An incident in the third quarter of last weekend’s North Melbourne versus Gold Coast Suns clash typified the changing face of AFL football.
The Suns had jumped their opponents early and skipped out to a handy lead, but the Roos were fighting back hard and looked as though they would run over the top of the league’s new glamour side.
When North speedster Brent Harvey grabbed the ball on the wing and took off for one of his trademark blistering runs, another successful forward foray for the Shinboners beckoned.
It was not to be however, as the usually elusive Roo veteran was charged down by Gold Coast big man Sam Day. It was almost akin to Wile E. Coyote finally catching Roadrunner.
This is not to discredit Day. His determination to chase so vigorously and then lay an effective tackle to thwart a play that looked to be all in North Melbourne’s favour was applauded long and hard by appreciative supporters.
But it is something that wouldn’t have happened back in the ‘old days’, and it makes me shake my head in wonder every time I see something similar.
You see, traditionally, big blokes aren’t supposed to be able to chase down little blokes.
While Day – standing at 196 centimetres and weighing 103 kilograms – mightn’t be the biggest of the AFL giants, he is still a large unit. Harvey on the other hand is a bite-sized 167 centimetres tall, with a 75-kilogram frame, loaded with deadly fast-twitch muscle fibre.
In a footrace between the pair you’d place your money on Harvey every time.
But not this time.
The athletic prowess of some of the taller, bigger-bodied players making names for themselves in the AFL these days leaves the lumbering dinosaurs of times past staring sadly into their beers.
Of course we have always had a smattering of mobile or agile big blokes. For every Justin Madden there was always a Peter Moore or Jimmy Stynes to balance the ledger. But as good as that pair were, neither would have been able to chase down a flying Brent Harvey.
And that is where more and more of today’s bigger men are finding an advantage. They have added speed to their arsenal.
Lance Franklin and Dustin Fletcher are both 198 centimetres tall. Although they compete at opposite ends of the ground, each possesses a turn of pace that has played to their advantage over the years. Fletcher’s closing speed in a contest has allowed him to play on much smaller opponents while Franklin has thrilled the crowds with long-ranging runs as he bounces his way towards goal.
Both are significantly taller than some of the great ruckmen of yesteryear, yet it is hard to envisage the likes of Don Scott (190cm), John Nicholls (189cm) or Barry Round (193cm) out sprinting the athletic duo.
In those days the fast stuff was left to mosquito fleets of sub-six footers.
But times change.
These days the world record for the 100 and 200 metre sprints is held by a freak of nature who stands 196 centimetres tall (that’s 6′ 5” in the old language) and weighs 94 kilograms. That is astonishing. It makes you wonder what comes next?
History shows that world-record-holding sprinters have grown a staggering 16 centimetres in height since 1900. This figure becomes even more remarkable considering that the general population has only grown an average of 4.8 centimetres over the same time period.
We are seeing the same sort of development in our footballers and it is exciting.
Being fast, nippy and agile was once the domain of players like Cyril Rioli or Gary Ablett Jnr. Now it appears that size doesn’t matter after all.
While at times we may lament the style of play that is dished up to us on weekends, or the decisions of the game’s judiciary (Jack Viney anyone?), there is no doubt that the amazing displays of athleticism by the players themselves continue to entertain and keep us spellbound.
Big blokes are doing today what few imagined they could do even twenty years ago.
Just imagine what might be happening in another twenty years.
Ex Aussie Rules Fan
Guest
I used to love Aussie Rules but this modern AFL is a complete travesty and most of the skills previously valued are gone. Unfortunately for a game I loved so much, I just can't watch it anymore. Firstly, the umpiring is shocking, preferring to ignore the game's rules in favour of letting the game 'flow' (ha !) but then, for some unknown reason, after letting 100's of the same rule go broken they will award a free-kick. The interpretation of the rules seems to vary from game to game, week to week. Secondly, the modern AFL game is like watching little kids try and play footy - everyone on the ball all at once. Sure the players are very fit etc but the skill level has plummeted to the point where time and again (when they do actually kick the ball) a player has to turn on the spot because he cannot kick with both feet - a fundamental skill of Aussie Rules. I could go on and on about how the modern version of AFL is really a very poor cousin of Aussie Rules of 20 years ago but I think the above is enough.
