Please, stop romancing the past

I started watching football in the 90s. Sure there were lots of goals scored but there were also a lot of 1 sided matches. Grand Finals in the 90s were not that great. Having been too young to watch the 89 Grand Final (although I've seen replays of it) I didn't see a close Grand Final until 2002 when Brisbane beat Collingwood by 9 points. Since then we've had 5 more Grand Finals (05, 06, 09, 10, 12) with a margin of 2 goals or less. I think modern game has given us much better Grand Final contests

It used to be 30 mins plus time on Pope. SANFL games used to go on forever you'd think, your watching a day's play at the cricket.

Well it would be an ARU discussion forum, not NRL. Technicality I know....

*sigh* Nostalgia's just not what it used to be...

I liked the Geelong smashing too, particularly as Port carried on like they were awesome after smashing North in the prelim. Suckers for punishment the Northerners, think my blokes have some of the heaviest finals losss on record. At least 3 finals losses by more than 100.

AFL crowds are up too, 4% through round 5, and yesterdays Collingwood v. Essendon ANZAC match recorded the 6th highest home and away attendance in history.

yeah its great if its your team doing the inflicting, but not so great for neutrals and even worse for the losers. I loved watching Geelong humiliate Port by 119 points in the 2007 Grand Final but winning by 12 points over the Saints in the 2009 Grand Final was far more satisfying and a much better game.

Yes F1 has never been better. We've already seen one of the best races ever, the cars are up more than 30% in engine efficiency while using way less fuel and don't bust your eardrums. And judging by the Hawks/Cats, Essenden/Collingwood games footy is up and running well this season. And an exciting finish yesterday in Wellington.

Isn't that because a quarter is now 20 minutes plus time on, as opposed to 25 mins plus time on as it used to be? Personally I love high scoring games and big margins, particularly if North are doing the inflicting. As a Sydneysider with the Swans as my nominal second team, I went to two of the three consecutive 30 plus goals fests in 87 which were quite the spectacle. And I fondly remember Longmire, Carey and Adrian McAdam blasting mammoth scores for North back in the day.

Allowing for a bit of exaggeration, Gene, taking you at near correct about 'every free kick etc', the players and the coaches need to adapt to the rules not the rules adapt to them. Neither Freo nor the Roos looked very adaptable to me last night. I'm pretty sure the rules, with a possible exception here or there, are well-suited to the evolution of an attractive fair brand of footy. What we need is to enforce all the rules all the time and let's see what modern coaching, fitness levels and the like can make of them. This is very much in the present, and I have no illusions about Rory's 'romancing the past'. I'm excited by the potential of now, but I think the game has gone very much astray with its tweaking of interpretations. If we enforce the rules, players and coaches will take a little while to evolve, but I think it will actually open the game out, and make use of modern fitness levels. That said, there are different skills and tactics that apply when players are running on empty, and that can also add to a game's drama if it's valued enough to engage with it.

Theres allways been comebacks in football, and allways will be no matter what type of football it is.

Of the 20 most lopsided scores in AFL/VFL history, eight of them come from the 80s and 90s , guess the footy wasn't that good.

Worth it for the deathly silence of the Freo supporters Gene

Once upon a time a 37 point lead in the 2nd quarter would have decided the game. It didn't yesterday. Thank heavens for modern times.

Weii said Glidagida i totally agree with you.

Where was this rolling maul you speak of during yesterdays games?

Rory Some people mistake difference as progress. Change for changes sake is rarely justified or successful in the long term. Have a look at this year's Formula 1 if you can't decipher what I mean. If the rolling maul is your thing then please leave AFL and join NRL forums. There are those of us who prefer the 'shoot out' game with fast, open play, long kicking, high marking to the 'lock down' game of negative tactics; tackling, tackling, and tackling with the ball on the ground and a heap of players over it. Ugly, slow, slogging football. Really it's the same as the difference between Boxing and Wrestling, and Boxing has its rules to maintain its style and skillfulness to prevent it becoming a wrestling brawl. AFL needs the same sort of rules to maintain its skillful play and prevent it becoming a wrestling brawl. Great to see the TAC cup experiment is working with 2 players staying in the forward zone. It respects footy for what it is. This has opened up the game and still allows Dangerfield type explosions from packs. Cheers GG

And if the Freo v. Kangas game showed us anything last night, blowing the whistle for every free kick imaginable does not make for a better game either. There was no continuity of play, dreadful game, so bad I actually fell asleep on the coach at halftime.

agree 100%. All games yesterday had high moments of excitement & odd low moments

Well said. I agree quality football does not make good football, good play makes good football. If someone kicks a bag, ok, thats entertaining, but football doesn't RELY on bags of goals for entertainment.