#Brett Allen

Only half owned……….the abhorrence of a media/broadcast company half owning the league and owning expansion clubs such as Storm – – for the first 15 years.

No conflict of interests there!!

It was ugly plastic sports. At least Kerry Packer never owned Cricket……well…….he owned WSC.

#Grem

This is where it’s interesting. The official talent pathway is based around registered participants.

In 2019 FA National Summary the total outdoor affiliated was listed as 539K and the 2022 report listed as 543K. That’s around roughly a 4:1 ration male to female.

The male/female divide is greatest at the ‘senior’ level but…how many are hitting the high performance pathway from that cohort??

In essence – – the mixing pot is 239K Miniroos (4:1 male/female) and 165K ‘youth’ (3:1 male/female). Based on 2022 participation.

And beyond that……..the schools………..the schools……….THAT I put is the key battleground. 591K in School programs/comps in 2019 and post covid rebounding 476K in 2022.

Schools is it!!

so………you’ve dismissed India outright as a ‘weak attack’……..to ignore the Madras miracle double ton??

that series in late 1986 was a spinners series. It was an AWAY series for Australia at a period where Australia was rebuilding. Greg Matthews (14) and Ray Bright (8) were the only Aussies to get more than 2 wickets. Kapil was wicketless for India and Yadav, Maninder Singh and even Ravi Shastri formed a very good spin attack.

Jones was highest scorer across both teams for the series. I’m pretty sure AB and Boony aren’t suggesting no one count their stats from that series?? Greg Ritchie and Swampy Marsh with 24 and 33 averages respectively would have loved a 92.75 avg!! S.Waugh ended with a 59 average based around 3 not outs and only one dismissal.

And then you entirely dismissed the Sri Lanka matches – – late ’92 an AWAY tour again and Jones scores more than any other player on either side…..ironically other than Greg Matthews!! (who made 50+ in 5 of his 6 knocks). To write of Jones’ form there when – AB went at 40.5, Boon 26.8 and M.Taylor 24.66, Moody 11.83 and M.Waugh 10.16.

You can’t just dismiss this out of hand.

The narrative you are pushing here just doesn’t hold.

That ‘weak’ SL attack included a bloke who took 17 wickets at 25.52 (Ramanayake) ; Australia’s best was McDermott with 14 at 24.42.

So where are you getting over excluding anything you don’t like for your narrative??? Pretty sure scoring runs when other don’t…..and Jones was dropped after that series!?!??! That’s what never added up. Had he failed in Sri Lanka………then fine. He excelled when others failed and M.Waugh failed miserably.

#BT

So…..Nani…..nearing the end of his career arguably gets paid overs to rock up for Victory…….do you reckon there was a reasonable ROI on that move?? How many games did he actually play??

Not sure putting forward Nani disproves my suggestion.

Were he brought out for a 4 year contract at age 31 then mebbe. But his term with MVFC looks a massive financial blunder.

Perhaps someone at MVFC forgot to ‘stay in their lane’.

Just sayin’.

#Grem

Question. Are you satisfied with the structure of the ‘talent pathway’?

If not – – what would you like to see in place.

Reason I ask – – given Australia is arguably the worlds most competitive domestic ‘football’ market – – ALL 4 codes have to be exceptionally efficient within their own talent pathways.

#Brett Allen

Corporate owned…..when established….a News Ltd half ownership model. With the News Limited owned ‘expansion’ clubs.

AFL is not corporate owned at all. That’s frankly a silly suggestion.

#Tony

AFL……Australian Football – founded 1858 IN AUSTRALIA. Two of the original clubs Melbourne (1858) and Geelong (1859) continue to play against each other in the top competition 165 years on.

NRL…….Rugby League – established in England 1895 and picked up on by the Kiwis All Golds tour 1907 and started in Sydney 1908. A corporate owned entity……it’s plastic at best and the corporate expansion clubs the epitome of that.

Melbourne vs Sydney. tell me again – – when do they run the Sydney Cup??

Or the Sydney F1 GP or the Sydney Grand Slam tennis?? All of those have far, far greater history/heritage in Melbourne. Like wise the finest old theatres…….and……for very, very good reason – McCafe was first established in…….Melbourne.

Oh – Sydney has Bondi, the Bridge (turns 92 in a couple of days) and the Danish Designed Opera House (how many Sydney authored Opera’s have been held there??)……seems more famous for having projections onto it………all class. And that’s why V’Landys is a perfect fit in Sydney. Remember – Sydney is where dingbats like Kyle Sandilands thrive…….Alan Jones……John Laws……we sent you Steve Price and somehow he thrived up there too?!?!?

#Leon

The question becomes – “Who should invest” that capital that you seem to yearn for?

Club owners? To build a national team? Arguably the national duties erode the club (although same in cricket – it’s nice to have national capped players on the field).

The Govt(s)? The dilemma is that Australia is arguably the worlds most competitive domestic ‘football’ market. As it was the Fed Govt effectively rebooted soccer – however – do you want the game ‘nationalised’ and publicly owned? Otherwise – the Feds and other tiers of Govt have to be very careful at being market ‘disruptors’ in a free market economy.

