Football is Back

[Clinton1]

Waldo, Waldo, Waldo...

All I can say is.....





CAAAAAAAAAAARN the 'Pies.

No Hopawatzit finger pokers in AFL.

[Waldo]

G'day Clinton1,

Yeah let's see 'em win and stick it to the Vic' teams. Go the Lions, go the Crows. (said without a shout as I can't get too excited for it all)

Now the V8s on the other hand or our Aussie guy, Webber...

[LineLefty]

No seriously, I watched a lot of rugby league and rughy when I was in Canberra for 6 years. The constant off-field shenanigans really turned me off. The players seem to be mindless idiots.

Yes there are moments of brilliance, try saving tackles, fancy footwork, busting runs. To me it's just all to repetitive. Everything happens in a straight line and it's all very controlled.

AFL on the other hand is one of the only true 'freestyle' field sports in the world. To the unitiated it seems unstructured but once you understand it the frrestyle nature makes it the fastest evolving and most tactically complex sport in the world.

In soccer for example theres only a number of ways you can score attack the goal, a wide cross, the long high pass to the single defender etc, Everytime they come up the field the'yre looking to do the same thing.

The game of AFL is constantly changing with different play styles, dominant players creating tactics around them and then other teams counteracting. Look at Pagans paddock, the flood, corridor, loose man in defense, all small forward line, all tall forward line, etc

I know theres different styles in other sports but it's the freestyle nature of AFL whch allows such diversity.

[Zed]

LineLefty - your post makes me gag! have you had a recent leftbotomy ?

free flowing, evolving.... Pah!

As the frenchman said in Holy Grail - "I fffaaRt! in you general direktion!"

[HappyHammer]

In soccer for example theres only a number of ways you can score attack the goal, a wide cross, the long high pass to the single defender etc, Everytime they come up the field the'yre looking to do the same thing.

You obviously haven't watched much soccer lefty because as long as you don't foul another player or touch the ball with your hands you can use any means available to you to score a goal. It's certainly not restricted to a handful of tactics as you suggest above. Whilst AFL is your preference it's not for the majority of sports fans around the world.

The game of AFL is constantly changing with different play styles, dominant players creating tactics around them and then other teams counteracting.

As is soccer.

HH.

[LineLefty]

How have the tactics of football changed over the last 20-30 years? I'm not saying they havent, I just don't know.

[HappyHammer]

I'm not sure they have dramatically. There have been minor rule changes and the influence of technology in regards to the boots and balls. The variation in tactics is demonstrated in football by the very different approaches taken by the different managers and coaches. A great deal of thought goes into how well different players complement one another on the field and what formation you play. It used to be almost exclusively 4-4-2 but in the game today you'll see 5-4-1 or 4-5-1 as well as 4-4-2 and some other more desperate formations as the game unfolds. There are also some individuals who are given free reign to wander around the field with no fixed position which needs to be accomadated by the remainder of the team to maintain balance. It's as tactical a game as AFL just with fewer players on a smaller field.

HH.

[boban]

Beat me to it HH.

Where do they think that the AFL idea comes from.

Its basically a football type game except that you can use your hands as well and still get a point for missing. Maybe thats what Lefty means when he says there are more ways to score...

[LineLefty]

Boban,

No it's not, lets put all parochialism aside here for the minute. AFL is very, very, different from football. The offside rule in football is the key difference and the defining limitation around which tactics are derived. AFL on theo ther hand involves moving the ball from contest to contest rather than kicking it ahead and letting players run onto it. (Although that is changing)

I didn't denegrate football, I think it's a great game. Let me give yuo an example of a tatical battle in a recent AFL game.

Mathey PaAvlich is 190cm, strong and very fast. At each centre bounce he started in the middlfield meaning that a smaller, faster player was his direct opponent. At will, he would float down forward where his height, combined with the other tall forwards was too much for that smaller player causing massive problems for their defense. In response the other coach moved his second (tall) ruckman from the bench to the the forward line meaning that a tall player was sucked from fremantle's forwadline to cover him. This left an extra tall to cover Pavlisch when he came forward. His response? park his bum at centrehalf forward where that the tall couldnt run with him and the smaller player couldnt out mark him.

Complex? Yes. Evolving? Yes. And fantastic to follow if you now the game. I'm sure football has similar ebbs and flows. As do most sports, except league.

[HappyHammer]

The offside rule in football is the key difference and the defining limitation around which tactics are derived. AFL on theo ther hand involves moving the ball from contest to contest rather than kicking it ahead and letting players run onto it. (Although that is changing).

I'm not sure the offside rule in soccer is the key difference although it is an element that adds to the tactical complexity of soccer. The key difference would be the handling of the ball and that feet are predominantly used as opposed to hands in AFL.

There are man on man contests in soccer as well in midfield and also between forwards and defenders. Many players play with the ball also and it's not simply a case of kicking it from one spot to another, I don't think this is what you meant but that's how it came across.

How about we agree that soccer is as tactically diverse as AFL and let it rest, I'm just waiting for someone to pickup your comment on League

HH.

[boban]

Seriously I follow all the football codes, although without any real in depth knowledge of union or AFL. All the codes can be boring at times, but thats how it goes.

Kicking it ahead and running after it is what was played in England quite some time ago. If you watch good teams play, possession is the key. They go back, forward, and across until an opening is found. Yes there is the offside rule. Without it though the scoring frequency would be a lot higher. Pros and cons there I guess.

For mine the two games are extremely similar just as gaelic football is similar to both these codes.

BTW - Pavlich sounds like another good Croat boy.

[LineLefty]

You're right Hammer, there are both tactically rich, my point was that AFL is not derivative of Football. Boban, Pavlich is a good Croat boy, you should see his schnoz (thats his nose ).

I understand all to well that Croats take their soccer seriously. We signed up for a kickandgiggle season of indoor soccer once. Little did we know that the other 7 teams were all 'ethnic based' The greek team ,the Italian Team, the Indo Team the Croats, Lebanese, Turks. Lets just say that the Croats took the game rather seriously

[boban]

Lets just say that the Croats took the game rather seriously

No fun in losing is there. And they're worse in groups.

You should have seen what it was like at school at lunch time. No-one wanted to lose. It makes me laugh now.

[Zed]

Ja sam dobar Hrvastski covjek ali moram cazat,nemosem gledat wogball. AFL ne valja zato I ne razumiem takvu igru, i rugby union je previse prljavo za mene, previse kickaju za points.

League however is far more appealing to me. and dont bad mouth sterlo, mick cronin or ray price or i'll have to do an aegboat and hunt you down

And yes Lefty I know you havnt had a leftbotomy or a sidebottomy either, however the gushing like a pimply teenage girl.... hmmm...

[boban]

Come world cup time and I watch virtually every game. Contemplating going to Germany, visiting some relatives and catching the action in 2006. I played both football and league (at school). I found league so easy to play compared to football but found that as you got older the players got dirtier. Otherwise I like it.

Ja sam sa tebom na rubgy - to ye bas govno.

Go the eels. Tough test this weekend.