Quote:
Originally Posted by DrawNone
thanks for the response.
my 1st impression was someone would need to try quite hard to find something offensive about that celebration, but i know nothing about Australian racial history/politics.
the Adeliade Fremantle game was a lot of fun to watch. the first 10 minutes or so looked like it was going to be an absolute blowout, Fremantle was just dominating buildup play and every ball into the 50m circle. after that it seemed like a low scoring, scrappy game.
i have no idea how difficult the technique is, but Betts curling free kick from a 15-degree angle was awesome. i feel like a 3 year old trying to talk about this game tho, i just dont know what things are called.
The Betts kick was actually a weird one. From that angle, most players would usually kick a "banana" kick, where the ball aims to curl in the air, but in this case Betts ended up with a "torpedo" esque kick, which is almost like an NFL punt. Either way, he is a great player as a small forward to compliment Tex Walker (#13 the big forward).
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcb33f
who are the top 5 afl players in ppls opinions
fyfe
ablett
pendlebury
buddy
selwood
?
Depends on how you want to measure it. Dayne Beams probably not getting enough love from Brisbane.
If I was going forward and all the players were in a draft (in a who do you want going forward way) its probably something like Fyfe one and then a bunch of younger players with high projected value (such as Wines, Bontempelli, Yeo, Shiel etc...) since the value of them for 10 years is better than Ablett for three obviously in the same way people wouldn't value Peyton Manning highly long term.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DrawNone
i think the contrast with player-types like Fyfe is one of the things that makes Betts so enjoyable to watch. he seems significantly undersized and not a freak athlete, and every ball in to the 50m circle (what's the correct term for that area btw?) he an underdog to make a mark.
from an American football perspective catching a punt with your hands on the run is quite the skill. i must be overestimating the difficulty b/ it looks like players are coached to use their hands even when they're wide open, rather than trapping it against the body like an American punt returner.
mcb are all those players attacked or midfielders? are there many dominant defenders?
The best term for the 50m areas is generally either the "forward" 50 and the defensive 50. The actual lines on the field do nothing except for aesthetic purposes at the game and on TV (there is no rules about who can and can not be in each areas)
Marking is quite a skill, in particular when facing pressure from players or in packs (big crowds). It is what makes some big forwards overpaid relative to their talent at other areas such as kicking for goal (Travis Cloke for Collingwood is a prime example as someone on a very large contract but with some fundamental problems with his game)
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcb33f
what do people actually think of the ratings, i think they are 'ok'. i mean they get the top few guys essentially correct. basically i'd take them over the average person's opinion because i think the level of smarts around afl discussion is pretty low
on rucks, hitouts correlate only marginally to clearances, imo having an extra player around the ground who impacts the game is much more important. goons who do nothing around the ground are hurting their team even if they win hitouts on average
I don't mind the idea, but what the Bulldogs did a few weeks ago was stupid (Aaron Sandilands is really tall, and since they changed the rules about run ups is almost unbeatable in terms of total taps. To counter, rather than their best tap ruck in Minson they instead used an army of smaller guys to just contest. However, using Bontempelli (young superstar, massive talent going forward) as one of those ruckmen was stupid since he could get seriously hurt and was almost equivalent to using your young talented QB on designated run players while down 30 with three minutes to play.
Quote:
Originally Posted by andyhop
Always wondered about if you are better off when you play Freo not bothering playing a Ruck at all given that you are going to lose the hit outs anyway.Have a random player stay close enough that Sandilands can't catch and play the ball himself but other than that don't contest the bounce.
Maybe, but I would expect Sandilands to start just thumping the ball forward and gaining 20m right off the bat a lot, with Fremantle starting their wingers forward of centre. There was a preseason game vs WCE years ago when Mark Seaby was just destroyed in the centre of the ground and Sandi kept doing this, and we couldnt stop it.
Anyway, projected table based on nothing but my own 2 minute opinion
Freo
Hawthorn
Sydney
WCE
GWS
North
Collingwood
Geelong
-------------
WB
Adelaide
Port
Richmond
Essendon
St.Kilda
Melbourne
Brisbane
Carlton
GC
Outside of the top 3 and the bottom 5, it is a very even competition though. I think this could be another year where we see a team in the bottom half of the eight get hot in September and push a preliminary final really close like we saw with Port Adelaide last year.