The main justification tends to be…….the chase for Olympic gold.

#NickA

The irony is – that BT was trying to argue against me……..however it really looks like his points support my commentary.

So it becomes a classic ‘shoot the messenger’ scenario.

As it was – – I was responding to the Authors points and Stuart is also an AFL fan and is not decried there for his interest in soccer.

#Tony

Tradition……….first Brownlow awarded 1924. So……100 years for tradition. Tick.

Style…….no contest.

btw not sure you noticed……..last weekend with 6 NRL games and 4 AFL games (all north of the Murrumbidgee) and……the 2 biggest crowds were AFL in Sydney and AFL in Brisbane. That’s style……..winning at a canter……….any guess why V’Landys is firing up now????

#KenW

He’s got no grace, no style and is a ‘money buys anything’ type of person.

He’s a perfect fit for Sydney. Just throw money at something to try to overcome the lack of tradition, lack of heritage and lack of style.

and you took a swipe at the Brownlow along the way.

At least the Brownlow has a long and glorious history and is a traditional umpire voted award.

As far as other awards go……..there’s a plethora of media voted, fan voted, peer voted awards………..but the Brownlow is the one with the history and heritage.

2/3rds of players can’t win it because they aren’t good enough; won’t play enough games or play more defensive roles that are harder for umpires, and fans – to recognise. The Brownlow may be ‘flawed’ however it’s flawed with style……..and alost 100 years of tradition…….contrast to the Dally ‘M’ which was a News Limited creation – less than 50 years ago and IS flawed by design and flawed re integrity.

Now…..with V’Landys on the job – – the Dally ‘M’ will be hosted in Vegas and the NRL will invest in a Vegas casino and Dally ‘M’ voting rights will be exclusive to American residents when they buy a minimum $1000US worth of chips. That’ll tick all the gambling and US fan engagement boxes in one go!!!

And…………”“Competition is healthy,” he said. “I like [the AFL] making big statements, even though some of them are ridiculous.”

100%.

He makes a lot of ridiculous statements.

Your point about billionaires is sadly…….the business model around the world.

That’s not and never has been my cup of tea. Perhaps that makes me sound a bit like the old fan of the ‘amateur gentlemen’ as against the ‘paid professional/mercenary’.

At any rate – – the A-League Women’s is rapidly becoming what the A-League Men’s really can’t avoid being; and that is a development competition a bit like Australian Idol is for the music industry.

The Matilda’s golden generation had their window for global glory but arguably that will begin to close as ‘real’ soccer countries either catch up and/or surge well beyond what Australian women’s soccer can muster.

#Gray-Hand

If we were counting dropped chances against people then Marnus should be miles from the test side and Uzzie’s return twin tons would be largely discounted having been dropped on 27 in the first innings…….we’ve also seen many, many a current and recent Australian batter/bowler dining out on weak opposition and boosting averages with centuries scored on ‘roads’. Seemingly only D.Jones has that held against him. We contrast for example to the extended retirement run permitted D.Warner (stretched out because of his ‘outlier’ innings of 200 at the MCG).

re Jones – – he had some rotten luck; the run out debacle in the West Indies and of all things the leg side stumping brilliance by Jack Russell off Gladstone Small. He seemed to find new and weird ways of getting out.

That the lead in series was buried away in Sri Lanka – –
Jones 10 & 57; 77 (top score) & 100* (top score for test); 11 & 21
and lost his position (series of 276 at 55.2)
vs M.Waugh 5&56; 0&0, 0&0
…..AUDI……..(61 at 10.18)……who retain his spot.

And of course Steve Waugh was inserted although arguably for Tom Moody; and so it was that Jones was jettisoned instead of M.Waugh and Martyn scored a gig.

The reality of course is – – through to 1990 and Jones was and had to be a ‘lock’. That summer he’d stood head and shoulders above with his twin centuries in Adelaide to guide Australia to a draw (in the Imran/Akram 1oo each partnership match).

1990 saw Australia playing a lot of ODI’s and there was precious little test cricket until the home Ashes series and his returns in that match were thin on the ground (with that stumping sadly when looking the goods on 60 in the SCG test).

The oddity being – the 1990 calendar year for Jones in ODI’s – returned 1174 runs at the amazing 69.05 (S/R 78.84). That included 4 100s and 7 50s. That was the high point of his ODI career and at that point (end of 1990) his test numbers were 2698 at 50.9.

He was at his peak across this time frame.

For many of us – – it was easy perhaps to rate these very highly too and forgive a little bad luck in the red ball game. It just seemed he was discarded very easily after having topped the averages in a very challenging tour in Sri Lanka while the failures of all others were neatly written off.

#Tromble

Yeah…….the clincher was a bit weak………..’curio’ perhaps??

The irony is that by far the greatest place names in Australia are borrowed from the indigenous.

So many Australians – and oddly you’ll often find on one hand are anti any notion of renaming places like the very poorly named Fraser Island – but are super proud of our distinctly Australian names such as:
Wangaratta, Wagga Wagga, Murwillumbah, Yackandandah, even Canberra.

