It's time for Australian football to just grow up

Gordon Appreciate the feedback. My good fellow, the reason "skills" were mentioned is b/c Dazza made the comment that: Interestingly, as a coach of both soccer and AFL, I have found that AFL requires much higher skill levels than soccer. I simply refuted that statement and your input has been most inciteful!

Fussball ist unser leben and Dazza: This is some of the most unconstructive and ridiculous text I have seen written on this site. If any professional sportsmen were to read this, be they soccer, AFL, Rugby, Tennis or Golf player, would have a burning desire to find you and slap you. Your simplistic view and seeming intentional inflammatory manner is demeaning to fans of both sports who can appreciate that skills required for different sports are, surprisingly, different and that arguing about which sport requires more skill is something that would be more fitting in a grade 3 classroom. I'm sure I'm not the only one who wishes you would take this mindless drivel elsewhere so that the adults can have a conversation.

I never said that Jack is elite, he isn't the worst kick of the ball either, better than alot of players that have played the sport exclusively. Didak is overrated, perhaps, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have excellent skills. Let's work under the premise that it is indeed "hard" to learn to kick, why are these late converts who have relatively "poor" skills getting drafted if they don't have the "skills"? Surely if mastering such skills is so difficult, and such skills are fundamental to the sport, then these players wouldn't have gotten a go to begin with? It's due to their athletic prowess which makes their so called lack of skill a redundant attribute. It is a game of athletes where ball skills are of secondary importance. Dane Swan who was voted best player in the AFL in three different awards (including by AFL players and coaches) has horrible kicking skills and has led the AFL in turnovers for the past two seasons, what sets him apart is his athletic ability, specifically his ability to outrun and out-tire opponents. Even brownlow medalist Judd can hardly kick straight more than 40 metres anymore. So assuming that it is indeed a very hard skill to kick a sherrin (even though it isn't, but let's assume anyway), then it's obviously not a particularly important skill considering so many players that play at the highest level are so poor at it yet are offered high paying contracts anyway. It's all about athletics, the sport is merely based on athletic ability with "skills" being of secondary importance. I never took Aussie Rules seriously, perhaps had I actually cared about it I might have actually tried to make a career out of it considering it is probably the easiest game I have ever picked up in such short time. Trying to pick up rugby at the same stage was extremely difficult in comparison, not only was it much more structured and disciplined, but it required proper techniques in tackling, passing and evasion that were not easy to learn.

Solaris Ben doesn't know that much about the game if he's holding Keiran Jack up as an example of a decent user of the ball - keiran is a serviceable player but he's never going to be a great kick - he has an awkward action that does the job and that's it. And the other players he mentioned - well I think Didak is extremely overrated - and again, not the pinup poster boy of how to kick a Sherrin. Pendlebury - I have no opinion. It doesn't matter what isolated examples Ben thinks he's provided that show the ease of which people can just slot into such a skillless ge like Aussie Rules...it's a nonsense argument. Skills required to play AFL level Aussie rules are very difficult to achieve - plenty of kids who have 10 yrs junior football behind them, and countless hours practice in the park, do not make it into the AFL. Ben if Aussie rules is so easy mate you should have gone on to play in the AFL buddy...and earn what an average player in the AFL makes which is around 280k... That would have been worth it wouldn't it.... and please no squawking about how much more soccer players earn (overseas, clearly not A league) ... Yes we know that sone soccer players earn more than other codes (and many earn less)..

I cringe that a professional sport can categorise "decision making" as an attribute, as if it is acceptable for a player not to have anything less than excellent decision making. I doubt that any single AFL player will have the vision, skill or "iq" to be able to pull off a successful slide-rule pass for example, a facet of association football that has never been given the credit that it deserves for its intricacy, skill, vision, timing and movement of the ball carrier and all other players involved in the buildup and end strike at goal. The fact that it is hard to score in assoc. football opens up a whole host of tactics, strategies, team movements and specific skills and methodologies to try and break down a structured defense to allow for the chance the score. The skill and intricacy of watching a team string together 20 passes, with the final pass dissecting a ragged defence pulled out of position, the precision of players without the ball timing their runs to lure tired defenders out of position, passers quickly moving into new space, defenders trying to hold their line, the fluidity and complexity of it all is a thing of beauty and why AFL types will never understand the beauty and hidden complexity of something that looks so simple as a slide rule pass or of possession football.

have to agree with you there. Exaclty my choice of animal too.

A wonderful post, Ben - well done! I truly am amazed at the number of players, who get paid to play AFL, and play at the elite level of that sport ... who cannot kick a ball and have truly appalling kicking technique. And, the majority of the players have juvenile decision-making skills. I eventually got fed up watching professionals, who had no concept of space or movement off the ball - everyone simply wanted to grab the ball, but then they had no idea what to do with it - it reminded me of the kids' game "hot potato"! An aerial view of AFL matches makes me laugh - you see this huge area that is ostensibly the playing field, yet, invariably as the play ensues 28-30 players will be located in a 10-20m radius around the ball - like kids in the yard.

