AFL, Aerial Pingpong and Cross-country netball

[AuckMel]

are you suggesting there is no kicking and marking in League ?

you should watch a game one day

The ignorance is just as bad on the other side of the fence it seems.

 

[IllawarraGiant]

because all the above metioned sports have one key thing in common, ball control

AFL is just too painful to watch if you have grown up on watching sport that have this key ingredient , its just that plain and simple for most people

AFL =:crazy:

I from the Gong: Im a Saints boy: but I have family in Victoria who Ive aruged this with and to be honest they won the arguament.

To say AFL doesnt value ball control is a misunderstanding of that game: Ball control is obviously important - you need it to pass to team mates, to kick goals, just like any other football game. The difference is the rules. The rules specifically conspire to make retention of the ball difficult - ie you cant just hold on to it, you cant just throw it, you cant run with for more than a few steps. You cant use offside to cordon off part of the ground, and each player has a direct opponent standing next to them, not at the opposite end so you cannot get away unless you move at pace - and pace leads to risk, and risk leads to errors.

Its not that ball control isnt important, the players need to control it but its just harder to achieve due to the rules of the game.The rules are deliberately designed to force the ball to be in more contested situations - and therefore be more chaotic.. or at least chaotic if your not skilled enough to beat the pressure the rules create.

 

[Raiderdave]

I from the Gong: Im a Saints boy: but I have family in Victoria who Ive aruged this with and to be honest they won the arguament.

To say AFL doesnt value ball control is a misunderstanding of that game: Ball control is obviously important - you need it to pass to team mates, to kick goals, just like any other football game. The difference is the rules. The rules specifically conspire to make retention of the ball difficult - ie you cant just hold on to it, you cant just throw it, you cant run with for more than a few steps. You cant use offside to cordon off part of the ground, and each player has a direct opponent standing next to them, not at the opposite end so you cannot get away unless you move at pace - and pace leads to risk, and risk leads to errors.

Its not that ball control isnt important, the players need to control it but its just harder to achieve due to the rules of the game.The rules are deliberately designed to force the ball to be in more contested situations - and therefore be more chaotic.. or at least chaotic if your not skilled enough to beat the pressure the rules create.

or

maybe they're just bumbling bafoons

yeah

lets go with that ;-)

 

[clarency]

You must be terrible at arguing if you lost.

Ball control is typically measured through the number of handling errors. This happens so rarely in League (and Union and various other sports) that they tally each time it happens over a lengthy period of time.

Can you imagine what the number would be in AFL. Every time they dropped the ball. Every time they fumble a catch.

I don't buy the "harder" crap either. It may be more difficult but they specifically train for the needs of the game, just like League players train under League rules, and so forth.

 

[docbrown]

Can you imagine what the number would be in AFL. Every time they dropped the ball. Every time they fumble a catch.

The stats guys would have a heart attack.

 

[haha]

The stats guys would have a heart attack.

Lucky bastard, he would get out of having to watch that turd of a sport.

 

[grobbelaar]

I don't buy the "harder" crap either. It may be more difficult but they specifically train for the needs of the game, just like League players train under League rules, and so forth.

In fairness, there's a bit of difference between catching a ball thrown to you from the bloke next to you, a few metres away, and catching a ball that may have been kicked from a team mate 100 metres away, on a 40m lead, running flat chat with a bloke hanging on to you every step of the way, and taking the ball in the hands in front of your face.

Not to mention, we're talking about a leather ball as compared to a soft, rubber ball.

 

[Azyboy]

You must be terrible at arguing if you lost.

Ball control is typically measured through the number of handling errors. This happens so rarely in League (and Union and various other sports) that they tally each time it happens over a lengthy period of time.

Can you imagine what the number would be in AFL. Every time they dropped the ball. Every time they fumble a catch.

I don't buy the "harder" crap either. It may be more difficult but they specifically train for the needs of the game, just like League players train under League rules, and so forth.

I'm a fan of both codes yet find the reference to fumble ball etc bemusing. I mean is dropping a mark or fumbling the ball any different to an errant pass or dropped catch in League? I don't see completion rates at 100% but am worldly enough to know that a lot of this is due to both actual and perceived pressure, not merely a skill error? The same applies in aussie rules - a dropped mark or fumble of the football is typically a result of perceived or actual pressure.

Oh and to the poster that suggested there is no skill in kicking etc in League, I too suggest they take the time to sit down and watch a game. 40/20s don't just happen.

 

[docbrown]

In fairness, there's a bit of difference between catching a ball thrown to you from the bloke next to you, a few metres away, and catching a ball that may have been kicked from a team mate 100 metres away, on a 40m lead, running flat chat with a bloke hanging on to you every step of the way, and taking the ball in the hands in front of your face.

Not to mention, we're talking about a leather ball as compared to a soft, rubber ball.

If it looks like fumbling then you know what? It's fumbling.

 

[grobbelaar]

If it looks like fumbling then you know what? It's fumbling.

Yes, but it's good to understand things.

For example, if you and I are running up and down the paddock, throwing the rubber ball to each other from a couple of metres away, it's extremely unlikely that either of us will drop it.

But if I were to drill a leather footy at you from 50 m, most on this forum would be incapable of taking the footy cleanly in front of their faces.

 

[docbrown]

Yes, but it's good to understand things.

For example, if you and I are running up and down the paddock, throwing the rubber ball to each other from a couple of metres away, it's extremely unlikely that either of us will drop it.

But if I were to drill a leather footy at you from 50 m, most on this forum would be incapable of taking the footy cleanly in front of their faces.

So you're admitting that it does look like fumbling because they are fumbling.

Glad to see we're in agreement.

 

[grobbelaar]

So you're admitting that it does look like fumbling because they are fumbling.

Glad to see we're in agreement.

No, when a defender punches the ball away in a marking contest, that's not fumbling - that's defensive pressure.

When you catch the rubber ball thrown to you from two metres away, the defender is forced to stand 10 metres away to give you every chance of catching the ball - not that you should need that chance.

In fact, we take a step back even further - so lacking in a contest for the ball is League, that you actually get six goes to hang on to the ball before you hand it over to the opposition, so for those six goes, the dummy half is picking the ball off the ground, with the opposition standing 10 metres away, and even then, the dummy half often fails to pick the ball up off the ground cleanly.

 

[docbrown]

If it looks like fumbling then you know what? It's fumbling.

Yes, but it's good to understand things.

You've already admitted that it looks like fumbling.

To anybody watching the game without having been brainwashed since birth it looks like an uncoordinated orgy.

Who cares why it's that way?

That is how it is.

 

[grobbelaar]

You've already admitted that it looks like fumbling.

To anybody watching the game without having been brainwashed since birth it looks like an uncoordinated orgy.

Who cares why it's that way?

That is how it is.

The AFL has 650,000 members, double that of all other football codes combined, so a very, very large chunk of the Australian population appreciate the contest for the football, a genuine contest, and the philosophy of having to win your own footy.

It's not handed to you nor is it based on turns.

 

[docbrown]

so a very, very large chunk of the Australian population appreciate the contest for the football

To anybody watching the game without having been brainwashed since birth it looks like an uncoordinated orgy.

Let me guess grobbelaar - you grew up in an AFL loving household and you have fond memories of some dudes in tanktops that most people in NSW & QLD and the rest of the world couldn't give a shit about?

Face it - you're just a sheep like the rest of them.