Benz – problem with this is that the rugby codes have “lines” across the pitch. so there is an advantage line. In Australian football territory is not as important and can’t really be measured by an advantage and advantage over rule.

The umpires already use a hand signal for advantage but the players are only really looking at the umpires when the play has stopped by virtue of a whistle.

We all think the advantage rule in rugby is ideal and works brilliantly – its just so hard to enforce in a non territory based game. I think your suggestion could however work with the way the old rule was – umpire calls advantage, player takes advantage, if its no advantage then it comes back to the original infringement, but again as you point out it would be an adjustment for supporters to accept that a kick could still come back if advantage was paid and the player stuffed up its use.

I stand informed – didn’t research before commenting – not sure how this slipped past me considering the date of the press release.

http://www.irb.com/newsmedia/mediazone/pressrelease/newsid=2033716.html

However whilst the invite has been extended and seemingly accepted I am surprised that there is not more publicity about this?

Either way its a great move and one to look forward to.

All the talk of expansion to make 16 teams – why is SANZAR not seriously considering a team in Argentina? Then the Pumas could be invited to a new 4 nations? Admittedly it would be a massive cost on the competition – one team would be be flying to or from BA every week but if the game is to grow further then how serious should we be championing this idea?

The six nations is one of the great annual sporting tournaments. With 2 games a week we wouldn’t have one nation having rest every second week?

hittingthevalve – great and accurate article. And I also agree with all of the comments as well. Whilst football is not my first choice in Australia, it was for 10 years of my life when living in Europe – so I do love the game. For most Austrlian sports presenters, a bit more research could go a long way. This applies to all non mainstream sports, the use of “footy” (AFL & NRL) terminologies to describe other sports is cringeworthy at times.

Only had Sky for a year but as I said, had a very accommodating Irish pub in our street that made it significantly cheaper and there was Guinness on tap.

Jammy – I agree, normally can’t stand a per capita argument myself and address this by saying that statistics can be contorted to suit the audience. However we as humans love a comparison and this was apt given the size of numbers involved.

Mick – having returned from living there for 6 years I can confirm that the 3pm Saturday games are indeed not shown live and agree that by adding this to the equation would blow the rest out of the water. Although if you knew the right pub, you could go and watch an illegal feed of the games that would be going to countries like Ireland or in Europe!

oikee – some bad news for you. RL in the UK is probably third rate from a national perspective of football codes. At least in NSW and QLD it gets decent coverage in the press.

Just saw that SBF beat me to it…

🙂

Hi David – A clear ommission from the atticle is Jock McHale
Collingwood (1912–1949)
714 matches, 8 premierships (467 wins, 237 losses, 10 draws) win% 65.4%

So he trumps Hafey in win %, Malthouse in games, Sheedy in most games at a club. The Premiership coach in AFL also receives the Jock McHale medal.

Yes he was pre= WWII but a legend nevertheless.

Malthouse coached Footscray and not Richmond, he played at Richmond and St Kilda.
Having said that on face value Bennett has a better record than Malthouse and would sit on a higher pedastal in his respective game for feats achieved.

db swannie – I think its fair to say that this comment could be solely attributed to the local market in Melbourne. Having been to the first ANZAC day game between Essendon and Collingwood in 1995 and many more in between, the level of understanding and respect in the crowd has grown enormously.

In years gone by during the last post and minute’s silence calls of “Carn the Bombers/Pies” could be heard around the stadium. This didn’t happpen once on Monday. It raises the hairs and gives goose bumps the emotion in the stadium when you think about those that have risked and given their lives to protect what we have now in this great country.

Like it or not, locally at least there is increased awareness, appreciation, and respect by many thousands of people towards the ANZAC’s than there might have been previously. This, was discussed and agreed upon in the Triple M commentary box on Monday. All agreed that whether we like it or not, its partly due to a game of football setting a increased standing of the importance of the day to those that previously had not connection to it. Not everyone in Australia has or had a connection to our diggers, and many of who don’t, do have connection to football and a link has been made.

Sheek – your suggestion is what the debate comes down to. Whilst its novel and great to share the game around, the problem is would we gaurantee full house signs on these combinations of games. As Richard states below, Melbourne hosts Collingwood exclusively on a public holiday (Queen’s Birthday) every year for average crowds in recent times in the 60-70K region.

The other problem with your suggestion is TV. Therefore a maximum of only 3 games could be played in one day.

On your final point – A large slice of the money made on ANZAC day goes to the RSL as per the orriginal deal setup by Sheedy, Essendon, Collingwood and the AFL.

Freo have hosted an evening ANZAC day game whenever it has been close to or over the weekend. Last year it was Friday night and Freo hosted an evening game. I am completely happy with this and think its great for Perth fans as well.

