pippinu
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+xAre these astrological charts, midfielder? Also, do you have any links to the "reports coming out of the two south and south east Melbourne bids" about this area with 1.2million folks in it?I suspect your famously fantastical thinking might have got the better of you again. There is no afl club in the south east but that certainly does not mean there is no "afl" I think most non-Melburnians would not appreciate that any sporting team located on the outer fringes of Melbourne is doomed to failure before it has even kicked a ball in anger. Having said that, it is true that the VFL/AFL has been losing market share in in Melbourne for 60 years now. Its record home and away attendance remains a game played in 1958.
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Australian Football dude
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^^^indeed it has been a breath taking decline ever since
But I'm just not convinced that football in the south east "area" is bigger than in the north and west where most the top clubs have come from and the best players (excluding Vince grills of course)....anyway, midfielder will provide the links soon enough I'm sure
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RBBAnonymous
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+x^^^indeed it has been a breath taking decline ever sinceBut I'm just not convinced that football in the south east "area" is bigger than in the north and west where most the top clubs have come from and the best players (excluding Vince grills of course)....anyway, midfielder will provide the links soon enough I'm sure This has been a funny thread I have to say and I am a little surprised at some of the findings and how some people view football. Its a lot different to the way I view the sport. Nothing wrong with that, we all have our opinions on what we want the sport to be and how we go about it. At the end of the day we all want football to progress in a positive direction. My camp is all about mainly improving technique and if a player happens to also be blessed with amazing Athleticism then all the better. At best the AFL could probably claim to have a figure of about 30-40% of the best Athletes playing the sport. That is purely based on simple mathematics. If half the country are playing mainly AFL and the other half are playing football, rugby and NRL then there is no way that all the best Athletes are playing AFL. Its just one of those throw away lines that AFL journos and other AFL Boffins love to throw in the mix. This is also common in other sports as well where they love to throw out some blurb to pump up their respective sports. Having said that you also have the problem of participation and registrations. They are heavily skewed in favour of football and it is increasing all the time. The problem with that is that it is difficult to service so many players wanting to play the game. Now if the journalist wants to blurb out nonsense without facts or figures then that's up to him, but I am not going to believe it just because he said it, he could always back it up with the statistics and figures which he obviously can't do. Its all anecdotal and circumstantial at best.
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pippinu
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Speaking of losing market share, let's not forget the increasing market share football is winning in Sydney at the expense of the two rugby codes. Here's an interesting comment from a Sydney paper over the weekend: Nobody cares about origin anymore. Years ago it used to be the ticket to have, not anymore. The ticket everyone wants is the A League derby between SFC VS. WANDERERS. Going to origin is boring and if it wasn't for TV broadcasting it, it would die a slow death. NRL is yesterday, there is a new game in town ne the ball is round. Get used to is because it's the future. It's an changing world, and that world is round.
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robbos
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+xSpeaking of losing market share, let's not forget the increasing market share football is winning in Sydney at the expense of the two rugby codes. Here's an interesting comment from a Sydney paper over the weekend: Nobody cares about origin anymore. Years ago it used to be the ticket to have, not anymore. The ticket everyone wants is the A League derby between SFC VS. WANDERERS. Going to origin is boring and if it wasn't for TV broadcasting it, it would die a slow death. NRL is yesterday, there is a new game in town ne the ball is round. Get used to is because it's the future. It's an changing world, and that world is round. What a flog. The world has always been round, only the odd nation thought it was egg shaped.
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JoyfulPenguin
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I don't understand why people on here criticize Pippinu so much, you say that he is negative and only supports the AFL yet 95% posts are of support for Australian soccer. He/She posts tv ratings that are informative and uses statistics instead of blind assumptions in his/her posts and in my humble opinion is one of the better posters on here. Even if he/she did prefer the AFL to soccer why would it matter?
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TheSelectFew
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+xI don't understand why people on here criticize Pippinu so much, you say that he is negative and only supports the AFL yet 95% posts are of support for Australian soccer. He/She posts tv ratings that are informative and uses statistics instead of blind assumptions in his/her posts and in my humble opinion is one of the better posters on here. Even if he/she did prefer the AFL to soccer why would it matter? Next time admit your fucking shit at maths and be done with it.
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JoyfulPenguin
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+x+xI don't understand why people on here criticize Pippinu so much, you say that he is negative and only supports the AFL yet 95% posts are of support for Australian soccer. He/She posts tv ratings that are informative and uses statistics instead of blind assumptions in his/her posts and in my humble opinion is one of the better posters on here. Even if he/she did prefer the AFL to soccer why would it matter? Next time admit your fucking shit at maths and be done with it. Sure, friend.
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robbos
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+xI don't understand why people on here criticize Pippinu so much, you say that he is negative and only supports the AFL yet 95% posts are of support for Australian soccer. He/She posts tv ratings that are informative and uses statistics instead of blind assumptions in his/her posts and in my humble opinion is one of the better posters on here. Even if he/she did prefer the AFL to soccer why would it matter? Beware of the wolf in sheep clothing. Look at last note, his favourite past time is dissing other sports. Being from Sydney, I love SOO night, because it's my training night & the grounds are near empty, because they all cancel training/finish early/half team don't turn up to watch SOO & more room for my team to utilise the whole ground. This does not happen for Sydney Derby, though I would be the one wanting to leave early. Very condescending stuff from Pippinu.
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pippinu
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+xI don't understand why people on here criticize Pippinu so much, you say that he is negative and only supports the AFL yet 95% posts are of support for Australian soccer. He/She posts tv ratings that are informative and uses statistics instead of blind assumptions in his/her posts and in my humble opinion is one of the better posters on here. Even if he/she did prefer the AFL to soccer why would it matter? Thank you friend. I don't understand it myself, but hey, it's an open discussion board and as far as I am concerned, all views are welcome (even those which erroneously waiver from my own).
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Scotch&Coke
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+xSpeaking of losing market share, let's not forget the increasing market share football is winning in Sydney at the expense of the two rugby codes. Here's an interesting comment from a Sydney paper over the weekend: Nobody cares about origin anymore. Years ago it used to be the ticket to have, not anymore. The ticket everyone wants is the A League derby between SFC VS. WANDERERS. Going to origin is boring and if it wasn't for TV broadcasting it, it would die a slow death. NRL is yesterday, there is a new game in town ne the ball is round. Get used to is because it's the future. It's an changing world, and that world is round. As much as i love football, this is cringey as fuck and smacks of desperation to be relevant. Suncorp had 50,000 people crammed in and with 4 million people watching on TV. ANZ is expected to be a sellout and with even more people watching in the hope that NSW gets a much-needed win. Meanwhile, the big ticket of the Sydney Derby can barely get to 1/2 capacity at ANZ with not even 200,000 watching on TV if i can recall correctly. To say Origin is boring and dead is ludicrous.
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slipperypigeon
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Wtf is origin??
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aussie scott21
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Mate against mate 
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pippinu
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+x+xSpeaking of losing market share, let's not forget the increasing market share football is winning in Sydney at the expense of the two rugby codes. Here's an interesting comment from a Sydney paper over the weekend: Nobody cares about origin anymore. Years ago it used to be the ticket to have, not anymore. The ticket everyone wants is the A League derby between SFC VS. WANDERERS. Going to origin is boring and if it wasn't for TV broadcasting it, it would die a slow death. NRL is yesterday, there is a new game in town ne the ball is round. Get used to is because it's the future. It's an changing world, and that world is round. As much as i love football, this is cringey as fuck and smacks of desperation to be relevant. Suncorp had 50,000 people crammed in and with 4 million people watching on TV. ANZ is expected to be a sellout and with even more people watching in the hope that NSW gets a much-needed win. Meanwhile, the big ticket of the Sydney Derby can barely get to 1/2 capacity at ANZ with not even 200,000 watching on TV if i can recall correctly. To say Origin is boring and dead is ludicrous. You make some good points, but we are all here to support football.
