Has 2016 Ruined Football For You?

[Twodogs]

I have to admit I am really angry about Essendon keeping their #1 pick and keeping all the other advantages that they cheated to get and the fact they are obviously paying way over the salary cap to keep their list together and the AFL changed the rules regarding player retention (originally after 2016 their top up players like McDonald-Tipingwudi were supposed to go into the draft for every club to have access to. But, no the afl changed the rules and Essendon just got to retain them) But I remain confident that it will all come out in he wash and Essendon will pay a far heftier price than if they had just shut up and accepted their punishment.

[Murphy'sLore]

I must admit I am struggling to muster the same passion as pre-premiership. After experiencing the PERFECT premiership, so unexpected, so heroic, each game with its own individual challenge and story, all culminating in that sublimely emotional day -- nothing will ever match that magical month.

I said afterwards, that's it, I quit footy, I'm done, I've had it all. And sadly, that seems to have come true to an extent! Trying to rev myself up again, but gee it's hard work.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

It's like you have a window into my soul, comrade. A combination of reaching the summit in the most unexpected and thrilling way possible, and the way the game has been administered by the AFEL (most notably the Essendon doping saga and the regression of the aesthetic quality of the modern game, which is borderline unwatchable and dead boring) has left me with a deep feeling of ambivalence for the game. It's there, I'll watch during the season, I'll take an interest in drafts/trade period, and if we are at the pointy end again I'll be very happy. But I am nowhere near as emotionally invested as I have been for the vast majority of my 46 years on the planet.

What the AFEL did with regard to Essendon was the final straw for me - that club disgraced the code and set about to systematically cheat like no other sporting team in the world has ever done. And yet the narrative around that shitstain of a club has been a warped interpretation of the real story into a confected one of "courage and redemption". They should have been kicked out of the competition for good and their license handed to Tasmania, such was the depth of their cheating from the top down and the damage they caused the code.

The game itself is also a shambles. Lowest scoring in 50 years, massive problems with congestion, rolling mauls and stoppages. To be perfectly frank it is a shit product to passionately invest my time in, if not for the Bulldogs. What is so frustrating is that it's very easy to remedy (I've made suggestions elsewhere on woof).

I'm not some old man yelling at a cloud who hankers for the past just for the sake of it - there are clear problems with the modern game and the administrators have been asleep at the wheel and not been able to adequately manage even the most basic fundamentals that they are employed to do, allowing coaches/players to control the (d)evolution of the game. They excel in diversionary tactics to take away from the awful quality of the actual game today, and they have the entire media in their back pocket to control the communication of their narrative. They point to crowds and ratings as justification for their performance, but the reality is these crowds and ratings have been captive in footy states for decades.

Richmond were brilliantly coached (much like we were in 2016) and their players brilliantly executed their game plan - it was a thoroughly deserved premiership by them, but the fact that such an unwatchable game plan proved so successful is a savage indictment on City Hall.

Summed up my thoughts precisely. And the "journalism" not just around the essendon saga but footy in general is at an all time low. It's embarrassing and puts a bad taste in my mouth surrounding the sport even more so. I keep saying last season was one of the worst i have seen in terms of quality of football. The games were close during the season but more because the quality was poor and no team had any consistency of playing good footy. The finals that followed supported that. Now i don't know if my record lack of interest was due to the 2016 success or if the footy was really that bad. Maybe a combination of the two.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

I have to admit I am really angry about Essendon keeping their #1 pick and keeping all the other advantages that they cheated to get and the fact they are obviously paying way over the salary cap to keep their list together and the AFL changed the rules regarding player retention (originally after 2016 their top up players like McDonald-Tipingwudi were supposed to go into the draft for every club to have access to. But, no the afl changed the rules and Essendon just got to retain them) But I remain confident that it will all come out in he wash and Essendon will pay a far heftier price than if they had just shut up and accepted their punishment.

The biggest blight in the history of the game. They cheated and were essentially rewarded for it. Still makes my blood boil that the AFL awarded the number 1 pick to a team that finished last because it was without it’s best players because they systematically cheated. That is not the purpose of the number 1 pick. And then to add to that the AFL allow the cheats to hold onto the players they got a free look at because of the cheating. They’ve had numerous leg ups on top of all other teams who played it fair. It’s bad enough that I’m sure the Brisbane lions have considered whether administrating a drugs program would accelerate their rebuild. Absolute lack of integrity. And the narrative in the press that poor Essendon should keep their number 1 pick because they’ve been through enough is sickening

[bornadog]

I must admit I am struggling to muster the same passion as pre-premiership. After experiencing the PERFECT premiership, so unexpected, so heroic, each game with its own individual challenge and story, all culminating in that sublimely emotional day -- nothing will ever match that magical month.

I said afterwards, that's it, I quit footy, I'm done, I've had it all. And sadly, that seems to have come true to an extent! Trying to rev myself up again, but gee it's hard work.

I feel a bit like that in the off season, but I get revved up about two weeks before the start of the season. See how you feel come round 1.

[Twodogs]

The biggest blight in the history of the game. They cheated and were essentially rewarded for it. Still makes my blood boil that the AFL awarded the number 1 pick to a team that finished last because it was without it’s best players because they systematically cheated. That is not the purpose of the number 1 pick. And then to add to that the AFL allow the cheats to hold onto the players they got a free look at because of the cheating. They’ve had numerous leg ups on top of all other teams who played it fair. It’s bad enough that I’m sure the Brisbane lions have considered whether administrating a drugs program would accelerate their rebuild. Absolute lack of integrity. And the narrative in the press that poor Essendon should keep their number 1 pick because they’ve been through enough is sickening

Sickening is exactly the right word. It sickened me to watch it, to hear it, to read about it and to experience it. The fact that Essendon skated out the other side of their "punishment" bruise free is a farce. It just reinforces the fact that the AFL is a boys club.

