Talking Footy

Is it me, or has the standard of play been particularly poor this year? Monday was a cracker - no doubt - not only because it was close but a good quality game skills wise. I have seen several games though where the standard has been really poor - North v Carlton was one and I think the Port Adelaide game against maybe Carlton or North... not sure - I even texted my son to ask if he was watching - he wasn't. I stated I was and it was terrible standard but like a car crash - hard to look away. The Suns V Melbourne was also poor - particularly the Suns and their skills - with many disposals missing the intended target or at the feet of the receiver. Thoughts?

Fred wrote: Wed Apr 08, 2026 9:40 am

Is it me, or has the standard of play been particularly poor this year? Monday was a cracker - no doubt - not only because it was close but a good quality game skills wise. I have seen several games though where the standard has been really poor - North v Carlton was one and I think the Port Adelaide game against maybe Carlton or North... not sure - I even texted my son to ask if he was watching - he wasn't. I stated I was and it was terrible standard but like a car crash - hard to look away. The Suns V Melbourne was also poor - particularly the Suns and their skills - with many disposals missing the intended target or at the feet of the receiver. Thoughts?

its spot on>> It has been in the making for 15 years. to many games are of low quality
yes you will get a BANGER hear and there and maybe you may get a ripping contest back to back
but it is too far in between..

i think the NRL would be in the same shape if it were not for the explosion in Players and Grassroots
from Pacific Nations countries ( Kiwi's and English playing in the NRL)
which has helped make the Game the best it has ever been...

this is why the NRL are expanding aggressively into the Pacific and NZ and the PNG is about to explode with Pathways
and also maybe the Purchase of the ENGLISH SUPER LEAGUE Pathways.
for once the NRL is looking to the Future and not 2 to 3 years.

we have one person to thank PVL and his side kick Andrew Abdo

Yeah - AFL has a very limited pool in Australia alone and competes with NRL in QLD and NSW (and Union), Whilst they have done well to grow the game there, especially at grassroots, this likely isn't enough when you keep including teams - despite population growth. They do not have the overseas markets like NRL do to get players from. In saying that, NRL is pretty limited to mainly NSW and QLD when it comes to Australia as well, and I do hear plenty of comment from those in the apparent know, that the talent pool is too low to be increasing teams. NRL does have a lower player count which also helps I guess. I think a 16 a side game would do wonders for AFL - reducing required numbers, lowering costs, and freeing the game up.

Fred wrote: Wed Apr 08, 2026 2:41 pm

Yeah - AFL has a very limited pool in Australia alone and competes with NRL in QLD and NSW (and Union), Whilst they have done well to grow the game there, especially at grassroots, this likely isn't enough when you keep including teams - despite population growth. They do not have the overseas markets like NRL do to get players from. In saying that, NRL is pretty limited to mainly NSW and QLD when it comes to Australia as well, and I do hear plenty of comment from those in the apparent know, that the talent pool is too low to be increasing teams. NRL does have a lower player count which also helps I guess. I think a 16 a side game would do wonders for AFL - reducing required numbers, lowering costs, and freeing the game up.

yep comparing AFL & NRL squad sizes is a key difference, you need around 12 more players for an AFL Squad
that is a big difference over an entire competition.

the NRL are targeting growth areas also with grassroots pathways outside of Australia. (that is a big key difference)

big problem with Australia's population Growth >> they do not play AFL or NRL the high majority

In the 80s and 90s footy was a great spectacle, an open running game with plenty of high marks and clean handballs and players bursting out of packs.

Today some of the game is unattractive to watch, too much swarming of players around the ball and congestion around the packs resulting in stoppages.
Some action in the packs consists of haphazard toe poke kicks that go nowhere and messy looking overhead hand passes and whacking the ball somewhere .
The pace of the game has become way too fast, no time to think, everything is rushed and so the skills needed to make the game flow better are at times impossible to execute.

Despite all this, most of today's game still has plenty of good open passages of play but the wait is longer. for them.
To sum up, the frantic pace of play needs to be reduced.
Less congestion and swarming around the packs.
Open play to be encouraged not penalised by holding the ball run too far calls.

I remember the 80s and 90s and people were saying similar things back then about the state of the game amd how it was better way back when. Since I posted this thread - the game has improved a little this season.

Belter of a game tonight. Way to go Freo. It’s Wharfie Time lol

Beaussie wrote: Thu May 07, 2026 10:59 pm

Belter of a game tonight. Way to go Freo. It’s Wharfie Time lol

Yes, was a cracker - tipped Freo and was thinking I got it wrong - Freo just couldn't seem to score. As I said, watching the earlier games, the standard was really bad (and there were glimpses of this in Freo's game at times with lots of unforced errors) but it has seemed to definetely have improved in recent weeks.

Fred wrote: Thu May 07, 2026 8:15 pm

I remember the 80s and 90s and people were saying similar things back then about the state of the game amd how it was better way back when. Since I posted this thread - the game has improved a little this season.

Definitely has improved this season and last nights Fremantle Hawthorn game was footy at its best. I wrote Fremantle off early in the last quarter but they surged ahead with some very skilful and entertaining passages of play.
Can clearly see why Australian rules is far far better than trying to watch NRL.