Why we love the SANFL

[topsywaldron]

Having a ball, keeping it
Chip Le Grand
04apr06

FOOTBALL may have gone mad. For a proper diagnosis, we will need to wait a few weeks and see whether the early symptoms abate. But on the evidence of the seven games before last night's match, the game is heading towards a place far removed from what the AFL's laws of the game committee intended.

Kicks are up by 10 per cent from last year's season averages and handballs are up by 15 per cent. Teams, on average, touched the ball 33 more times at the weekend than they did last year. Yet inside 50s have not budged, fewer goals were kicked and a smaller percentage of possession was contested.
In simple terms, the game is faster and more furious but going nowhere. For evidence of this, look no further than Fremantle's loss to Hawthorn on Sunday.

Fremantle had 371 possessions and took 170 marks - more than any team in VFL/AFL history. Yet for all the damage Fremantle did on the scoreboard, it may as well have spent two hours practising circle work.

Hawthorn's tactics were splendidly simple. It instructed all six defenders to play in their positions and ignore their opposing forwards when they ran up the field in search of kicks. Aaron Sandilands dropped back, as ruckman are wont to do, and occasionally a wingman dropped into the defensive 50 as well.

And there they waited.

When Fremantle got the ball, it went forward with ease. With loose men everywhere, it had no problems chipping the ball around and retaining possession. It was all too easy. Then it arrived 70metres from goal and had nowhere to go.

Like the big, bad wolf, it huffed and puffed beyond the 50m arc and couldn't budge one brick. The Dockers bombed the ball long, which is the same as a wolf trying to scoot down the chimney. To the surprise of no-one, they finished the game out of breath and 22 points behind. Rarely has so much work been done for so little gain.

Elsewhere, strange things were afoot. Richmond had 331 possessions against the Western Bulldogs but kicked the ball long only 30 times. Carlton had 361 touches along the way to beating Melbourne.

Geelong had 150 handballs. As coach Mark Thompson said yesterday: "If you ended up with 130 handballs in a game of football six years ago you would be angry as buggery."

For now, the AFL is neither angry nor concerned. A league spokesman pointed out that high possession counts and uncontested styles of play are typical of early rounds. As the season progresses, the AFL expects normal transmission to resume.

The league is happy with the way the teams have adapted to the rule changes. The television figures for Thursday night's season opener were strong and first round attendances have been sound despite the unavailability of the MCG.

In announcing the new rules, the AFL's intention was to create a more continuous style of play and more contests for the ball.

Stoppages have been reduced from last year's average of 49 to 43 and clearances are up, which is what the laws of the game committee intended. But the more continuous nature of play has had no impact on scoring, with 26.8 goals scored on average per match last weekend compared with 27.9 goals last year.

The bigger concern is the percentage of contested possession. Last season, only 34.6 per cent of possessions were hard won. Last weekend, that number slipped back to 33.2 per cent.

For a snapshot of how football is being played, consider Byron Schammer's stats for Fremantle on Sunday. Schammer is only 176cm tall, short even by midfield standards. Yet he took 13 marks.

Not that long ago, Stewart Loewe would take 10 marks in a game of football and be judged best on ground. Now we have Schammer pulling down three more marks than Aaron Sandilands. Only they are gifts instead of grabs. This, if nothing else, shows the way in which the value of possession has cheapened. If football was an economy, its inflation rate would rival the Weimar Republic.

It is premature to sheet all this back to the rule changes entirely. Perhaps the style of games we saw over the weekend were the result of too many coaches having too long to think about what the rule changes might mean.

There is the view, held by Swans coach Paul Roos and Adelaide's Neil Craig, that the evolution of ball sports worldwide is towards more defensive, possession-rich games, and that AFL is heading the same way.

But whatever the reason - and it will take a month or two to work things out - the game did not stand still over summer. The pre-season was a taste of things to come and now it is here for everyone to see. The easiest thing in modern football is to get a kick. The hard thing is making it count.

[JK]

LOL .. I dunno mate, sounds similar to games our boys have played in recent seasons ..

[doggies4eva]

My theory is that the game continues to evolve. Footy build-ups resemble soccer or basketball build-ups more than the old fashioned "kick it long to a gun forward" style. The flood will force players to have a higher skill level and pin-point their team-mates inside 50. Once the flood becomes an in-effective technique it wil be abandoned.

[Adelaide Hawk]

The flood will force players to have a higher skill level and pin-point their team-mates inside 50. Once the flood becomes an in-effective technique it wil be abandoned.

Are you talking about the same players who regularly kick to opposition jumpers and miss set shots from 30m out straight in front? I think we're in for a long wait before the flood disappears.

[stan]

The flood will force players to have a higher skill level and pin-point their team-mates inside 50. Once the flood becomes an in-effective technique it wil be abandoned.

Are you talking about the same players who regularly kick to opposition jumpers and miss set shots from 30m out straight in front? I think we're in for a long wait before the flood disappears.

The flood will only take hold if you take to long to get the ball in to your forwards. Look at some of the AFL games on the weekend or monday night. You get it in fast and theres plenty of room, no time to flood. You hang on to it and chip around and have 12 uncontested marks in a row in the midfield, then every man and his dog will be in that 50 m arc

[Adelaide Hawk]

The flood will only take hold if you take to long to get the ball in to your forwards. Look at some of the AFL games on the weekend or monday night. You get it in fast and theres plenty of room, no time to flood. You hang on to it and chip around and have 12 uncontested marks in a row in the midfield, then every man and his dog will be in that 50 m arc

Tactically, you are correct. The trouble is, coaches are now lining up players in the defensive half at the bounce, so when a team goes forward, players are filling spaces. A midfielder can't belt the ball forward because more times than not it will come straight out again.

