Australian rules football...?

Question

This code of football is considered by many to be the toughest there is. After watching a few games on TV (AFL premiership games), as far as I can see, rugby and American Football are significantly tougher games.

Sure, Aussie rules players take hard tackles and such, but the tackles just seem to have much more impact in rugby and AF, also, there are no scrums in aussie rules, and thats where a lot of players get hurt, and also, I've found that once tackled, they don't all pile on the player with the ball, he has to let go.

Not knocking Aussie rules one bit, it's a great game, I just think it's reputation of being the toughest code of football is a little inacurate.

Anyone more familiar with Aussie Rules care to shed a little light?

Answer 1

it can sometimes be tough but lately yes it has got softer with new rules but it can be tough becasue one guy got totally knocked out from just a bump but it still is a great game to watch GO FREO!! they play hawthorn in 2 hours matches at the moment are geelong vs west coast geelong winning by 23 points and melboune beating bulldogs by 12 points

Answer 2

The NRL games only go for 80 minutes where AFL games go for 100+minutes.  There are more players in an AFL game against you and the grounds are bigger.  AFL players are tougher and fitter by far.

Answer 3

I think the reason it is so dubbed is the lack of protective gear and the fact they have to "fly" for marks.

significantly you see more broken bones and hard knocks in the game then i have seen in watching nfl or league, this being said on any given day depending who is lining up against you any code can be the toughest...

thats my view anyway...

Answer 4

YEAH it may seem like its not as hard at times,especially these days with a lot of new rules to protect the players,but still consider this in rugby and NFL 90% of the time the tackler comes at you which gives you time to tense up and take the hit but in Aussie rules where there is no structure to the game you can get crunched from any angle at times when you are not expecting it and this is where the real damage is done.examples of this lately was where a player from st kilda (Justin kosinsky)received a fractured skull last year in a crunching shirt front while not expecting it,also there was a couple of bad leg breaks and the list goes on.

the AFL have brought in rules and have made penalty's harsher in recent times but also people have to remember players these days are bigger fitter and run faster than ever before and this makes the hits and tackles that much harder i mean there is no way id like to be crunched by a player who is 6,3 weighs 90-100 kg of solid muscle and can run like the wind -would you?

note: of all the major footy codes in Australia AFL is consistently still the highest in sporting injuries.and you only have to read the herald sun each week to see that each club has probably on average 10 players out of their list of 42 that are on their injury list.

Answer 5

Once apon a time, Aussie rules footy was tough and hard. It still possessed the skill and the fast tempo of the game. But yes you are right, we can no longer say Aussie rules footy is hard and ruff.

Thanx to all the stupid rule changes over the last 10 yrs, our great game is getting softer and softer each year.

By 2010, the players will be wearing skirts.