all time.

Also, 1975 was memorable for North's first premiership and Peter Crimmin's effort to captain Hawthorn that day, while 1976 had background due to Hawthorn winning and sharing the cup with Peter Crimmins until about 2am that night. Peter Crimmins died 4 days after the Grand Final.

But I still preferred the 1980s on the whole.

[Bucknaked]

I watch classic quarters on fox Saturday morning. Hawks were playing Carlton in the 86 Grandfinal. It was full contact back then. None of this touching the player and giving away a free. Footy has become soft. Its become a game of umpires, not a game of football.

[sgt_doofey]

It was good to see a bit of push and shove in the western darby there yesterday. Now that was entertaining! You could see the fines being racked up!

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Yes i am a Power supporter, but my post is not that of a whinging loser.

I never said you were. I looked at it from the point of view of how the teams played.

I spoke with two Crows supporters today both of which were at the game and they both said Adelaide were hopeless but Port weren't interested.
One of them commented on how Port displayed it's usual aggressive attack in the opening 5 mins kicking 2 or 3 quick goals and then seemed to switch off waiting for Adelaide to reply.
Adelaide were hopeless and had lots of the ball but couldn't kick straight. Port ran the ball over Adelaides goal line so many times un necessarily they said if not for the colours you would swear they were all playing for Adelaide.

I'd have to agree with pretty much everything you said there. I also am a Crow supporter and was at the game. Both teams probably had the ball an equal amount, Adelaide probably had it more though. Adelaide looked hopeless when they had it, and Port looked fantastic when they got the run going. Port had their opportunity in the first half to run all over the Crows and capitalise on their inaccurate football skills, yet never did. Adelaide finally switched on in the last quarter and ran all over Port at the end. A couple of brief rallies from Port towards the end had us Crows supporters on the edge of our seats as that is when they traditionally lose the game (West Coast in the finals last year, Geelong this year as a couple of examples.)

[kremmen]

Originally Posted by svo347

Rugby league or union for me thanx Spooly

Exactly, any sport where u get a point for missing is unaustralian. Close enough aint good enough.

melees LOL

[uranium_death]

I'll settle it.

Both Port and Adelaide played low-quality football, except maybe in a few bursts.

Adelaide won because they managed their rotations far better than Port did, which has been stated by Robert Walls.
As soon as Thurstans went down, Williams should have realised that to keep Lade competitive, he'd need to be rested properly rather than play him for 3.5 quarters (he was so stuffed, he hardly even jumped in the 2nd half).

The Crows are not the teams of 2005-6, but they still can play and Neil Craig coached better on the night.