for someone who hates afl you sure know a lot about the game

Gimme a break, Scott Pendlebury devoted all of his teen years to playing basketball and is now considered one of the best users of the football in the AFL, having not only an extremely accurate kick but very good decision making and vision. Alan Didak played soccer for most of his youth and is considered one of the most skillfull players in the game, Kieran Jack is also a decent user of the football and played rugby league nearly his whole life . Conversely, Matthew Richardson played AFL exclusively yet had a crap kick, what was his excuse? I played abit of AusRules in my late teens for my school after having played soccer for most of my youth and a bit of Rugby. It took me a few weeks to develop a decent enough kicking technique to be able to kick far distances, quite accurately, on both feet (although relatively weak on my left) and to be able to command a spot in my school team. I actually was voted top 5 in my school's footy side (this is in Melbourne so the teams we played were of a decent standard, against teams from the Mornington Peninsula which is an AusRules hotbed) so I wasn't bad, and I attribute this to my soccer upbringing which taught me how to kick powerfully and how to find team mates accurately in confined spaces in little time. Transferring to kicking the sherrin wasn't particularly hard, the ability to actually use your hands with the added advantage of vaster spaces plus being able to kick a ball into space in front of a leading player was a hell of a lot easier than keeping possession of the football, finding team mates in close confines and being able to beat opponents by foot in association football. Also, having the entire game stop for you after you take a mark makes it easier, especially if coming out of the backline where the ground opens up in front of you. The tackling techniques that I was taught in rugby were also vastly more effective than the pretty lazy tackling and often neglected tackling "technique" in AFL football.

Ben Of those examples you gave only one (Kennelly) is actually a decent kick of a Sheerin - and he worked extremely hard for years, and he came from a sport where the kicking action is very similar. Again, the single exception you proves my point - it is VERY hard to master kicking a Sherrin, and yes there are a few player floating around the AFL that are not great kicks (as there are in other codes, certainly there are in the A League as well). Players that don't have brliiant kicks sometimes play in the or key tall defenders (or for Collingwood).... the few poor kicks an AFL team hae, if they have any at all, are carried within the team and balanced against what else they can offer. In Folau's and Hunt's case all the offer is publicity - nothing more. The point you make about different levels applies equally to Aussie Rules - most people can kick a Sherrin poorly, very few at AFL level.

Jennifer Hawkins is exotic??

If only we could all be the athletic adonis' that were Lance Whitnall, Stewart Dew and Nick Stevens!

With their 'superior' skills they should be converting to Soccer and earning $400K per week. We've seen how these 'loyal' players dumped their clubs and went after the money at the Gold Coast but that's peanuts compared to what they could be earning. These supermen would dazzle the world with their 'skills' and be richer than Croesus. C'mon guys the world needs to see these Australian super athletes and unfortunately AFL is too small to showcase their rare and sublime 'skills'. P.S. Don't read the Irish Independent. They're obviously just jealous they don't produce a similar calibre of elite 'skillfull' footballers.

well said

fussball you must really hate living in Australia there are plenty of classy and exotic women in Australia - Jessica Gomes, Jennifer Hawkins there are many other places in the world where drunken yobs will try to knife you, downtown Glasgow for one

Kicking a Sherrin is so impossibly hard that basketballers, canadian rugby union players, irish gaelic footballers and rugby league players are all drafted without hardly having kicked a "sherrin". It is possible to pick up AFL post the junior development stages and learn the required skills in a short enough time to be able to play it at its highest level. It has neither the tactical/strategic nuances nor the rigourous training and development of specific skills required by the other football codes that can only be properly taught and developed at a junior level. It is correct to state that it easy to play association football, however it is extremely difficult to play it at even an average level, specifically without proper junior development. You wouldn't be able to rock up to a Victorian Provisional Second division team and get a proper go without having the prerequisite skills, in the AFL you can get drafted without even having kicked a sherrin.

The women all lead a very active lifestyle and spend heaps of time at the beach, they have great tanned bodies and would rather play sport and workout than binge drink like the women here. They're also feminine compared to thewomen here who are quite masculine.

GoGWS; funniest thing I have read in ages. BTW Zac, why am I being moderated again, I thought you took it off yesterday?? Please explain??? Cap'n: you're not being moderated. Might have been a word you used, not sure. Roar Mods.

well he is right Koops

Fussball - the facts are kicking a sherrin takes greater skill both initially (as explained - hand eye co-ordination and the action is just harder to master as practical experience testifies) and also to perfect. Perfecting the various types of kicks, depth, flight etc. - the nuances in kicking a Sherrin well are ever bit are important (and difficult to get right consistently) as kicking a soccer ball. In Aussie Rules you also have to be a great kick off both sides to lay - with very few exceptions ... and before you waste your breath squealing about KHunt or IFolau please don't bother... these RL players are the exception that proves the rule - they support exactly how difficult it is to kick a Sherrin - KHunt's first kick in Aussie rules was a moderately difficult set shot which he sprayed put of bounds because he didn't allow enough for the cross wind - the sort of mistake you see u10s not from a senior player. Come back are about players being recruited after age 20 when you can point to KHunt or IFolau actually getting a regular game and playing well. The Sydney Swans have LRT who played some junior Aussie rules but was mainly a RUnoin player - he's an OK player but his skills execution is unreliable, and his decision making at times is shocking. It is very obvious that he is a late recruit. The same will go for Folau & Hunt - from what I have seen of Hunt he looks 'lost' on the field - he'll be a '5kicks a game' type player trust me - and every time he does get it expect a turnover (just like LRT for the Swans). As for your International Rules comment- well that almost too stupid to condescend to reply to. Look it's s hybrid game - a lot of the hand based skills (marking and tackling) involve great judgment and flair and precision. Aging, that you don't appreciate that is your loss not mine. It's a meaningless distinction you're trying to draw. Yes soccer player only use their feet (and heads) to move the ball - wow!!