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aussie scott21
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Association football or Australian Rules football?
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pippinu
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+xAssociation football or Auatralian football? Is there a difference?
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aussie scott21
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Read my edit.
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robbos
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There you go, here lies the difference of the 2 biggest cites in Australia, I say the same wtf is AFL All Australian?
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pippinu
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INteresting news, and somewhat relevant to this thread: Arsenal close to hiring Darren Burgess as director of high performance... His quote "Fitness can't win you a title but it can lose you one" Arsenal to appoint Liverpool's former head of fitness as new director of high performancehttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/06/18/arsenal-appoint-liverpools-former-head-fitness-new-director/
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pippinu
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Arsenal have strengthened their backroom staff by appointing Port Adelaide's Darren Burgess as a new director of high performance.  38 replies206 retweets436 likes
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City Sam
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It isn't relevant in any sense of the word.
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aufc_ole
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+xIt isn't relevant in any sense of the word. He must've forgot this isn't BigFooty
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pippinu
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+xIt isn't relevant in any sense of the word. You're incorrect there. This thread is about the athletic demands of the various football codes, and what exquisite timing, to have Arsenal chase Port's fitness coach to be their head of high performance.
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City Sam
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+x+xIt isn't relevant in any sense of the word. You're incorrect there. This thread is about the athletic demands of the various football codes, and what exquisite timing, to have Arsenal chase Port's fitness coach to be their head of high performance. That a fitness coach is intelligent enough to adapt the training required between the different sports?
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quickflick
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+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. How is comparing a similar game like Gaelic football to AFL meaningless data in regards to Athleticism. I mean your ready to compare Athleticism in AFL and correlate it to football. It's even more meaningless data if you want to be fair. Because it's not actually the sport they are paid to play or brought up playing. And they win some 'series' and lose some. It's not taken all that seriously (not compared to regular AFL). It's meaningless. +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. Do I hate AFL. I'm not a fan but I can still appreciate they have some great Athletes playing. But the AFL and the journalist is sure drawing a long bow with the myth that the best Athletes are in AFL or that juniors are gravitating towards it. The journalist has an axe to grind but so too do a lot in the Australian football community. The AFL, traditionally, has had the best athletes (and juniors) in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT gravitating towards it, however much infuriating the sport may be. Far be it from me to tell people what to think but... The first step to addressing any problem is to acknowledge the problems existence, rather than to deny it. This is, indeed, a problem in most parts of Australia. +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. That part doesn't make sense, especially with no data or evidence to back it up. It's funny how you brought up the 20m sprint test, do you have any solid data for football, even though it's a total meaningless measurement. There is plenty of evidence. As the sport involves relatively little technique (compared to football and other stuff), they do nothing but measure these sort of things. http://www.topendsports.com/sport/afl/testing-draft-results.htm+x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. How can the AFL even remotely have the best Athletes when half the country doesn't even play the sport. That's why I asked if the best Athletes are somehow born in Victoria. If you have ever been in Sydney you will find virtually no juniors playing AFL. That's a huge pool of potential best Athletes in the countries most populist state that the AFL doesn't even get a look in. It's a myth that the AFL love to trot out to pump up their tyres. Sorry but this smacks of an agenda. The AFL has traditionally had access to the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT. That's most of Australia. Nobody (except perhaps those actually working for the AFL, itself) is suggesting that the AFL has any influence in NSW. But that doesn't alter the fact that it has more influence than any other sport in most of the rest of the country (and, traditionally, by some margin). +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. It's also the same reason saying that we have the best AFL players in the world. It's just a ridiculous statement. Especially since no other country plays it. I know that can be tough to accept but that's the truth of it. My friend, your mistake is to get wound up by their pettiness. Their sport has no international presence. Australians, quite often, tend to have an inferiority complex. So that plus the AFL's sheer lack of significance outside VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT is a recipe for those kind of ridiculous claims. What the AFL has (or traditionally has had) is access to the best athletes in those states. Imo, the fact that Australians have tended to be among the most active people in the world and the climate is very conducive towards it, the very best athletes in certain positions in AFL are among the most athletic people you'll find in the world. Plus given the sport's focus on sports science rather than technical and tactical things, it's hardly surprising. Don't get riled by this notion. It's not as if they're the only athletes who are the best in the world. You'll find the same in the NBA, at the Olympics, in the Premier League, the Bundesliga, La Liga, in the grand slams and so on. +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. Does that mean AFL is a not so skillful game that a relative novice can pick up or is it because we don't have enough Athletic players playing that players from Rugby, NRL, Basketball, Gaelic football can come along and take the place of an Australian. You confuse skill and technique. Success in Aussie Rules requires athletic skill, not technical skill. Technical skill is usually only gained through years and years of practice and usually from a young age. Aussie Rules places no great weight on technical skill, more athletic skill. Football places great weight on both (although for central midfield and central defence, athletic skill tends to have less importance). +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. Especially since no other country plays it. I know that can be tough to accept but that's the truth of it. Until we can quantify how Athletic AFL players are then you won't know eg If they played other countries who played AFL it would be a better measure. It's not tough. We can just look at the kind of things AFL does quantify and even glimpses of them playing the sport to work it out. That plus the people who go professional (even world class) in other sports who have realistic chances of playing AFL at around 15 or 16. The results speak for themselves. Don't get upset by it. Try to turn the tide by working out how football can make an impact in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT. Unless you enjoy watching us concede upwards of two goals each occasion we face a decent opponent. When we get better technical players we won't be conceeding anything. It's got little to do with Athleticism, especially the ones the AFL are supposedly hoarding. The AFL isn't hoarding anything. It just has the luxury of having reaped the rewards of dominating the sporting cultural landscape of most Australian states and territories since it started; the largest talent pool and therefore most of the best athletes in those states and territories. If you haven't figured out that most of the best footballers in the world in the positions of striker, winger, wingback and goalkeeper have supreme athletic ability as well as technical ability and tactical awareness, you're either labouring under a hell of a misapprehension or kidding yourself. In what way has the AFL dominated the sporting cultural landscape especially when most juniors in EVERY state are playing football and not AFL. That's why the claim of AFL having the best Athletes is a ridiculous claim. It's nonsense. Just based on pure maths and statistics the claims by the journalist are nonsense. Just have a look at newspapers in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT. That indicates the dominance of the sporting landscape. I understand things are improving and we're getting a better turn out now. These days, there are kids playing football from households which, traditionally, were pro AFL. I've heard tell that football has the highest participation rate in Australia. Nevertheless, where I grew up in Melbourne, and even more so in rural Victoria, plus in SA, WA, NT and (I'm told) Tassie, it still seems to be more popular, seems to tend to be played by better athletes and dominates topics of conversation. Things are getting better. But there's a lot work to be done. And we're still a long way behind