So – – Victoria…….how about we rename to something relating to “Kulin”.

Just not “Kulinistan”!!

A big omission is from the 2007 finals series.

Aaron Edwards against Hawthorn.

the object of your endeavours is actually you ‘goal’. The entire width of the Rugby field (and American Football field) is actually the ‘goal’ (to achieve a ‘touchdown/run in’).

The terminology of course is archaic – – when allowing a ‘try at goal’…….to kick a goal. That’s long since been removed as the primary score (a goal – replaced by points awarded and gradually increased for the ‘try’).

It’s a demented system.

It’s as bad as the soccer points system for goals…..

and……..so by far the best option is to dial back to 1895 and fix that problem that was encountered then that doesn’t exist anymore.

Professional Rugby……a single sport.

btw – point of difference………there’s so little it doesn’t matter. Try or touchdown; elevated goals with cross bar and conversions/field goals……..there’s so little point of difference………..why bother?? There’s basically 3 Rugby games (4 if including Canadian Football) that are fighting for the same piece of the pie.

Gaff got 8 for taking out Andy Brayshaw.

The AFL asked for 8. This was as deliberate an action as any punch.

It’s astounding that the MRO graded it as ‘careless’.

Still trying to work out how the tribunal reduced it from 8 to 7.

#Chanon

The Sam Powell-Pepper was an accident; player Keane was being tackled and swung around in his path. THAT – getting 4 weeks I’m perplexed by.

However – Webster was NOT accidental; it was late; it not a realistic attempt at anything that would have been legal. It wasn’t an accident.

Even Maynard last year on Brayshaw – – was a totally unrealistic attempt that you seriously had to wonder what Maynard envisioned his ‘best case result’ was ever going to look like. We don’t see incidents like that every week……or even year…..you had to go back a couple of years to Duncan on Hall down at Geelong (not even a freekick that day).

The key here – – is that the umpires have to be brought on board (Maynard at least got free kicked!!). Then you need the MRO brought on board (seems he was forced by AFL hierarchy to grade Maynard to the tribunal) and then……..the last piece of the puzzle is to get the Tribunal out of the dark ages.

And part of the challenge there is to keep the QCs/KCs from undermining all the other efforts…….via legal interpretation…….because you just know those same QCs/KCs would be accepting the coin in attacking the AFL in a CTE class action.

#ozinsa

The economics of test cricket asserts the Basin Reserve is not up to it.

Now – – given they got an oval stadium sitting on the edge of the CBD…..with a capacity of around 30,000 (not sure what the cricket capacity is with sight screening etc)…….why, why restrict to the Basin?

I guess part of the answer is that Wellington – despite being the capital – is a very small city with only around 500K in the ‘Greater’ region which includes to Masterton and beyond to the east coast. So…..perhaps a 10K capacity for a projection of 4-5 days is about right……..most of the time. Arguably for Australia – bring in some more temporary seating and try to nudge 14-15K?

#Chanon
“the correction of playing the ball & not the man could prove disastrous in a collision sport”

What are you on about??

Webster was NOT playing the ball – – he got there too late to impact the ball. Webster entirely ‘engaged/played’ the man.

The simple fact of Webster is that Simpkin got his kick away before Webster got there. Webster was the ‘hunter’; he was the one with full awareness of what was happening and being ‘reactive’……or anything of the like doesn’t really come into it – – he had the ‘high ground’; he was in control of his approach and his plans/options. He chose extremely poorly. In fact he made the worst possible choice.

And was that on coaches instructions?? (take the body; make them feel it?).

The ‘speed of our game’ is of course a concern; as is the hardness of grounds. Nothing to do with ‘playing the ball’ being in anyway a bad thing.

I seriously don’t understand your assertion here???

#Chanon

In no generation should that action have been permitted. Magro on Jezza and Card on Greig were both incidents that should have resulted in 8 week suspensions in any era. That’s not football.

Leigh Matthews got deregistered. John Burke got 10 years. Phil Carman got 10 wks.

Andrew Gaff got 8 weeks for clocking Andrew Brayshaw.

Webster was late – – he was ALWAYS at best going to give away a downfield free for late contact. So you seriously have to wonder what the guy was planning as he ran in because his options were…….a courageous full length attempt to smother………..or………body contact at best only giving away a free kick downfield.

It was stupid play. In any era.

The irony about dinosaurs…………is some feted the thugs of the game 40, 50, 60 years ago. For me – – I grew up admiring the skillful players – the likes of Blight, Flower, Dempsey, Peter Moore, Daicos, the Krakouer brothers, Greig, Alves, Raines……..and the courageous of the likes of Schimma.

The thugs – – the brawlers – – those who thought going out on a footy field gave you the right to whack someone – – even the likes of Brereton……..Dipper……..Andrews, Merrett, Jacko………and L.Matthews – – their footy careers are severely blighted by the choices they made. In any other area of life they’d’ve faced criminal assault charges.