Aussie Rules - still a tough game?

Question

So, the umpires are blowing the whistle a but more often, and some people are saying our games like netball now. I say its still one h**l of a tough sport, and if you`re not hard, the likes of Archer & the Roo (retired, I know) will knock ya block off. What do you guys think?

Answer 1

Look I love AFL and I have to say they are right.

It is turning into a Netball game.Not the fault of the players or Umpires it's the AFL board members to blame.

These days all you need to have is speed in this game,cause strength and build are useless now.

It is really upsetting me with all these new rules.

Can't keep up.

Answer 2

Its still a d**n tough game only more complicated with new rules, changed rules, pansy umpires running around blowing their whistle (so to speak) if a player so much as farts too loudly!

The AFL boys play hard and keep the game so entertaining!

Just watch Dale Thomas...he's one tough cookie!

Answer 3

Aussie Rules is a tough game.

These guys are putting their bodies on the line every week.

I am disappointed at all of the constant whistle blowing from our umps and much too many soft frees and 50's given.

The Roo and  Archer,  were just 100% committed and tough.

Even though i'm a crows fan, of course i'll miss Archer too.

Will the game keep getting progressively softer do you think with all of these new rules?

I certainly hope not, the hard hits are something we all love, as long as their in the play of course :))))

WHen we watch highlights, we don't sit and watch the soft plays do we? Hard hitting 100% commitment is what we love.

Well, I do anyway :)))

Caaaarn The Crows!!! You're with me aren't you Big Kev?

Imawunda: No I have never played footy, can I not comment on it?

Can I not say that I think it is a tough game?

I have plenty of close friends who play footy, I can at least comment!!!!!!!!!

Answer 4

Not only is Aussie Rules a tough game, but also a  highly skilled football code.

I don't think that a rugby player would be able to combine tackling and the polished foot skills that an AFL player can demonstrate.

The beauty of Aussie Rules is that it has a combination of different elements to the game, which keeps the supporter coming back for more.

Aussie Rules is not designed to knock-ya-block-off, but to demonstrate skill and class.

Why else are people glued to the game for months on end, with a Grand Final at the G, filled to capacity,for that "One day in September"

Answer 5

I tend to be of the opinion that fitness is the essence of the game these days - not toughness.

The grounds don't have cricket pitches in them any more. They have better drainage & don't get water logged. They are better prepared by groundsmen & therefore make ideal conditions for a faster game.

One doesn't see the hits of John Worsfold & his like anymore. Byron Pickett has cleaned up a few but he only sniped & hit players when they had their head over the ball.

Answer 6

I've played AFL and Rugby and by the way Rugby is 10x tougher, AFL tackles just swing you to the ground, but rugby is different, you get picked up, dropped and sometimes even driven into the ground.

Answer 7

AFL is a tough sport it is being altered to protect players from unwanted rough stuff but it is a game that stretches each and ever player to the limit of what a human body can stand ~~

Answer 8

I love the way League fans always quote the tough tackles.  And I agree that the tackles are often harder in League, but generally only one of the players is moving fast.  When both are at speed you get the really spectacular hits.

I think Daniel Chick, when straight, and Max Rooke for example would hold their heads high in League or Union, but they can also run, kick, hand pass, leap and strategise.  And tough? ... what about Mooney?

A lot of the tough guys did retire this year but there will be more!!  How long it is till we see an Archer or Roo is up to the historians in 20 years time.  Roo was every bit as tough as Wally Lewis and Archer was more like Ray Price but prettier.

As for the games, I've played all of the Australian codes (AFL, League, Union, Soccer) and the hardest hit I ever copped was sprinting flat out and climbing for a mark.  Only trouble is some other idiot had the same idea from the other direction!  I was usually sorest though after a game of Union.  League ... yeah 10 tackles in 80 minutes (as a five eight) ... so what!

For Wunda...  Big Call:  Deedubya has been everywhere, Forky has played heaps (but he's a wimp, I was still going round at 35!), I've played from 12 to 35, I'd estimate 400 games and 1200 training sessions (and none of them did me any good), Richo Fev sounds like he has, and I'd hate to tackle Roguey as she leads out from full forward in the black and white :-).  Your credentials??

