The AFL's unevenness is to its detriment

I think that is outweighed by the benefits of seeing your team play finals more often. We would still have upsets and underdogs. I do see your point and it's important to view these things from many angles.

EPL is different. The gap might be 3-4 goals between the best and worst sides.

It doesn't always have to be that way. Cut the number of teams and the gaps between the teams will decrease (if they are run correctly).

Fair enough Jack but something has to be done and you know it. Doing nothing is not an option unless the AFL is content to end up like the NRL in Sydney. Besieged by dysfunctional, mediocre, under-performing teams and the code is powerless to fix it.

Left of field suggestion: To reduce the unevenness / poor quality of the football produced by various clubs at various times in their life cycle the AFL should be split into 2 divisions. 10 Clubs in Premier Division and 10 or 12 clubs in 1st Division. Relegate the bottom 2 clubs from Premier division each year for the top 2 in the 1st Division. If you have 12 clubs in 1st Division you could introduce a third club from both WA and SA and also 1 from TAS and 1 from NT. This way the best football would be played in the Premier Division. Also would go some way to eliminating the biased fixture. Let the cream rise to the top.

Those two are heritage clubs. It's the equivalent of political suicide.

AFL is a great game but an awful competition. It's too Melbourne centric and should dump 2 Melbourne teams at least. I suggest little clubs like St Kilda and North Melbourne be given the punt back to the VFL.

Once the Jeans/Joyce era ended many thought Hawthorn could never get back up, they felt all that success was built on some good luck we got out of the zoning policy and the ability to develop players through lower grades- neither of which would be possible in the 1990's. Which is why we reinvented ourselves by sacrificing certain off-field traditions in favour of 21st-century ideas like Launceston, Waverley Park and the embracing of indigenous players. Carlton have not reinvented themselves in the last 20 years and the results speak for themselves. Essendon have been only marginally better at moving into the 21st century- despite over a decade without winning a final they are now embarking on their first proper rebuild since the early 90's so let's see if they do it properly. This Hawthorn will eventually end, of course- whether we can start another successful era will depend on our ability to stay with the times and/or lead the way.

Lions - Injuries and should not have gotten rid of Voss (board issues) Suns - Injuries and should not have gotten rid of Mckenna (also board issues) Bombers - Should have sacked Hird and got Bomber (as above, board issues) Demons - Improving slowly, give it time. Saints - not basket case (not suggesting you were) Carlton - Have good players need time to fix Mick's mess.

Change has been spent. Don't think there is any left. If Dangerfield comes, someone else goes. I still think the Walsh stuff may have actually invigorated Dangerfield to stay at the club. Just my thought.

Jackso I think you're right that both rugby and Australian Football share this feature that if one side dominates possession, then it's all over red rover - that's just the way it is - at least we can say in both cases that the better team has won. In either game, it's up to the poor performing club to step up to the plate, do something about it, change the game plan, work harder on the track, change the coaching structure, fill gaps through recruitment, etc But one thing we don't do is throw our hands up in the air and complain that it's just not fair. If one club is setting the standard, everyone else has to aim for the same standard to remain competitive - that's sport!

Very good points there Epiquin.

Confirmed as a dogs supporter. Actually, I am reminded of one of our greatest triumphs - when we got the record highest score in 1978, with Kelvin Templeton kicking 15 goals (8 or 9 in the final term) - in a 12 goal final quarter - were dogs fans bemoaning the fact that they were giving the opposition a hiding - of course not!! Unfortunately, that records only lasted one season, from memory, the following year Fitzroy got the record with a massive win over Melbourne. But people often forget - hidings may not be great for the neutral fan - but for the supporters of the clubs handing out the shellacking - there's nothing better!!

"So when some fans go to a match, within minutes of the start of the game their teams are goals behind, the flogging begins. There isn’t even five minutes of hope and cheer time for their team. It’s little wonder that those fans cease coming to games." Unfortunately I cannot agree with this although I mostly agree with the rest of this piece. Even in the two biggest losing margins this week, both teams were at least in the contest for part of it. For example, Carlton were actually winning 10 minutes into the Hawthorn game (albeit 2-1). In the other game, Brisbane were in the game until half time. There are problems with AFL unevenness but I do not think it is as bad as you make out.

We could pick him up with the change from the Buddy deal!! Interesting to hear the Hawks president denying it on Friday night, always interests me when a president is so keen to state that a player couldn't possibly be coming to their club.

Rugby Union and AFL will always have lopsided games where atop team can dominate possession and the ability to score big scores is relatively easily. Compared to NRL (I have it for 6 and then u have it for 6) the game evens itself out to a large degree aided by some astute refereeing to maximise entertainment. Soccer has low scoring to make it interesting but both those games suffer from a bad refereeing decision costing someone (because the penalties are so large) the game whereas AFL and RU rarely suffer from that because the penalties are nowhere as large. However some find RL and soccer predictable so you cant have it both ways...

Note: Irony is intended, as Swans had same salary cap questions raised despite clearly having the room for it if you have paid any attention to their list.

Oh then I wonder if salary cap concessions will be raised?

To be fair, MANY of the teams (Brisbane and Gold Coast particularly) have not managed their injuries well. Brisbane for the 2nn season in a row, and I question what on earth is going on up there. I have said it before and will continue to maintain the point that equality in this league is off the field in the club with quality of it's staff members and not the players.

Yes it is my opinion but one held by many people and I have been an AFL fan for decades. Lets list a few of the declines - hardly a contested mark worthy of a highlights reel, ugly scrums that have turned the game into rugby, drab uncontested football where the ball goes in circles, frenetic interchanges every two seconds, small crowd at more and more games, fewer kids playing the game, and so on. Some people might regard these fabulous innovations as wonderful. Not me, and I reiterate the growing threat of the round ball game in this country.