Not sure what the point of this piece is? It seems like its more politically focused than sport or football / Collingwood focused? Only 4 out or your 14 paragraphs talk about Collingwood and people joining their bandwagon? The rest is definitions and political references…

Not sure bout some of the facts in here.
– Woods is only 4 majors behind Nicklaus not 5
– Not sure why you call it the PGA Masters? Its the US Masters
– What is the Major era? you mean most successful in terms of golf majors won?
– Woods finished 4th in the Masters last year… exactly the same as this year. Woods can still put together good runs because he is a star but still needs to get past the mental side of winning a tournament. Furthermore, Woods has never won a major coming from back in the field.

Great piece on the aura that is building about this champion. Have seen four of her last five runs live in Melbourne and it is simply breathtaking. No need to even have a punt, sit back and enjoy poetry in motion.

Agree on this argument Luke. Consultants consultants consultants. Only this week the government has hired a professor to do a study into the state of the Taxi service in Melbourne. “The professor expects to complete his survey over the next year.” Of course he does – if he’s getting $000’s per day I would draw it out for a year too. We all know whats wrong with the taxi service here but they hire somone to spend a year to find out…

I personally love the GP – love having it in Melbourne – and would happily live in the Albert Park area if I could afford it and have first rate access to the event.

Having said that – if Melbourne cannot retain the Grand Prix I would be happy for it to be somewhere else in Australia.

Absolutely true. This is often due to a mythical natural skill / pashion ratio. A lot of the great coaches compenated their passion for the game – any game – (analysis, thinking, tactical awareness etc) for their lack of natural skill.

The players with natural talllents often – not always – don’t make as good coaches because they got by on their skills and natural ability and didn’t have to think about the game too much.

GrantS – almost the same 8 teams. only difference I almost had the swans for Essendon and not Carlton.

No Carlton in the 8 , doe that leave Ratten to be sacked before the end of the year?

But as I said both were brought up on the game, lived and breathed the game and therefore had significant exposure and love of the game. Malthouse whilst might be an admirer and even love the game of football, could not claim that as an advantage.

I have no issue from taking ideas from other sports to apply them through the administration and management of the development of the code as a whole. On researching John Boultbee a bit more I don’t think he has any direct contact with players and coaching them. He might be involved in the choice of coaching staff but even this is undefined. Eitherway he is in the job of sports administration and this is what the job is, administering the national teams.

I think that whilst many people only want football people to be involved at all levels this is an insular and naiive approach. (the same theory applies when people criticse certain journalists of any sport that have never played the game at the highest level). We can all learn from other peoples experiences elsewhere and other peoples opinion.

However I do believe the best coaches have been played and been coached by good or great coaches themselves. the game should be in there head from a young age and their thoughts and ideas will have built over years of exposure, experience and practice.

There is no chance that an Australian Football person could ever coach a Football (Soccer) team at a high level without years of foundation in the game. This includes a reasonable playing career under decent coaches as well as learning all sorts of basic positionings and tactics.

I played football (soccer) at school in europe as a child and watch every week on TV the analysis that goes into positioning to defend the line and defending at corners / set pieces and there is so much to consider here.

Malthouse who has not been at the coalface of football, despite many badges would still take a number of years to understand these nuances.

Perhaps in man management and personal development, but wouldn’t that still be a slap int he face to the coaches and officials of football (soccer) in Australia if they had to bring in someone from another code to help.

Even Clive Woodward (England) world cup winning rugby coach tried for a short period to be involved as a director of performance and football at Southhampton. His switch to football with no previous experience was not a sucess. He was out of the job within a year. It is fair to say that Woodward would have had more exposure to Football growing up than Malthouse would have as well.

I like the article however because it challenges peoples thinking and has a nice idea. The reality is different though.

MLF – As Mark Hawthorne recently wrote in the Fairfax papers Collingwood’s jumper is worth the most in the country of all foootball codes. This comes from an independant report from Repucom into sporting media coverage and assigning a dollar value to that coverage.

http://www.theage.com.au/business/afls-success-in-black-and-white-20110308-1bmk6.html

The Wookie – You have covered all the changes coming into the year very well but it reads like the intended audience was for our friends in the northern states markets! 🙂

What are your thoughts on the spoon? I was surprised about your omission of the Dogs from the 8.

I will have a similar look at the season up here on The Roar after the NAB Cup GF and also on our blog at www.thebanter.com.au

Have to agree with you Koops.

MLF – There is nothing wrong with regional practice games – all the major football leagues do it. Games against teams in lower leagues or practive matches at local grounds. Think of the excitement come round 1!