AFL. Where to start ... being from the southern states and the media dominance the AFL has I can see it must be difficult to see beyond what the media is telling you and I guess popular discussion. It's not a question of believing what the media tell me (or tell us). My discipline preaches the practice of being critical of all news sources (i.e. judging the validity and being sceptical when necessary). What do I base my judgments on? Living in the city of Melbourne (on and off) for most of my life. Having done my studies there, having played football in Melbourne for many years, having known many others who play(ed) football in Victoria, having known many from the AFL community, having known many from other sports communities in Melbourne (cricket, tennis, basketball, aths, swimming, water polo). Having always caught public transport and overheard daily topics of conversations from primary school until now. Having sat at in cafés and bars for ages and listened to daily topics of conversation. +x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. How is comparing a similar game like Gaelic football to AFL meaningless data in regards to Athleticism. I mean your ready to compare Athleticism in AFL and correlate it to football. It's even more meaningless data if you want to be fair. Because it's not actually the sport they are paid to play or brought up playing. And they win some 'series' and lose some. It's not taken all that seriously (not compared to regular AFL). It's meaningless. +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. Do I hate AFL. I'm not a fan but I can still appreciate they have some great Athletes playing. But the AFL and the journalist is sure drawing a long bow with the myth that the best Athletes are in AFL or that juniors are gravitating towards it. The journalist has an axe to grind but so too do a lot in the Australian football community. The AFL, traditionally, has had the best athletes (and juniors) in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT gravitating towards it, however much infuriating the sport may be. Far be it from me to tell people what to think but... The first step to addressing any problem is to acknowledge the problems existence, rather than to deny it. This is, indeed, a problem in most parts of Australia. +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. That part doesn't make sense, especially with no data or evidence to back it up. It's funny how you brought up the 20m sprint test, do you have any solid data for football, even though it's a total meaningless measurement. There is plenty of evidence. As the sport involves relatively little technique (compared to football and other stuff), they do nothing but measure these sort of things. http://www.topendsports.com/sport/afl/testing-draft-results.htm+x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. How can the AFL even remotely have the best Athletes when half the country doesn't even play the sport. That's why I asked if the best Athletes are somehow born in Victoria. If you have ever been in Sydney you will find virtually no juniors playing AFL. That's a huge pool of potential best Athletes in the countries most populist state that the AFL doesn't even get a look in. It's a myth that the AFL love to trot out to pump up their tyres. Sorry but this smacks of an agenda. The AFL has traditionally had access to the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT. That's most of Australia. Nobody (except perhaps those actually working for the AFL, itself) is suggesting that the AFL has any influence in NSW. But that doesn't alter the fact that it has more influence than any other sport in most of the rest of the country (and, traditionally, by some margin). +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. It's also the same reason saying that we have the best AFL players in the world. It's just a ridiculous statement. Especially since no other country plays it. I know that can be tough to accept but that's the truth of it. My friend, your mistake is to get wound up by their pettiness. Their sport has no international presence. Australians, quite often, tend to have an inferiority complex. So that plus the AFL's sheer lack of significance outside VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT is a recipe for those kind of ridiculous claims. What the AFL has (or traditionally has had) is access to the best athletes in those states. Imo, the fact that Australians have tended to be among the most active people in the world and the climate is very conducive towards it, the very best athletes in certain positions in AFL are among the most athletic people you'll find in the world. Plus given the sport's focus on sports science rather than technical and tactical things, it's hardly surprising. Don't get riled by this notion. It's not as if they're the only athletes who are the best in the world. You'll find the same in the NBA, at the Olympics, in the Premier League, the Bundesliga, La Liga, in the grand slams and so on. +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. Does that mean AFL is a not so skillful game that a relative novice can pick up or is it because we don't have enough Athletic players playing that players from Rugby, NRL, Basketball, Gaelic football can come along and take the place of an Australian. You confuse skill and technique. Success in Aussie Rules requires athletic skill, not technical skill. Technical skill is usually only gained through years and years of practice and usually from a young age. Aussie Rules places no great weight on technical skill, more athletic skill. Football places great weight on both (although for central midfield and central defence, athletic skill tends to have less importance). +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. Especially since no other country plays it. I know that can be tough to accept but that's the truth of it. Until we can quantify how Athletic AFL players are then you won't know eg If they played other countries who played AFL it would be a better measure. It's not tough. We can just look at the kind of things AFL does quantify and even glimpses of them playing the sport to work it out. That plus the people who go professional (even world class) in other sports who have realistic chances of playing AFL at around 15 or 16. The results speak for themselves. Don't get upset by it. Try to turn the tide by working out how football can make an impact in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT. Unless you enjoy watching us concede upwards of two goals each occasion we face a decent opponent. When we get better technical players we won't be conceeding anything. It's got little to do with Athleticism, especially the ones the AFL are supposedly hoarding. The AFL isn't hoarding anything. It just has the luxury of having reaped the rewards of dominating the sporting cultural landscape of most Australian states and territories since it started; the largest talent pool and therefore most of the best athletes in those states and territories. If you haven't figured out that most of the best footballers in the world in the positions of striker, winger, wingback and goalkeeper have supreme athletic ability as well as technical ability and tactical awareness, you're either labouring under a hell of a misapprehension or kidding yourself. In what way has the AFL dominated the sporting cultural landscape especially when most juniors in EVERY state are playing football and not AFL. That's why the claim of AFL having the best Athletes is a ridiculous claim. It's nonsense. Just based on pure maths and statistics the claims by the journalist are nonsense. Just have a look at newspapers in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT. That indicates the dominance of the sporting landscape. I understand things are improving and we're getting a better turn out now. These days, there are kids playing football from households which, traditionally, were pro AFL. I've heard tell that football has the highest participation rate in Australia. Nevertheless, where I grew up in Melbourne, and even more so in rural Victoria, plus in SA, WA, NT and (I'm told) Tassie, it still seems to be more popular, seems to tend to be played by better athletes and dominates topics of conversation. Things are getting better. But there's a lot work to be done. And we're still a long way behind AFL. I am only going to use two things unless you want more ... but before I start some background, regional NSW, QLD & the ACT, have 92% of the population of WA, SA, NT, Tassie and regional Vic.... Sydney & Brisbane are much bigger when combined than Melbourne... next background is in the southern states 100's of hours of radio, TV cross promotions, 16 & 24 wrap amounts in newspapers. TV rating in NSW & QLD are a basket case, no one I know talks about the AFL... so don't believe the hype about NSW & QLD coming out of the southern states. Now with all this media, and demonising of Football in the southern states, Football is growing, and if reports coming out of the two south and south east Melbourne bids are close to the truth an area with 1.2 million folk in Melbourne prefer Football meaning the great southern fortress looks like its developing cracks... and the once impregnable AFL controlled city is losing control of a large part of Melbourne. The NRL rates generally better per game, Football has almost 3 times the players, Football is global, ... the charts and trends are also pointing to a change. Yep, yep, yep, yep. Nobody is suggesting that NSW and QLD aren't well-populated or that they don't produce world-class athletes. They are and they do. Nevertheless, that still leaves most of the population for which the AFL has been traditionally dominant. As you make the allusion, football has gained strength. There's a possibility the figure is around 1.2 million, as you suggest. I'm slightly sceptical that it would be quite so high. Or at least, I'm inclined to believe that a sizable proportion of that 1.2 million have a lukewarm intensity of passion for football. And I fully understand that football is global. I've followed it and played it for ages. We're singing from the same hymn sheet about that.