As much as I despised Wayne Jackson and Ross Oakley maybe a head honcho like that is a neccesary evil. It's difficult to imagine either of them cuddling up to Essendon and giving them a slap on the wrists and a big kiss on the forehead.

[Sedat]

As a matter of interest, when was the product to your liking?

My optimum AFL era in terms of quality of spectacle and adherence to the unique aspects of the game was the period from the early 90's to 2004. That period was the perfect balance of attacking instinct and defensive quality. There was no time for mass flooding in defence, so the game was open and free of the congestion today, and as a result scoring was much higher and individual highlights were plentiful. The game started to turn to pot when Paul Roos won a flag with his hideous stoppage-heavy game plan - I blame John Worsfold equally because he had a 6 goal better team on paper and could barely scrape 1 flag being such a crap coach.

Because Roos was relatively successful, his shit stoppage-laden defensive game plan was even more dramatically refined by Ross Lyon - we have Bomber Thompson to thank for stopping the further erosion of attacking football with his Geelong teams being successful. Unfortunately we've regressed further since then with stoppages choking the life out of the game and scoring dramatically reduced as a result.

There are simple remedies that will fix the majority of today's problems but they are seemingly too difficult for AFEL executives on $2.5m a year to comprehend.

I did enjoy 2016 immensely, in particular that 4 week patch from early Sep to Oct 1

[Bulldog4life]

After 1989 when we were very close to losing our great club I will never lose the passion of anything doggy related. They were very dark days. I look forward to every season. I read every article. Irrespective of what occurs in the AFEL it just doesn't matter to me. Looking forward to a successful 2018 for the doggies.

[bornadog]

My optimum AFL era in terms of quality of spectacle and adherence to the unique aspects of the game was the period from the early 90's to 2014. That period was the perfect balance of attacking instinct and defensive quality. There was no time for mass flooding in defence, so the game was open and free of the congestion today, and as a result scoring was much higher and individual highlights were plentiful. The game started to turn to pot when Paul Roos won a flag with his hideous stoppage-heavy game plan - I blame John Worsfold equally because he had a 6 goal better team on paper and could barely scrape 1 flag being such a crap coach.

Because Roos was relatively successful, his shit stoppage-laden defensive game plan was even more dramatically refined by Ross Lyon - we have Bomber Thompson to thank for stopping the further erosion of attacking football with his Geelong teams being successful. Unfortunately we've regressed further since then with stoppages choking the life out of the game and scoring dramatically reduced as a result.

There are simple remedies that will fix the majority of today's problems but they are seemingly too difficult for AFEL executives on $2.5m a year to comprehend.

I did enjoy 2016 immensely, in particular that 4 week patch from early Sep to Oct 1

Whilst I see your points, I personally feel its the best spectacle of any sport in the world. There will always be game plans and changes, but rules will never fix the game to look like you want it to. Coaches are too smart and they overcome silly rule changes by changing tactics.

Back when Rodney Eade came up with the flood, and Terry Wallett exploited it even more with the super flood (2000), there were so many calls for rule changes. Thank god that did not happen, as people were talking about zones and the number of players that had to stay in those zones - that would have been a disaster.

The biggest thing that pisses me off is the AFL constantly tampering with the game and rules, but they just can't stop the juggernaut as the game continually evolves with human-beings getting faster, stronger, bigger and more skillful. This year we have 30 players over 190cm out of a list of 40 odd. Once upon a time the ruckman were only 190cm and everyone else was smaller.

AFL to me is the greatest game in the world to watch and nothing comes close despite the AFL morons running the game.

[Twodogs]

After 1989 when we were very close to losing our great club I will never lose the passion of anything doggy related. They were very dark days. I look forward to every season. I read every article. Irrespective of what occurs in the AFEL it just doesn't matter to me. Looking forward to a successful 2018 for the doggies.

Yep. That near death experience makes me never take the club for granted. We were that close to oblivion and I can't understand how anyone who went the full journey from 1989-2016 could be complacent about our clubs existence, let alone assuming that continued success will come our way. Hard work and fanaticism is the only way forward.

[Remi Moses]

I start getting up and about by Mid March . It’s great to have a break from the stress of it all.
Yes, I want more success

[Twodogs]

I've had a taste, it tasted bloody good, and now I want more.

Remi, how did you like and thank the same post mate? It only ever lets me do one or the other for one post.

[Go_Dogs]

So long as we're graced with players like the Bont, exciting young players like Dale I'll continue to have passion for watching our club play. Because a large portion of my mates follow different sides I also still enjoy the social side of catching up with friends and watching games, but it's more for the mate ship rather than an unwavering love for the game.

I'm a draft nerd, so like that.

A big 2018 for the Dogs is what I'm really looking forward too.

[jeemak]

Remi, how did you like and thank the same post mate? It only ever lets me do one or the other for one post.

Think that’s impressive, ask him how he parted the sea!

[AndrewP6]

Nope, not at all. 2017 almost did though - 2016's success makes me want us back up there, not shite like last year. I've never been a huge fan of the draft period, I'm not at all fussed about this AFLX thing. Just fast forward to Round 1.