Answer 9

It's still a tough game, but the more rule changes we have the worse it gets. Someone else will come along and have the agression of a Roo or an Archer. It's just a matter of how many rule changes, thats what's changing the game.

Answer 10

Aussie Rules players need to be tough to be skillful, or they would be coathangered.

Now that the game is taped, the players use other methods of going about knocking an opponent off his feet, otherwise they would be rubbed out for weeks, and compromising the team.

Years ago a bully player would almost decapitate an opponent like a Samurai sword and nobody saw the incident. 'Aah shucks"

Modifications will always occur, and todays game is run run run, at all costs, or the player won't be seen the following season.

Answer 11

Richo,id have to say its still a tough game although it has been toned down in recent years,saying that I'm sure i wouldn't like to be cleaned up by some like Byron Pickett or Johnathon brown,footy has changed alot and the biffo is a thing of the past (shame) but the players still go hard and are basically 90kg balls of muscle running at athletes pace-so they are going to hurt if they collect someone.

p.s imuwunda,for the record i played footy from under 11's till i was 29 in seniors and now at 32 the body says no more.

Answer 12

I've played both AFL and Rugby.

Rugby is by far the tougher of the two.

When you got tacled in Rugby, especially bya Samoan or Tongan, you knew you'd been tackled.

Answer 13

I think AFL is what you make it, if you want to play it tough then you can but if you want a softer option then you can do that also. A lot of players who choose to go soft could not have played 20 years ago so I don't know, is that good or not?

I don't like it when sports get too caught up in the "but what will the mothers think" attitude.

Answer 14

I think its tough. We dont have to compete with other codes to see which is tougher. Yeah rugby is much tougher, but AFL is more well more tactical. Its completely different form other games.  And so what if people compare it to netball. How tough is netball compared to chess??? I play netballl....and i was watching this girl that um well bumped them and they hit the post and broke their arm. It gets harsh. BUt footy is still going good. We dont have to prove ourselves to other codes. Ha, we r always first on the news!!! WE WIN!!

Answer 15

Im a rugby league fan and i fink its more tougher then that rugby c**p.

Answer 16

I think the game is still a tough game...BUT....Andy Pandy Papdopolopoloppolopolometriou & his band of little sychophants( lawyers passing theselves off as rule makers, who have more than likely NEVER strapped on a boot in their lives) at AFL H.Q seem h**l bent on destroying this fantastic game. Why do we need changes of the rules every year? WE DON'T!

Bring the likes of Archer, Roo, Hird, etc into the fold of the rule makers. As they are players who are relevant (played in this decade) in the game.

It is a game of skill.

These changes cannot continue without something going fubar.

Answer 17

That "whatshisname" Rooke would NOT have "felt" the game soft, after that tackle in the Preliminary final by Nick Maxwell.    AFL football as I have said previously, desperately now needs the input of retiring players, and the 2 you mentioned Archer and Roo would be 'sensational' additions to the RULES committee to  replace KB and Caroline Wilson .   I respect Kevin Bartlett's contribution's to the game, but as a player  he scouted the packs, while Wilson, with  "her" contribution by way of " keyboard "is simply now proven not good enough, after they developed and allowed that ridiculous, in the back rule through.    Neither would have any idea of how a player sets himself for an over head mark.    I just hope because of the abysmal current rules committee that players ,the likes of Archer and Riscuitto, in future, are not lost to the best game in the world .

Answer 18

There may still be some tough players running around out there but I bet they are becoming more frustrated, as time goes by, by  the way the game is now being administered.

I'm trying to think of some current tough players.....Maybe Daniel Chick (given the flick); Archer (retired); Roo (yes, also retired); Barry Hall (Used to be - not any more); Johnathan Brown (no brains!); ....That's about all I can think of....The game review panel have made it that no-one is game to even f**t out loud anymore........

As I am of the opinion, that no-one who has ever  played the game, has ever made a post in here - I can't see how the answers herein can be taken seriously.