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City Sam
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+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. How is comparing a similar game like Gaelic football to AFL meaningless data in regards to Athleticism. I mean your ready to compare Athleticism in AFL and correlate it to football. It's even more meaningless data if you want to be fair. Because it's not actually the sport they are paid to play or brought up playing. And they win some 'series' and lose some. It's not taken all that seriously (not compared to regular AFL). It's meaningless. +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. Do I hate AFL. I'm not a fan but I can still appreciate they have some great Athletes playing. But the AFL and the journalist is sure drawing a long bow with the myth that the best Athletes are in AFL or that juniors are gravitating towards it. The journalist has an axe to grind but so too do a lot in the Australian football community. The AFL, traditionally, has had the best athletes (and juniors) in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT gravitating towards it, however much infuriating the sport may be. Far be it from me to tell people what to think but... The first step to addressing any problem is to acknowledge the problems existence, rather than to deny it. This is, indeed, a problem in most parts of Australia. +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. That part doesn't make sense, especially with no data or evidence to back it up. It's funny how you brought up the 20m sprint test, do you have any solid data for football, even though it's a total meaningless measurement. There is plenty of evidence. As the sport involves relatively little technique (compared to football and other stuff), they do nothing but measure these sort of things. http://www.topendsports.com/sport/afl/testing-draft-results.htm+x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. How can the AFL even remotely have the best Athletes when half the country doesn't even play the sport. That's why I asked if the best Athletes are somehow born in Victoria. If you have ever been in Sydney you will find virtually no juniors playing AFL. That's a huge pool of potential best Athletes in the countries most populist state that the AFL doesn't even get a look in. It's a myth that the AFL love to trot out to pump up their tyres. Sorry but this smacks of an agenda. The AFL has traditionally had access to the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT. That's most of Australia. Nobody (except perhaps those actually working for the AFL, itself) is suggesting that the AFL has any influence in NSW. But that doesn't alter the fact that it has more influence than any other sport in most of the rest of the country (and, traditionally, by some margin). +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. It's also the same reason saying that we have the best AFL players in the world. It's just a ridiculous statement. Especially since no other country plays it. I know that can be tough to accept but that's the truth of it. My friend, your mistake is to get wound up by their pettiness. Their sport has no international presence. Australians, quite often, tend to have an inferiority complex. So that plus the AFL's sheer lack of significance outside VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT is a recipe for those kind of ridiculous claims. What the AFL has (or traditionally has had) is access to the best athletes in those states. Imo, the fact that Australians have tended to be among the most active people in the world and the climate is very conducive towards it, the very best athletes in certain positions in AFL are among the most athletic people you'll find in the world. Plus given the sport's focus on sports science rather than technical and tactical things, it's hardly surprising. Don't get riled by this notion. It's not as if they're the only athletes who are the best in the world. You'll find the same in the NBA, at the Olympics, in the Premier League, the Bundesliga, La Liga, in the grand slams and so on. +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. Does that mean AFL is a not so skillful game that a relative novice can pick up or is it because we don't have enough Athletic players playing that players from Rugby, NRL, Basketball, Gaelic football can come along and take the place of an Australian. You confuse skill and technique. Success in Aussie Rules requires athletic skill, not technical skill. Technical skill is usually only gained through years and years of practice and usually from a young age. Aussie Rules places no great weight on technical skill, more athletic skill. Football places great weight on both (although for central midfield and central defence, athletic skill tends to have less importance). +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. Especially since no other country plays it. I know that can be tough to accept but that's the truth of it. Until we can quantify how Athletic AFL players are then you won't know eg If they played other countries who played AFL it would be a better measure. It's not tough. We can just look at the kind of things AFL does quantify and even glimpses of them playing the sport to work it out. That plus the people who go professional (even world class) in other sports who have realistic chances of playing AFL at around 15 or 16. The results speak for themselves. Don't get upset by it. Try to turn the tide by working out how football can make an impact in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT. Unless you enjoy watching us concede upwards of two goals each occasion we face a decent opponent. When we get better technical players we won't be conceeding anything. It's got little to do with Athleticism, especially the ones the AFL are supposedly hoarding. The AFL isn't hoarding anything. It just has the luxury of having reaped the rewards of dominating the sporting cultural landscape of most Australian states and territories since it started; the largest talent pool and therefore most of the best athletes in those states and territories. If you haven't figured out that most of the best footballers in the world in the positions of striker, winger, wingback and goalkeeper have supreme athletic ability as well as technical ability and tactical awareness, you're either labouring under a hell of a misapprehension or kidding yourself. In what way has the AFL dominated the sporting cultural landscape especially when most juniors in EVERY state are playing football and not AFL. That's why the claim of AFL having the best Athletes is a ridiculous claim. It's nonsense. Just based on pure maths and statistics the claims by the journalist are nonsense. Just have a look at newspapers in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT. That indicates the dominance of the sporting landscape. I understand things are improving and we're getting a better turn out now. These days, there are kids playing football from households which, traditionally, were pro AFL. I've heard tell that football has the highest participation rate in Australia. Nevertheless, where I grew up in Melbourne, and even more so in rural Victoria, plus in SA, WA, NT and (I'm told) Tassie, it still seems to be more popular, seems to tend to be played by better athletes and dominates topics of conversation. Things are getting better. But there's a lot work to be done. And we're still a long way behind AFL. Where to start ... being from the southern states and the media dominance the AFL has I can see it must be difficult to see beyond what the media is telling you and I guess popular discussion. It's not a question of believing what the media tell me (or tell us). My discipline preaches the practice of being critical of all news sources (i.e. judging the validity and being sceptical when necessary). What do I base my judgments on? Living in the city of Melbourne (on and off) for most of my life. Having done my studies there, having played football in Melbourne for many years, having known many others who play(ed) football in Victoria, having known many from the AFL community, having known many from other sports communities in Melbourne (cricket, tennis, basketball, aths, swimming, water polo). Having always caught public transport and overheard daily topics of conversations from primary school until now. Having sat at in cafés and bars for ages and listened to daily topics of conversation. +x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. How is comparing a similar game like Gaelic football to AFL meaningless data in regards to Athleticism. I mean your ready to compare Athleticism in AFL and correlate it to football. It's even more meaningless data if you want to be fair. Because it's not actually the sport they are paid to play or brought up playing. And they win some 'series' and lose some. It's not taken all that seriously (not compared to regular AFL). It's meaningless. +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. Do I hate AFL. I'm not a fan but I can still appreciate they have some great Athletes playing. But the AFL and the journalist is sure drawing a long bow with the myth that the best Athletes are in AFL or that juniors are gravitating towards it. The journalist has an axe to grind but so too do a lot in the Australian football community. The AFL, traditionally, has had the best athletes (and juniors) in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT gravitating towards it, however much infuriating the sport may be. Far be it from me to tell people what to think but... The first step to addressing any problem is to acknowledge the problems existence, rather than to deny it. This is, indeed, a problem in most parts of Australia. +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. That part doesn't make sense, especially with no data or evidence to back it up. It's funny how you brought up the 20m sprint test, do you have any solid data for football, even though it's a total meaningless measurement. There is plenty of evidence. As the sport involves relatively little technique (compared to football and other stuff), they do nothing but measure these sort of things. http://www.topendsports.com/sport/afl/testing-draft-results.htm+x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. How can the AFL even remotely have the best Athletes when half the country doesn't even play the sport. That's why I asked if the best Athletes are somehow born in Victoria. If you have ever been in Sydney you will find virtually no juniors playing AFL. That's a huge pool of potential best Athletes in the countries most populist state that the AFL doesn't even get a look in. It's a myth that the AFL love to trot out to pump up their tyres. Sorry but this smacks of an agenda. The AFL has traditionally had access to the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT. That's most of Australia. Nobody (except perhaps those actually working for the AFL, itself) is suggesting that the AFL has any influence in NSW. But that doesn't alter the fact that it has more influence than any other sport in most of the rest of the country (and, traditionally, by some margin). +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. It's also the same reason saying that we have the best AFL players in the world. It's just a ridiculous statement. Especially since no other country plays it. I know that can be tough to accept but that's the truth of it. My friend, your mistake is to get wound up by their pettiness. Their sport has no international presence. Australians, quite often, tend to have an inferiority complex. So that plus the AFL's sheer lack of significance outside VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT is a recipe for those kind of ridiculous claims. What the AFL has (or traditionally has had) is access to the best athletes in those states. Imo, the fact that Australians have tended to be among the most active people in the world and the climate is very conducive towards it, the very best athletes in certain positions in AFL are among the most athletic people you'll find in the world. Plus given the sport's focus on sports science rather than technical and tactical things, it's hardly surprising. Don't get riled by this notion. It's not as if they're the only athletes who are the best in the world. You'll find the same in the NBA, at the Olympics, in the Premier League, the Bundesliga, La Liga, in the grand slams and so on. +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. Does that mean AFL is a not so skillful game that a relative novice can pick up or is it because we don't have enough Athletic players playing that players from Rugby, NRL, Basketball, Gaelic football can come along and take the place of an Australian. You confuse skill and technique. Success in Aussie Rules requires athletic skill, not technical skill. Technical skill is usually only gained through years and years of practice and usually from a young age. Aussie Rules places no great weight on technical skill, more athletic skill. Football places great weight on both (although for central midfield and