[doggies4eva]

The flood will only take hold if you take to long to get the ball in to your forwards. Look at some of the AFL games on the weekend or monday night. You get it in fast and theres plenty of room, no time to flood. You hang on to it and chip around and have 12 uncontested marks in a row in the midfield, then every man and his dog will be in that 50 m arc

Tactically, you are correct. The trouble is, coaches are now lining up players in the defensive half at the bounce, so when a team goes forward, players are filling spaces. A midfielder can't belt the ball forward because more times than not it will come straight out again.

I see two ways to attack the flood -1 the fast break as you describe, 2- The careful build-up requiring precision passing. Hence my previous reference to soccer and basketball. We are using their strategies.

[stan]

The flood will only take hold if you take to long to get the ball in to your forwards. Look at some of the AFL games on the weekend or monday night. You get it in fast and theres plenty of room, no time to flood. You hang on to it and chip around and have 12 uncontested marks in a row in the midfield, then every man and his dog will be in that 50 m arc

Tactically, you are correct. The trouble is, coaches are now lining up players in the defensive half at the bounce, so when a team goes forward, players are filling spaces. A midfielder can't belt the ball forward because more times than not it will come straight out again.

I see two ways to attack the flood -1 the fast break as you describe, 2- The careful build-up requiring precision passing. Hence my previous reference to soccer and basketball. We are using their strategies.

Cant get through it or around it so go Over it, bring back the long bomb from 60m out!

[doggies4eva]

The flood will only take hold if you take to long to get the ball in to your forwards. Look at some of the AFL games on the weekend or monday night. You get it in fast and theres plenty of room, no time to flood. You hang on to it and chip around and have 12 uncontested marks in a row in the midfield, then every man and his dog will be in that 50 m arc

Tactically, you are correct. The trouble is, coaches are now lining up players in the defensive half at the bounce, so when a team goes forward, players are filling spaces. A midfielder can't belt the ball forward because more times than not it will come straight out again.

I see two ways to attack the flood -1 the fast break as you describe, 2- The careful build-up requiring precision passing. Hence my previous reference to soccer and basketball. We are using their strategies.

Cant get through it or around it so go Over it, bring back the long bomb from 60m out!

Good point! Make that 3 strategies to beat the flood.

[sturt1]

I couldnt imagine life without the sanfl. Maybe I should get a life but when its part of your upbringing its impossible to dismiss it.

[JK]

I couldnt imagine life without the sanfl. Maybe I should get a life but when its part of your upbringing its impossible to dismiss it.

Great comment ... Ditto here!

[pipers]

Ditto.

"Why do you follow Port?"
"Because I have since I was six!"

[RUSure]

First you become part of it and then it becomes part of you.

Fatal - Jock was never supportive of THAT recruit and definitely should have avoided the truth syrum in the tell all conversation . . .

[Magpiespower]

"Personally, I had my doubts about paying that much for a bloody Protestant!"

[portentous]

I love the SANFL so much that I wanted to tear down the ABC Headquarters on North East Road on Saturday arvo.....

[sturt1]

Whether we want to admit it or not, we are all part of the same family. We are brothers and sisters of the SANFL family and we need to take that into account when we give each other banter. From now on I will not tease anyone on this site.

[doggies4eva]

Whether we want to admit it or not, we are all part of the same family. We are brothers and sisters of the SANFL family and we need to take that into account when we give each other banter. From now on I will not tease anyone on this site.

Teasing opposition supporters is part of the attraction for me.

[Lunchcutter]

Honestly terms creeping into football ie "the fast break"are in my opinion along with the overall controllling factor of TV rights and ratings contributing to the downfall of the game as we have known it... (I am only referring to the AFL here).... FFS fast break is basketball not a fargin football term - just like that farce before the opening of the Final for the NAB cup where they introduced the players individually and the fireworks etc all displaying what a media whore the afl has become.... how much more do we want to americanise our great game? geez even cornsey has been known to say the Crows supporter may need to have some official friggin cheer squad to find some voice at the game (sorry i thought barracking was apart of supporting your team) ... (remember that idea a copule of years ago to have the Rod Stewart song played at Aami throughout the game - what a joke) The reason why I will always support local footy is that the integrity has remained over the years... still great to see the one on one contests and the big tackles, crowd particiapation etc.. not to mention real value for money.. another thing that gets right up my nose is that the AFL seem to be breeding "clones" ..... i really believe sadly the big full forward and fullbacks are a thing of the past.. seems like all on the field are between 75 - 90kgs light and super athletic... personally I love the fact that blokes that aren't necessarily built to be elite athletes can show their stuff in the local state comp! (sorry if im not explaing my self too well here, but hopefully you can get my drift)...... Give me our gritty brand of SANFL anyday over what is becoming more and more what a lot of people say the "articifical football league"

[doggies4eva]

I totally agree with you lunchy. That's the attraction of the SANFL.

The AFL is the media's whore - that's their primary source of income. Bend over and I'll give you another 30 second commercial.

I thought that the fireworks opening was a bloody joke - too much smoke - it obscured TVs ability to film it.

The thing is the game - at AFL level - which filters down to SANFL is changing. And my theory is that it is borrowing from the other codes. That's why I used their terms. If its not a fast break what do you want to call it?

[Lunchcutter]

I totally agree with you lunchy. That's the attraction of the SANFL.

The AFL is the media's whore - that's their primary source of income. Bend over and I'll give you another 30 second commercial.

I thought that the fireworks opening was a bloody joke - too much smoke - it obscured TVs ability to film it.

The thing is the game - at AFL level - which filters down to SANFL is changing. And my theory is that it is borrowing from the other codes. That's why I used their terms. If its not a fast break what do you want to call it?

hey doggies4eva that problem is that there is nothing more to call it but A FAST BREAK.. that's the sad part