John Hamilton's Roar Profile

It will happen at some point. But not this year. It’s really between Hawthorn and West Coast unless Fremantle or Sydney can wake up and start playing footy.

Last year was a perfect chance for it to happen but Port couldn’t finish the job.

Can a club outside the top four win the AFL premiership?

Women’s league won’t start in 2017. The AFL announce all this stuff but don’t give a toss

AFL seal massive $2.5 billion TV broadcast rights deal

It sounds like an improvement but they need to go further down the AFL path of getting all local teams on FTA every week.

So regardless of when they play:
Melbourne live on FTA every week in Victoria

Same applies for North QLD, Canberra, Brisbane, Gold Coast and Newcastle.

This is done successfully in the AFL with all teams from WA, SA, QLD and NSW going live into their respecive markets regardless of when they play each weekend.

Other than that, it appears to be a good deal for the NRL

New television deal to double live and free NRL

League

What if NZ wanted to play England?

I didn’t realise crowds were down

[VIDEO] Essendon Bombers vs Western Bulldogs highlights: AFL scores, blog

Is it worth the dogs investigating playing a home game or two in Geelong?

Bulldogs keen on new boutique AFL stadium

The afl clubs voted unanimously against it earlier this year

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-05-14/afl-to-make-no-change-to-fixturing-for-2016

I wrote an article proposing this two years ago

One of the issues is that in some ways, it becomes a long and dragged out finals series with the top teams playing over and over again. I do think that it is great for teams at the bottom of the ladder but it needs to be tweaked for the clubs to support the concept

An AFL conference system that ‘might’ work

My thoughts

Players are not permitted inside the centre square until the ball has initially cleared the area
It’s interesting but would be near impossible to umpire as the boundary umpires need to get back to the boundary line. If they remained patrolling the centre square, they could potentially be in the way of play if there was a quick clearance. Additionally, they wouldn’t be able to patrol the boundary effectively. Apart from this issue, I see merit in it.

Kicking backwards is automatically play on (except inside the attacking 50)
As the author points out, a rather pointless exercise as people kicking backwards is usually done to create space.

Free kicks when the ball goes out of bounds
I don’t like this as it discourages good defence. I can we benefit if it is a free kick anytime it comes of feet. If it is handballed or run out of play, a boundary throw in remains. On a related note, i really hate it when a team misses a shot at goal and the ball trickles out of bounds. They then get a second chance. I.e. Missing the goals and getting out of bounds is potentially better than scoring a behind.

The other two I’m a bit 50:50 on. I don’t care one way or another

Five radical ideas to improve the AFL

I don’t see it as more than 1 week

[VIDEO] GWS Giants vs St Kilda Saints highlights: AFL scores, blog

It was an Eddie Mcguire conspiracy

Suns fail to eclipse Giant expectations

I like Thursday night footy but it shouldn’t be on during roundsthat only have 6 games

AFL is on a winner with Thursday night football

Watch the Freo v Adelaide game and even the Freo v Richmond game. He was able to keep tapping them to Fyfe no matter what the opposition were doing.

AFL Round 11: Sandilands does it again

It was wet so was always going to be a low scoring game but they really should have won by at least 4 goals.

Gold Coast were pretty good

[VIDEO] Gold Coast Suns vs Fremantle Dockers highlights: AFL scores, blog

The author fails to mention that in Union, wins are worth 4 points. So getting 4 tries for the bonus point is worth 25% of a win.

In the examples above, getting 4 tries is worth 50% of a win. So losing with 4 tries is just as beneficial as having a draw.

I could potentially see this working if wins were made 4 points (and draws 2) but as pointed out by others it wouldn’t change much. Perhaps more attacking flair in the late stages of the seasons as clubs try to find extra points for a finals berth but that’s about it

It's time for bonus points in rugby league

I don’t think he is saying that. Behinds only come into play if goals are level. So if both teams kick 12 goals, the team with more behinds wins.

The small posts are there but they are nearly irrelevant. We wouldn’t have the situation where a team can win despite scoring fewer goals

What's your one rule to change the game?

I don’t like this. When it comes off hands in a scrimmage, it can be really hard to see who was the last to touch it.

My rule change would be similar to yours in that if the ball goes out of bounds after travelling by foot, it is a free kick. If it has travelled by hands or a player is tackled over the line, a ball in remains (the deliberate rule would still be in play here).

In most situations where the ball spills over the boundary line or a player is tackled over the line, it is because no team could gain ascendancy. I don’t think Either team should be gaining a free kick from this situation. But if a team kicks it over the line, it shows they are unable to control possession.

One thing I hate is someone missing a shot on goal, the ball travelling out of bounds and it being tossed in (99% of the time, this is a better result for the attacking team than scoring a point). So my situation (as well as yours) will out an end to that

As a boundary umpire, it isn’t that hard to see when the ball is 100% out. The hardest part is making sure you’re in position for whatever situation may unfold in the current passage of play

I’ve voiced this before.

I wonder if Carlton would make a play for Paul Roos. Goodwin is already at Melbourne ready to take over in 2017. That could be brought forward 12 months if Carlton were able to convince Roos to come across.

I don’t think Roos would do it but Carlton would be mad not to try at all.

The other option is perhaps John barker remaining in the position permanently?

Stuart Dew is the only man for Carlton

Don’t write off GWS yet. They have an exceptionally favourable draw. In their 14 remaining games, only 4 (Fremantle, Sydney, Collingwood & Richmond) are against teams currently in the 8.

Their final two games of the year are against Carlton & Melbourne which may just be enough to get them into the top 4.

The question is if they tire like Gold Coast did last year…..

Flag race in three, but final eight wide open

Both you and the author raise good points. I think as a compromise, the beginnings of the league should be kept to smaller grounds. Maybe utilise Junction Oval instead of the MCG.

But after the professional league starts, the standard will improve quickly. My guess is that after the first 2-3 years, a game on the MCG will become more suitable

Jesse Hogan is Melbourne's Rising Star and other observations from Round 8

Newer Comments Older Comments