central defence, athletic skill tends to have less importance). +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. Especially since no other country plays it. I know that can be tough to accept but that's the truth of it. Until we can quantify how Athletic AFL players are then you won't know eg If they played other countries who played AFL it would be a better measure. It's not tough. We can just look at the kind of things AFL does quantify and even glimpses of them playing the sport to work it out. That plus the people who go professional (even world class) in other sports who have realistic chances of playing AFL at around 15 or 16. The results speak for themselves. Don't get upset by it. Try to turn the tide by working out how football can make an impact in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT. Unless you enjoy watching us concede upwards of two goals each occasion we face a decent opponent. When we get better technical players we won't be conceeding anything. It's got little to do with Athleticism, especially the ones the AFL are supposedly hoarding. The AFL isn't hoarding anything. It just has the luxury of having reaped the rewards of dominating the sporting cultural landscape of most Australian states and territories since it started; the largest talent pool and therefore most of the best athletes in those states and territories. If you haven't figured out that most of the best footballers in the world in the positions of striker, winger, wingback and goalkeeper have supreme athletic ability as well as technical ability and tactical awareness, you're either labouring under a hell of a misapprehension or kidding yourself. In what way has the AFL dominated the sporting cultural landscape especially when most juniors in EVERY state are playing football and not AFL. That's why the claim of AFL having the best Athletes is a ridiculous claim. It's nonsense. Just based on pure maths and statistics the claims by the journalist are nonsense. Just have a look at newspapers in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT. That indicates the dominance of the sporting landscape. I understand things are improving and we're getting a better turn out now. These days, there are kids playing football from households which, traditionally, were pro AFL. I've heard tell that football has the highest participation rate in Australia. Nevertheless, where I grew up in Melbourne, and even more so in rural Victoria, plus in SA, WA, NT and (I'm told) Tassie, it still seems to be more popular, seems to tend to be played by better athletes and dominates topics of conversation. Things are getting better. But there's a lot work to be done. And we're still a long way behind AFL. I am only going to use two things unless you want more ... but before I start some background, regional NSW, QLD & the ACT, have 92% of the population of WA, SA, NT, Tassie and regional Vic.... Sydney & Brisbane are much bigger when combined than Melbourne... next background is in the southern states 100's of hours of radio, TV cross promotions, 16 & 24 wrap amounts in newspapers. TV rating in NSW & QLD are a basket case, no one I know talks about the AFL... so don't believe the hype about NSW & QLD coming out of the southern states. Now with all this media, and demonising of Football in the southern states, Football is growing, and if reports coming out of the two south and south east Melbourne bids are close to the truth an area with 1.2 million folk in Melbourne prefer Football meaning the great southern fortress looks like its developing cracks... and the once impregnable AFL controlled city is losing control of a large part of Melbourne. The NRL rates generally better per game, Football has almost 3 times the players, Football is global, ... the charts and trends are also pointing to a change. Yep, yep, yep, yep. Nobody is suggesting that NSW and QLD aren't well-populated or that they don't produce world-class athletes. They are and they do. Nevertheless, that still leaves most of the population for which the AFL has been traditionally dominant. As you make the allusion, football has gained strength. There's a possibility the figure is around 1.2 million, as you suggest. I'm slightly sceptical that it would be quite so high. Or at least, I'm inclined to believe that a sizable proportion of that 1.2 million have a lukewarm intensity of passion for football. And I fully understand that football is global. I've followed it and played it for ages. We're singing from the same hymn sheet about that. The figure is 1.2m, participation graphs have been shown and it is far more than any other sport.
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Nachoman
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+x+xIt isn't relevant in any sense of the word. You're incorrect there. This thread is about the athletic demands of the various football codes, and what exquisite timing, to have Arsenal chase Port's fitness coach to be their head of high performance. Interesting , typical AFL media when they report he was approached because of the work he did at his AFL club... ##@@ Bollocks... ...Burgess has worked in soccer circles for a long time, started in the NSL days , the Socceroos and Liverpool... That he worked at Port was because liverpool terminated his contract when their new manager wanted to appoint his own backroom staff...
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quickflick
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+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. How is comparing a similar game like Gaelic football to AFL meaningless data in regards to Athleticism. I mean your ready to compare Athleticism in AFL and correlate it to football. It's even more meaningless data if you want to be fair. Because it's not actually the sport they are paid to play or brought up playing. And they win some 'series' and lose some. It's not taken all that seriously (not compared to regular AFL). It's meaningless. +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. Do I hate AFL. I'm not a fan but I can still appreciate they have some great Athletes playing. But the AFL and the journalist is sure drawing a long bow with the myth that the best Athletes are in AFL or that juniors are gravitating towards it. The journalist has an axe to grind but so too do a lot in the Australian football community. The AFL, traditionally, has had the best athletes (and juniors) in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT gravitating towards it, however much infuriating the sport may be. Far be it from me to tell people what to think but... The first step to addressing any problem is to acknowledge the problems existence, rather than to deny it. This is, indeed, a problem in most parts of Australia. +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. That part doesn't make sense, especially with no data or evidence to back it up. It's funny how you brought up the 20m sprint test, do you have any solid data for football, even though it's a total meaningless measurement. There is plenty of evidence. As the sport involves relatively little technique (compared to football and other stuff), they do nothing but measure these sort of things. http://www.topendsports.com/sport/afl/testing-draft-results.htm+x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. How can the AFL even remotely have the best Athletes when half the country doesn't even play the sport. That's why I asked if the best Athletes are somehow born in Victoria. If you have ever been in Sydney you will find virtually no juniors playing AFL. That's a huge pool of potential best Athletes in the countries most populist state that the AFL doesn't even get a look in. It's a myth that the AFL love to trot out to pump up their tyres. Sorry but this smacks of an agenda. The AFL has traditionally had access to the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT. That's most of Australia. Nobody (except perhaps those actually working for the AFL, itself) is suggesting that the AFL has any influence in NSW. But that doesn't alter the fact that it has more influence than any other sport in most of the rest of the country (and, traditionally, by some margin). +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. It's also the same reason saying that we have the best AFL players in the world. It's just a ridiculous statement. Especially since no other country plays it. I know that can be tough to accept but that's the truth of it. My friend, your mistake is to get wound up by their pettiness. Their sport has no international presence. Australians, quite often, tend to have an inferiority complex. So that plus the AFL's sheer lack of significance outside VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT is a recipe for those kind of ridiculous claims. What the AFL has (or traditionally has had) is access to the best athletes in those states. Imo, the fact that Australians have tended to be among the most active people in the world and the climate is very conducive towards it, the very best athletes in certain positions in AFL are among the most athletic people you'll find in the world. Plus given the sport's focus on sports science rather than technical and tactical things, it's hardly surprising. Don't get riled by this notion. It's not as if they're the only athletes who are the best in the world. You'll find the same in the NBA, at the Olympics, in the Premier League, the Bundesliga, La Liga, in the grand slams and so on. +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. Does that mean AFL is a not so skillful game that a relative novice can pick up or is it because we don't have enough Athletic players playing that players from Rugby, NRL, Basketball, Gaelic football can come along and take the place of an Australian. You confuse skill and technique. Success in Aussie Rules requires athletic skill, not technical skill. Technical skill is usually only gained through years and years of practice and usually from a young age. Aussie Rules places no great weight on technical skill, more athletic skill. Football places great weight on both (although for central midfield and central defence, athletic skill tends to have less importance). +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. Especially since no other country plays it. I know that can be tough to accept but that's the truth of it. Until we can quantify how Athletic AFL players are then you won't know eg If they played other countries who played AFL it would be a better measure. It's not tough. We can just look at the kind of things AFL does quantify and even glimpses of them playing the sport to work it out. That plus the people who go professional (even world class) in other sports who have realistic chances of playing AFL at around 15 or 16. The results speak for themselves. Don't get upset by it. Try to turn the tide by working out how football can make an impact in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT. Unless you enjoy watching us concede upwards of two goals each occasion we face a decent opponent. When we get better technical players we won't be conceeding anything. It's got little to do with Athleticism, especially the ones the AFL are supposedly hoarding. The AFL isn't hoarding anything. It just has the luxury of having reaped the rewards of dominating the sporting cultural landscape of most Australian states and territories since it started; the largest talent pool and therefore most of the best athletes in those states and territories. If you haven't figured out that most of the best footballers in the world in the positions of striker, winger, wingback and goalkeeper have supreme athletic ability as well as technical ability and tactical awareness, you're either labouring under a hell of a misapprehension or kidding yourself. In what way has the AFL dominated the sporting cultural landscape especially when most juniors in EVERY state are playing football and not AFL. That's why the claim of AFL having the best Athletes is a ridiculous claim. It's nonsense. Just based on pure maths and statistics the claims by the journalist are nonsense. Just have a look at newspapers in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT. That indicates the dominance of the sporting landscape. I understand things are improving and we're getting a better turn out now. These days, there are kids playing football from households which, traditionally, were pro AFL. I've heard tell that football has the highest participation rate in Australia. Nevertheless, where I grew up in Melbourne, and even more so in rural Victoria, plus in SA, WA, NT and (I'm told) Tassie, it still seems to be more popular, seems to tend to be played by better athletes and dominates topics of conversation. Things are getting better. But there's a lot work to be done. And we're still a long way behind AFL. What does the dying newspaper industry have to do with athletes and player base size? most young people (athletes) don't even read newspapers I rather think you missed the point. The newspapers, whatever source of media, take your pick. In the daily conversations at schools, workplaces, pubs, wherever.
