Eddie McGuire is convinced the ball is a big issue in the AFL

The ball is a big issue. Players who would genreally kick over 50 metres are only kicking 40 metres. some of the kicks have been dreadful because they fell well short. Yet looking at the player's action they did everything right. This goes back to the old arguement as to what is the best ball to use in top flight footy. The Sherrin has NEVER been the best ball.. In fact the Faulkner South Australian ball has always been superior ro the Sherrin. The Sherrin has a problem with balance and always has. Now obviously those problems have gotten worse as the ball isa either too heavy or too light. On the other hand the Faulkner footy is perfectly balanced, the right weight and the workmanship is superb. The stitching, the cutting of the four sections and the making are done with incredible skill. Whereas the Sherrin, which was already an inferior product, has gone downhill

If the balls have been made more slippery due to sponsor logos then he has a point and if we go back to being as things were a few years ago in terms of grip then we are not really making a fundamental change. I don't think he was advocating a rugby style ball as some headlines suggest, just pointing what rugby does have. The other thing McGuire said was about the number of match balls they play with. Years ago there were only two. A new one at the start and a second new one after half time. The point being that the balls wear out a bit and will be easier to grip. I read somewhere at least a year ago (possibly a PtS comment on this site) that Eddie has previously suggested players warm up with the match balls to help promote a bit of wear.

Get a bit of paper, draw the field, goals etc. Then start putting the players in position you would use. 2 right at the front , 3 at half forward, 4 in the middle etc. Most people will stop at 15 or 16….cos that’s all that’s necessary. Easy.

Settle.......coaches are being negative because they have had very little time with their players coming back to playing. The time from lifting the quarantines to playing was really short, so give it a few weeks. I think last year people were saying that you needed to be more attacking to be successful.

Yes Eddie the Aussie Rules Footy is an Oval Shape football. If you have notice. After all these years Eddie may realise that the Australia Rules Football is oval. Has he just realised?

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when was the last game anything like the tiges v pies game ? never in my recollection ? certainly not anything near frequently, unless u consider once too frequent

I do find that new footballs are too hard and only after being belted for a while do they soften up. I agree with Eddie this is an issue.

so not only is eddie a flog but he plagiarizes as well ... blight always was out there with some of his thinking

Union and league players also have a higher proportion of dulled senses and damaged twitch reflexes I hazard a guess.

There’s more and more night footy coming though Macca, even a night GF.

What about Malcolm Blight? He suggested putting grip on the footballs last year. I’d say he knows more than you or I about footy. Blaming the coaches is fine. I agree. They won’t stop though. All I (and I think Ed) am saying is why not maximise the quality of footy that is not in a scrum.

good question pts ,in all honesty if we made the grand final on the back of that i would expect us to play the same way on grand final day

Eddie is a hydra. When one head goes bright purple and eventually blows off another grows in its place.

Malcom Blight suggested putting grip on the footies last year, it’s not even Eddies idea.

It gets to the eternal question hub. Was it Paul Roos or Rodney Eade who ruined footy? Whatever was the trigger, it’s now commonplace. It comes back to trying to win flags. If Port kick 20 plus goals all year in the best footy anyone has ever seen but lose the GF in a shootout do you take that or them winning a flag with 5.7 to 5.6 after a dull defensive year of scrum footy?

not saying bucks is the only bloke doing it or the worst offender but the prez of his club is the one that's come out with that ridiculous idea re the footies after his club went ultra defensive (ridiculous to me, & i dont think im the lone ranger there)

no denying that but get on you tube & check out some of those 25 goals v 22 goals matches back in the '70's & tell me they are that compelling viewing. sure we wanna see some scoring but goals arent the only measure of great footy. still reckon we need to wait for a slightly bigger evidence sample than 1 week before we go making wholesale changes, dont forget the games are also shorter (& thus less scoring time), and as much discussed this will allow sides to maintain the flood for greater portions of the game.

can kind of see your point pts about playing with 16 ,i can understand that but there was nothing wrong with the footy back in the 80's and 90' s...that was 18 on field ,so if 16 helps im all for it but it shouldnt have to be

Check out a graph of scoring averages past 30 years Sven and then reply