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Who is the better athlete? The fit, fast players in the AFL, the strong men in the NRL or the foot soldiers from the A-League.
It’s a question that sparks a lot of debate, so let’s have the Roarers fight it out.
I’m not trying to start a code war. All three codes are Australian favourites. All I want to determine is which code has the fastest, strongest and most skilled of the bunch.
Starting with:
AFL
Many of us watch in awe as players like Lewis Jetta grab the ball and charge down the field at lightning fast speed, watching their legs power on in a blur of skin and team colours.
How can anyone match the speed and endurance of the players in the nation’s home grown sport? Some players have the ability to grab the ball and clear over one hundred metres in one run.
The endurance of an AFL player has to be maintained at an absolute level. The average player runs anywhere between 12 to 20 kilometres per game, and then keeps on running.
Players rotate through the bench regularly with many interchanges happening through out a game, giving them a short rest, but when they are back out there before they know it.
When it comes to skill AFL is a funny game. You get penalised for throwing a pass and have to punch the ball away from you.
However odd and clumsy it may look, a great deal of skill is required in order to find your teammate with a punch that requires near perfect accuracy across great distances.
And then you have the long kicks and bombs.
AFL players have been known to kick goals from up to 80 metres out with amazing accuracy, as well as finding their player down the field.
Great skill is needed to position yourself under the ball, find the contest and leap for that giant mark as well.
NRL
Some of the biggest boys in sport take to the field in one of this country’s most loved competitions, the NRL.
These men show tremendous strength forcing their way up field towards the try line. Neither AFL nor football can compete with NRL in the field of strength.
Moving on to other aspects of the players, speed is becoming more of a focus in the modern game.
With more complex plays emerging involving better passing and better placed kicks, certain positions in NRL now requires players to chase the ball down at amazing speeds to beat the opposing team to the point.
On the endurance front NRL players run a significant less amount of metres per game. However they must take tackle after tackle before getting up and doing it all over again.
The ability to get up after each and every hit shows the great endurance of these big men.
In the skills department NRL players are displaying more and more skill as the game evolves.
Gone are the days of picking up the ball and just trying to run through your opponent. Players are now expected to know where their teammates are at all times.
They must throw long cut-out passes, find the gaps in the opponent’s defence, and make metres up the middle, before finding the right moment to let the kick go for the wingers and centres to chase down, leap and catch then find their feet and run in for the try.
A-League
Football is a free flowing game that rarely stops during the half.
The players are constantly running back and fourth between either end of the field, trying to gain possession and make ground.
The quick rests in the two forty-five minute halves are far and few between.
The average football player runs around 10 kilometres per game, often pivoting back and fourth.
With few interchanges in the game these players are on a constant alert and spend a fair chunk of the game fighting off fatigue.
This game is played entirely with the feet. Possession, passing, tackling and scoring must be done without the use of your hands.
The skill is picked up by some, but others can spend a lifetime and never come anywhere near the quality of the stars of the game.
Goals are far and few between in football, showing the amazing defence each player must display before immediately switching to the attack when gaining possession.
So there it is. The three biggest codes in the Australian sporting landscape. It’s up to you Roarers to really decide which has the better athlete.
Or is each sport too different to even compare the players?
Try and keep it civil.
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