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+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. How is comparing a similar game like Gaelic football to AFL meaningless data in regards to Athleticism. I mean your ready to compare Athleticism in AFL and correlate it to football. It's even more meaningless data if you want to be fair. Because it's not actually the sport they are paid to play or brought up playing. And they win some 'series' and lose some. It's not taken all that seriously (not compared to regular AFL). It's meaningless. +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. Do I hate AFL. I'm not a fan but I can still appreciate they have some great Athletes playing. But the AFL and the journalist is sure drawing a long bow with the myth that the best Athletes are in AFL or that juniors are gravitating towards it. The journalist has an axe to grind but so too do a lot in the Australian football community. The AFL, traditionally, has had the best athletes (and juniors) in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT gravitating towards it, however much infuriating the sport may be. Far be it from me to tell people what to think but... The first step to addressing any problem is to acknowledge the problems existence, rather than to deny it. This is, indeed, a problem in most parts of Australia. +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. That part doesn't make sense, especially with no data or evidence to back it up. It's funny how you brought up the 20m sprint test, do you have any solid data for football, even though it's a total meaningless measurement. There is plenty of evidence. As the sport involves relatively little technique (compared to football and other stuff), they do nothing but measure these sort of things. http://www.topendsports.com/sport/afl/testing-draft-results.htm+x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. How can the AFL even remotely have the best Athletes when half the country doesn't even play the sport. That's why I asked if the best Athletes are somehow born in Victoria. If you have ever been in Sydney you will find virtually no juniors playing AFL. That's a huge pool of potential best Athletes in the countries most populist state that the AFL doesn't even get a look in. It's a myth that the AFL love to trot out to pump up their tyres. Sorry but this smacks of an agenda. The AFL has traditionally had access to the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT. That's most of Australia. Nobody (except perhaps those actually working for the AFL, itself) is suggesting that the AFL has any influence in NSW. But that doesn't alter the fact that it has more influence than any other sport in most of the rest of the country (and, traditionally, by some margin). +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. It's also the same reason saying that we have the best AFL players in the world. It's just a ridiculous statement. Especially since no other country plays it. I know that can be tough to accept but that's the truth of it. My friend, your mistake is to get wound up by their pettiness. Their sport has no international presence. Australians, quite often, tend to have an inferiority complex. So that plus the AFL's sheer lack of significance outside VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT is a recipe for those kind of ridiculous claims. What the AFL has (or traditionally has had) is access to the best athletes in those states. Imo, the fact that Australians have tended to be among the most active people in the world and the climate is very conducive towards it, the very best athletes in certain positions in AFL are among the most athletic people you'll find in the world. Plus given the sport's focus on sports science rather than technical and tactical things, it's hardly surprising. Don't get riled by this notion. It's not as if they're the only athletes who are the best in the world. You'll find the same in the NBA, at the Olympics, in the Premier League, the Bundesliga, La Liga, in the grand slams and so on. +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. Does that mean AFL is a not so skillful game that a relative novice can pick up or is it because we don't have enough Athletic players playing that players from Rugby, NRL, Basketball, Gaelic football can come along and take the place of an Australian. You confuse skill and technique. Success in Aussie Rules requires athletic skill, not technical skill. Technical skill is usually only gained through years and years of practice and usually from a young age. Aussie Rules places no great weight on technical skill, more athletic skill. Football places great weight on both (although for central midfield and central defence, athletic skill tends to have less importance). +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. Especially since no other country plays it. I know that can be tough to accept but that's the truth of it. Until we can quantify how Athletic AFL players are then you won't know eg If they played other countries who played AFL it would be a better measure. It's not tough. We can just look at the kind of things AFL does quantify and even glimpses of them playing the sport to work it out. That plus the people who go professional (even world class) in other sports who have realistic chances of playing AFL at around 15 or 16. The results speak for themselves. Don't get upset by it. Try to turn the tide by working out how football can make an impact in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT. Unless you enjoy watching us concede upwards of two goals each occasion we face a decent opponent. When we get better technical players we won't be conceeding anything. It's got little to do with Athleticism, especially the ones the AFL are supposedly hoarding. The AFL isn't hoarding anything. It just has the luxury of having reaped the rewards of dominating the sporting cultural landscape of most Australian states and territories since it started; the largest talent pool and therefore most of the best athletes in those states and territories. If you haven't figured out that most of the best footballers in the world in the positions of striker, winger, wingback and goalkeeper have supreme athletic ability as well as technical ability and tactical awareness, you're either labouring under a hell of a misapprehension or kidding yourself. In what way has the AFL dominated the sporting cultural landscape especially when most juniors in EVERY state are playing football and not AFL. That's why the claim of AFL having the best Athletes is a ridiculous claim. It's nonsense. Just based on pure maths and statistics the claims by the journalist are nonsense. Just have a look at newspapers in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT. That indicates the dominance of the sporting landscape. I understand things are improving and we're getting a better turn out now. These days, there are kids playing football from households which, traditionally, were pro AFL. I've heard tell that football has the highest participation rate in Australia. Nevertheless, where I grew up in Melbourne, and even more so in rural Victoria, plus in SA, WA, NT and (I'm told) Tassie, it still seems to be more popular, seems to tend to be played by better athletes and dominates topics of conversation. Things are getting better. But there's a lot work to be done. And we're still a long way behind AFL. Where to start ... being from the southern states and the media dominance the AFL has I can see it must be difficult to see beyond what the media is telling you and I guess popular discussion. It's not a question of believing what the media tell me (or tell us). My discipline preaches the practice of being critical of all news sources (i.e. judging the validity and being sceptical when necessary). What do I base my judgments on? Living in the city of Melbourne (on and off) for most of my life. Having done my studies there, having played football in Melbourne for many years, having known many others who play(ed) football in Victoria, having known many from the AFL community, having known many from other sports communities in Melbourne (cricket, tennis, basketball, aths, swimming, water polo). Having always caught public transport and overheard daily topics of conversations from primary school until now. Having sat at in cafés and bars for ages and listened to daily topics of conversation. +x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. How is comparing a similar game like Gaelic football to AFL meaningless data in regards to Athleticism. I mean your ready to compare Athleticism in AFL and correlate it to football. It's even more meaningless data if you want to be fair. Because it's not actually the sport they are paid to play or brought up playing. And they win some 'series' and lose some. It's not taken all that seriously (not compared to regular AFL). It's meaningless. +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. Do I hate AFL. I'm not a fan but I can still appreciate they have some great Athletes playing. But the AFL and the journalist is sure drawing a long bow with the myth that the best Athletes are in AFL or that juniors are gravitating towards it. The journalist has an axe to grind but so too do a lot in the Australian football community. The AFL, traditionally, has had the best athletes (and juniors) in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT gravitating towards it, however much infuriating the sport may be. Far be it from me to tell people what to think but... The first step to addressing any problem is to acknowledge the problems existence, rather than to deny it. This is, indeed, a problem in most parts of Australia. +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. That part doesn't make sense, especially with no data or evidence to back it up. It's funny how you brought up the 20m sprint test, do you have any solid data for football, even though it's a total meaningless measurement. There is plenty of evidence. As the sport involves relatively little technique (compared to football and other stuff), they do nothing but measure these sort of things. http://www.topendsports.com/sport/afl/testing-draft-results.htm+x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. How can the AFL even remotely have the best Athletes when half the country doesn't even play the sport. That's why I asked if the best Athletes are somehow born in Victoria. If you have ever been in Sydney you will find virtually no juniors playing AFL. That's a huge pool of potential best Athletes in the countries most populist state that the AFL doesn't even get a look in. It's a myth that the AFL love to trot out to pump up their tyres. Sorry but this smacks of an agenda. The AFL has traditionally had access to the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT. That's most of Australia. Nobody (except perhaps those actually working for the AFL, itself) is suggesting that the AFL has any influence in NSW. But that doesn't alter the fact that it has more influence than any other sport in most of the rest of the country (and, traditionally, by some margin). +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. It's also the same reason saying that we have the best AFL players in the world. It's just a ridiculous statement. Especially since no other country plays it. I know that can be tough to accept but that's the truth of it. My friend, your mistake is to get wound up by their pettiness. Their sport has no international presence. Australians, quite often, tend to have an inferiority complex. So that plus the AFL's sheer lack of significance outside VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT is a recipe for those kind of ridiculous claims. What the AFL has (or traditionally has had) is access to the best athletes in those states. Imo, the fact that Australians have tended to be among the most active people in the world and the climate is very conducive towards it, the very best athletes in certain positions in AFL are among the most athletic people you'll find in the world. Plus given the sport's focus on sports science rather than technical and tactical things, it's hardly surprising. Don't get riled by this notion. It's not as if they're the only athletes who are the best in the world. You'll find the same in the NBA, at the Olympics, in the Premier League, the Bundesliga, La Liga, in the grand slams and so on. +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. Does that mean AFL is a not so skillful game that a relative novice can pick up or is it because we don't have enough Athletic players playing that players from Rugby, NRL, Basketball, Gaelic football can come along and take the place of an Australian. You confuse skill and technique. Success in Aussie Rules requires athletic skill, not technical skill. Technical skill is usually only gained through years and years of practice and usually from a young age. Aussie Rules places no great weight on technical skill, more athletic skill. Football places great weight on both (although for central midfield and central defence, athletic skill tends to have less importance). +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. Especially since no other country plays it. I know that can be tough to accept but that's the truth of it. Until we can quantify how Athletic AFL players are then you won't know eg If they played other countries who played AFL it would be a better measure. It's not tough. We can just look at the kind of things AFL does quantify and even glimpses of them playing the sport to work it out. That plus the people who go professional (even world class) in other sports who have realistic chances of playing AFL at around 15 or 16. The results speak for themselves. Don't get upset by it. Try to turn the tide by working out how football can make an impact in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT. Unless you enjoy watching us concede upwards of two goals each occasion we face a decent opponent. When we get better technical players we won't be conceeding anything. It's got little to do with Athleticism, especially the ones the AFL are supposedly hoarding. The AFL isn't hoarding anything. It just has the luxury of having reaped the rewards of dominating the sporting cultural landscape of most Australian states and territories since it started; the largest talent pool and therefore most of the best athletes in those states and territories. If you haven't figured out that most of the best footballers in the world in the positions of striker, winger, wingback and goalkeeper have supreme athletic ability as well as technical ability and tactical awareness, you're either labouring under a hell of a misapprehension or kidding yourself. In what way has the AFL dominated the sporting cultural landscape especially when most juniors in EVERY state are playing football and not AFL. That's why the claim of AFL having the best Athletes is a ridiculous claim. It's nonsense. Just based on pure maths and statistics the claims by the journalist are nonsense. Just have a look at newspapers in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT. That indicates the dominance of the sporting landscape. I understand things are improving and we're getting a better turn out now. These days, there are kids playing football from households which, traditionally, were pro AFL. I've heard tell that football has the highest participation rate in Australia. Nevertheless, where I grew up in Melbourne, and even more so in rural Victoria, plus in SA, WA, NT and (I'm told) Tassie, it still seems to be more popular, seems to tend to be played by better athletes and dominates topics of conversation. Things are getting better. But there's a lot work to be done. And we're still a long way behind AFL. I am only going to use two things unless you want more ... but before I start some background, regional NSW, QLD & the ACT, have 92% of the population of WA, SA, NT, Tassie and regional Vic.... Sydney & Brisbane are much bigger when combined than Melbourne... next background is in the southern states 100's of hours of radio, TV cross promotions, 16 & 24 wrap amounts in newspapers. TV rating in NSW & QLD are a basket case, no one I know talks about the AFL... so don't believe the hype about NSW & QLD coming out of the southern states. Now with all this media, and demonising of Football in the southern states, Football is growing, and if reports coming out of the two south and south east Melbourne bids are close to the truth an area with 1.2 million folk in Melbourne prefer Football meaning the great southern fortress looks like its developing cracks... and the once impregnable AFL controlled city is losing control of a large part of Melbourne. The NRL rates generally better per game, Football has almost 3 times the players, Football is global, ... the charts and trends are also pointing to a change. Yep, yep, yep, yep. Nobody is suggesting that NSW and QLD aren't well-populated or that they don't produce world-class athletes. They are and they do. Nevertheless, that still leaves most of the population for which the AFL has been traditionally dominant. As you make the allusion, football has gained strength. There's a possibility the figure is around 1.2 million, as you suggest. I'm slightly sceptical that it would be quite so high. Or at least, I'm inclined to believe that a sizable proportion of that 1.2 million have a lukewarm intensity of passion for football. And I fully understand that football is global. I've followed it and played it for ages. We're singing from the same hymn sheet about that. The figure is 1.2m, participation graphs have been shown and it is far more than any other sport. Let's hope it yields results.