Tim
Guest
Todays football is devastatingly boring. Watching rolling mauls is BORING. Watching a team turnover the footy in the midfield and run up to half forward then turn around and kick it backwards because nobody in front of them Is an absolute DISGRACE. I used to love taking international people to the footy in the 90's early 00's but I have a bitter taste in my mouth trying to show people footy these days. Its boring, theres so many free kicks and so few contests that I cant stand to watch it. I miss people leading at the football. I miss 1-on-1 contests on the wing. I hate seeing EVERY player on the ground in the forward pocket. Its crap and if you people think its good football then I think that you must be too young and never got to experience watching mid 90's footy or the excitement of watching players streaming up the wing with lockett or carey on the end of it.
pike64
i think the direction the modern game is is going with the types of physical attributes that suit it best will mean that that in a couple of generations we will be inundated with failed American basketballers.
Sean Lee
Expert
Back in the day the old VFA used to play 16 a side, neither team having any wingers. Used to produce fast, open footy. Don't know if it would work now though.
Sean Lee
Expert
Would love to read it Deccas. Where did you see it?
Terry
Guest
Great article Sean. For mine, one of the highlights of 2013 was seeing Justin Westhoff chase down Cyril Rioli. You note that sprinters in general have gotten bigger, and that's certainly true. But I wonder whether shorter guys are still faster over the first 10 metres? It's great that guys like Rioli, Dalhaus and Christenson can still get a run in the midfield, even though they're all under 6ft. It's partly because they're so quick over the first 10 m. Those first 10 m will always be important in footy, so I hope there'll always be a spot for under 6ft midfielders. Some great comments and analyses from others above but seems illogical for some to argue that yesterday's players were just as good under the old rules as today's players under the current rules. Maybe if they'd trained as much as today's players, that'd be true, but today's training regimes are far more rigorous so surely that'd give today's players an edge.
Brendan Waterhouse
Roar Rookie
Sure it would be nice to see but it's evident in modern football that applying constant pressure wins more games than always having your structure set up perfectly.
Cat
Roar Guru
I prefer players playing, not standing around hoping someone else does all the work and they can reap the reward.
MichaelJ.
Guest
You prefer primary school football where all the kids chase the ball, obviously.
Cat
Roar Guru
How many of yesterdays forwards were ever out of puff when they had to kick?
Cat
Roar Guru
how is standing still doing nothing to help your team more skillful?
MichaelJ.
Guest
Well, it might be a good idea to force the players to stay in a position instead of all chasing the game. Then maybe the skills will return.
Cat
Roar Guru
"Most players today can’t kick over a jam tim straight." They could if they spent half the game standing still and resting waiting for the ball to come to them. I'm sure if you took those oldtime blokes and made them running up and down the ground 3 or 4 times then gave them 30 seconds to kick a shot they'd miss a heck of a lot more then they did.
MichaelJ.
Guest
Too right. Their triathlete bodies don't make them good footballers. Most players today can't kick over a jam tim straight. Compare to Peter Hudson and Peter McKenna in the 1970s who rarely missed shots at goal. They've also lost the art of the drop kick and stab pass and rarely use any kicking skill other than the bland, failsafe drop punt. The game has deteriorated as a spectacle and the skill today is purely in running and moving the ball on like on a conveyor belt. Defensive skills may have improved slightly, mainly to counter the fast movement of the ball forward.
Lroy
Guest
+10 ;-)
Radelaide
Guest
Definitely the professionalism today is producing a different type of player (athleticism over skills) and is also leading to the "roving mauls" that I think can only be solved by taking a player or 2 off the ground from each team and expanding the bench to 4 with and 2 subs (I would like to see that trialled next year in the Nab cup).
Jason K
Guest
When I was a kid at Armadale High School in WA, my PE teacher was Mr. Maxwell, who played for the West Coast Eagles. This was in 1988. The guy had to have a second job at a rinky dink high school. How many players from back in the day were not full time football warriors? Probably many. I think as salaries increase better players will be attracted to the sport and the athleticism should improve. Good article.
deccas
Guest
i'd suggest you just forget the poor misses of earlier era's. Its a part of teh game when kicking something so irregularly shaped you're gonna stuff it up occasionally.
deccas
Guest
there is an amazing article published close to 100 years ago that predicts much the same thing axle!
Gus Paella
Guest
Great read Sean, one has to wonder with the recent evolutions in rules and also the changing body types of players will we see a Gaelic football/AFL hybrid in 20 years time.