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+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. How is comparing a similar game like Gaelic football to AFL meaningless data in regards to Athleticism. I mean your ready to compare Athleticism in AFL and correlate it to football. It's even more meaningless data if you want to be fair. Because it's not actually the sport they are paid to play or brought up playing. And they win some 'series' and lose some. It's not taken all that seriously (not compared to regular AFL). It's meaningless. +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. Do I hate AFL. I'm not a fan but I can still appreciate they have some great Athletes playing. But the AFL and the journalist is sure drawing a long bow with the myth that the best Athletes are in AFL or that juniors are gravitating towards it. The journalist has an axe to grind but so too do a lot in the Australian football community. The AFL, traditionally, has had the best athletes (and juniors) in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT gravitating towards it, however much infuriating the sport may be. Far be it from me to tell people what to think but... The first step to addressing any problem is to acknowledge the problems existence, rather than to deny it. This is, indeed, a problem in most parts of Australia. +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. That part doesn't make sense, especially with no data or evidence to back it up. It's funny how you brought up the 20m sprint test, do you have any solid data for football, even though it's a total meaningless measurement. There is plenty of evidence. As the sport involves relatively little technique (compared to football and other stuff), they do nothing but measure these sort of things. http://www.topendsports.com/sport/afl/testing-draft-results.htm+x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. How can the AFL even remotely have the best Athletes when half the country doesn't even play the sport. That's why I asked if the best Athletes are somehow born in Victoria. If you have ever been in Sydney you will find virtually no juniors playing AFL. That's a huge pool of potential best Athletes in the countries most populist state that the AFL doesn't even get a look in. It's a myth that the AFL love to trot out to pump up their tyres. Sorry but this smacks of an agenda. The AFL has traditionally had access to the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT. That's most of Australia. Nobody (except perhaps those actually working for the AFL, itself) is suggesting that the AFL has any influence in NSW. But that doesn't alter the fact that it has more influence than any other sport in most of the rest of the country (and, traditionally, by some margin). +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. It's also the same reason saying that we have the best AFL players in the world. It's just a ridiculous statement. Especially since no other country plays it. I know that can be tough to accept but that's the truth of it. My friend, your mistake is to get wound up by their pettiness. Their sport has no international presence. Australians, quite often, tend to have an inferiority complex. So that plus the AFL's sheer lack of significance outside VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT is a recipe for those kind of ridiculous claims. What the AFL has (or traditionally has had) is access to the best athletes in those states. Imo, the fact that Australians have tended to be among the most active people in the world and the climate is very conducive towards it, the very best athletes in certain positions in AFL are among the most athletic people you'll find in the world. Plus given the sport's focus on sports science rather than technical and tactical things, it's hardly surprising. Don't get riled by this notion. It's not as if they're the only athletes who are the best in the world. You'll find the same in the NBA, at the Olympics, in the Premier League, the Bundesliga, La Liga, in the grand slams and so on. +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. Does that mean AFL is a not so skillful game that a relative novice can pick up or is it because we don't have enough Athletic players playing that players from Rugby, NRL, Basketball, Gaelic football can come along and take the place of an Australian. You confuse skill and technique. Success in Aussie Rules requires athletic skill, not technical skill. Technical skill is usually only gained through years and years of practice and usually from a young age. Aussie Rules places no great weight on technical skill, more athletic skill. Football places great weight on both (although for central midfield and central defence, athletic skill tends to have less importance). +x+x+x[quote]Wow AFL have great Athletes, who are we exactly measuring them against, what benchmark. It's easy to say you are the best in the world at something when you are the only country playing the sport. I am not saying some players are not Athletic but how do you measure it. The closest I come to is when we play Ireland in International rules when the best of our Athleticism doesn't help us one iota. Let's not forget a good majority of these Irish players are made up AFL players in Australia and semi-pro Gaelic players. The odds should be heavily stacked in Australia's favourite should it not. If more countries were playing AFL I can guarantee you we wouldn't be the best nation in AFL and the question might be raised about ways we can get more Athletic players away from football, rugby and NRL so they can play AFL. That's a really misleading example. For one thing, it's not Aussie Rules, they're playing, it's a hybrid competition. And Ireland (albeit without a professional competition, I do believe) are used to playing Gaelic football with a round ball. And besides, some years Australia win, others Ireland win. Meaningless data. +xThis whole argument is based on a false premace and perpetuated by the AFL and swallowed up those who believe the propaganda. It's impossible to say that for one AFL is the recipient of the best Athletes in Australia. You have no way of knowing that until a player has reached physical maturity. Yes it would great if more players chose football but we already have more players to choose from than AFL and in the states of NSW and QLD there are virtually no players which to choose from for the AFL.
Sorry but none of this is based on any false premise.
It is possible to say that the AFL has access to the majority of the best athletes in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT (i.e. most of Australia).
Going from the best times run for 20m at AFL draft camps averaged out for about 13 years up until 2012, the best AFL footballer would run 2.824 seconds average. That's bloody quick. To put that into perspective, the average for the best in the NBA draft for 22.86m was 3.028 seconds. And, usually, AFL players are drafted at a younger age than NBA players by a few years.
Then, as I say, some of Australia's best athletes in international sports came quite close to playing AFL (Patty Mills, Ben Simmonds and Lleyton Hewitt, for example). That's rather telling. While not conclusive, it would indicate there's every chance a number of people in the AFL could have gone down the path of other professional sports. This seems to be the case a lot with cricket, basketball and the type of sports for which the Olympics is the biggest competition. Olympic athletes, by and large, don't get paid anywhere near as much as AFL players, so there's a big incentive there. Then Kyle Chalmers, for example, who won the gold medal for the men's 100m freestyle in Rio has plans on playing AFL after his swimming career.
And then you just have to think about it in context. In VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, AFL dominates the headlines and the topic of conversation at schools, work, etc. Even in the off-season. So, what a surprise, it has traditionally had most of the best athletes in those parts of Australia.
I realise it's easy to go about having undiluted hatred of the AFL. They bring it upon themselves and they do tend to have an inferiority complex as their sport will never have any international presence. But it's more constructive to accept that the sport does actually have gifted athletes and to ask oneself how football might turn the tide going forward. Especially since no other country plays it. I know that can be tough to accept but that's the truth of it. Until we can quantify how Athletic AFL players are then you won't know eg If they played other countries who played AFL it would be a better measure. It's not tough. We can just look at the kind of things AFL does quantify and even glimpses of them playing the sport to work it out. That plus the people who go professional (even world class) in other sports who have realistic chances of playing AFL at around 15 or 16. The results speak for themselves. Don't get upset by it. Try to turn the tide by working out how football can make an impact in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT. Unless you enjoy watching us concede upwards of two goals each occasion we face a decent opponent. When we get better technical players we won't be conceeding anything. It's got little to do with Athleticism, especially the ones the AFL are supposedly hoarding. The AFL isn't hoarding anything. It just has the luxury of having reaped the rewards of dominating the sporting cultural landscape of most Australian states and territories since it started; the largest talent pool and therefore most of the best athletes in those states and territories. If you haven't figured out that most of the best footballers in the world in the positions of striker, winger, wingback and goalkeeper have supreme athletic ability as well as technical ability and tactical awareness, you're either labouring under a hell of a misapprehension or kidding yourself. In what way has the AFL dominated the sporting cultural landscape especially when most juniors in EVERY state are playing football and not AFL. That's why the claim of AFL having the best Athletes is a ridiculous claim. It's nonsense. Just based on pure maths and statistics the claims by the journalist are nonsense. Just have a look at newspapers in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT. That indicates the dominance of the sporting landscape. I understand things are improving and we're getting a better turn out now. These days, there are kids playing football from households which, traditionally, were pro AFL. I've heard tell that football has the highest participation rate in Australia. Nevertheless, where I grew up in Melbourne, and even more so in rural Victoria, plus in SA, WA, NT and (I'm told) Tassie, it still seems to be more popular, seems to tend to be played by better athletes and dominates topics of conversation. Things are getting better. But there's a lot work to be done. And we're still a long way behind AFL. While that covers 4 states & 1 Territory, it only covers 13M people, while the other only 2 states (very populous states too) & 1 territory covers the remaining11.5M, this 11.5M AFL has no influence, so to say AFL gets all the best athletes is very wrong. That is nearly half the population of Australia that would have little or no interest in the game. If you said that if football was the premier sporting code in Australia like it is in most of the countries around the world, our choices, but to plainly say like you & the author that AFL has the best athletes is not correct. However, as RBB been trying to explain, it's not athleticism that the Socceroos lack but football technique. As has already been explained, that's still most of the country. Nobody is suggesting that NSW and QLD don't include a big part of the population. Bu there's still a huge part of the country for which football faces the dominance in the sporting landscape of the AFL.
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