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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. 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. A lot of news and media younger people see is international news through various online platforms. The world is getting quite small in a metaphorical sense and with the ease of communication across large distances people are being influenced by other cultures. Honestly football has gotten very popular and i can easily strike up a conversation with any stranger who is approximately my age or younger and talk about football, maybe not about the A League but definitely football.
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pippinu
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+x+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... He actually did go from Port to the FFA and then Liverpool before returning to Port. The interesting aspect, to which you have alluded, is that his time at Liverpool was not really marked by any success of any description, and yet Wenger has chased him down to work from him, and as it happens, he has been with Port for the past 4 years. Not only that, it's actually a broad-ranging role that he is taking on. He has been a Port fan all his life. This is a good biography: http://www.globalsportcoach.com/insight-darren-burgess-role-high-performance-coach-port-adelaide-afl-club/He reckons he introduced GPS technology to Liverpool, they didn't have it prior to that, which is extraordinary. We sometimes forget how far advanced we are in Australia in terms of sports science.
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aufc_ole
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Can this bloke go 5 posts without mention AFL?
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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. However, as RBB been trying to explain, it's not athleticism that the Socceroos lack but football technique. You seem to misunderstand the way success in international elite sport works. It's got nothing to do saying- awww Jeez some of the Socceroos are about as comfortable on the ball as the Kardashians would be be in a leper colony. Wouldn't it be great if Mile Jedinak had the first touch of Patrick Vieira. That gets us nowhere. The NT are almost always just a product of circumstance. Those representing the nation are, almost invariably, the product of the circumstances and systems in place. Countries with the biggest natural advantage are those in which the sport pervades the fabric of society, where the incidence of kids being brought up playing the system is very high, where the systems and infrastructure in place are of a high quality (both at grassroots and elite level) and where there are outstanding professional competitions. This is why it's hardly surprising that countries such as Germany do so brilliantly. Unless we're talking about central midfield or defence, most of the best footballers in the world have technical brilliance, outstanding tactical awareness and excellent athleticism. It's not an either or case. The best tend to excel at it all. As RBB acknowledges, football has access to some of the best athletes in the world (especially in Europe, South America, Africa and Asia). So, what a surprise, it ends up being the case that they can choose from footballers who have technique and athleticism.
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robbos
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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. 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. Yes 57% of the country, greater then 1/2, I suppose you call call it most of the country or a huge part, but there is also a fairly large part, 43% that doesn't.
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quickflick
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Group: Forum Members
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+x+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. There aren't (or shouldn't be) camps. Nobody is denying that all that the common characteristics among world-class footballers are outstanding technical ability and tactical awareness. The idea that there's a camp of people in favour of improving technique up against a camp of people who don't care about technique and only care about athleticism is bullshit. Or if anybody actually subscribes to that kind of a false dichotomy, heaven help us! I try to think in terms of 'cause and effect'. What is the cause of the effect that is a nation playing world-class football? I gave a brief outline of what I consider those causes to be in my post directly above. The thing is, when you look at cause and effect, whichever way you cut it, you'll find that there's good reason to suppose speed and agility might be bloody useful in positions in more space. They effect of that speed and agility is the footballer can profit more from that open space. Then, when you consider the sheer abundance of excellent athletes brought up passionate about football in Europe, South America, Africa and Asia, it's hardly surprising that they can draw upon footballers (for those positions) who have outstanding technical ability and are top-notch athletes. This is why football ends up with a situation whereby almost all the best practitioners in the world in wider areas are outstanding technicians and terrific athletes. That we are actually debating this beggars belief!
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robbos
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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. However, as RBB been trying to explain, it's not athleticism that the Socceroos lack but football technique. You seem to misunderstand the way success in international elite sport works. It's got nothing to do saying- awww Jeez some of the Socceroos are about as comfortable on the ball as the Kardashians would be be in a leper colony. Wouldn't it be great if Mile Jedinak had the first touch of Patrick Vieira. That gets us nowhere. The NT are almost always just a product of circumstance. Those representing the nation are, almost invariably, the product of the circumstances and systems in place. Countries with the biggest natural advantage are those in which the sport pervades the fabric of society, where the incidence of kids being brought up playing the system is very high, where the systems and infrastructure in place are of a high quality (both at grassroots and elite level) and where there are outstanding professional competitions. This is why it's hardly surprising that countries such as Germany do so brilliantly. Unless we're talking about central midfield or defence, most of the best footballers in the world have technical brilliance, outstanding tactical awareness and excellent athleticism. It's not an either or case. The best tend to excel at it all. As RBB acknowledges, football has access to some of the best athletes in the world (especially in Europe, South America, Africa and Asia). So, what a surprise, it ends up being the case that they can choose from footballers who have technique and athleticism. I think I understand fully, England & Britain are fully brought up on the game of football, they have populations 10 times the size of the likes of Portugal & Croatia, yet England produces more Jedinaks then Vieiras, if unsure look at the Championship & lower part of the PL. While the likes of Croatia & Portugal produces more skilled players.
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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. 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. Yes 57% of the country, greater then 1/2, I suppose you call call it most of the country or a huge part, but there is also a fairly large part, 43% that doesn't. Yep. Nobody is suggesting otherwise. Merely that it's problematic and has hamstrung the success of football in this country to no small degree. When you add NRL with a significant presence in the other parts of the country, so much the worse.
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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. However, as RBB been trying to explain, it's not athleticism that the Socceroos lack but football technique. You seem to misunderstand the way success in international elite sport works. It's got nothing to do saying- awww Jeez some of the Socceroos are about as comfortable on the ball as the Kardashians would be be in a leper colony. Wouldn't it be great if Mile Jedinak had the first touch of Patrick Vieira. That gets us nowhere. The NT are almost always just a product of circumstance. Those representing the nation are, almost invariably, the product of the circumstances and systems in place. Countries with the biggest natural advantage are those in which the sport pervades the fabric of society, where the incidence of kids being brought up playing the system is very high, where the systems and infrastructure in place are of a high quality (both at grassroots and elite level) and where there are outstanding professional competitions. This is why it's hardly surprising that countries such as Germany do so brilliantly. Unless we're talking about central midfield or defence, most of the best footballers in the world have technical brilliance, outstanding tactical awareness and excellent athleticism. It's not an either or case. The best tend to excel at it all. As RBB acknowledges, football has access to some of the best athletes in the world (especially in Europe, South America, Africa and Asia). So, what a surprise, it ends up being the case that they can choose from footballers who have technique and athleticism. I think I understand fully, England & Britain are fully brought up on the game of football, they have populations 10 times the size of the likes of Portugal & Croatia, yet England produces more Jedinaks then Vieiras, if unsure look at the Championship & lower part of the PL. While the likes of Croatia & Portugal produces more skilled players. Yeah, nah. You don't do facetiousness particularly well.. I identified a bunch of factors, not one. Portugal has excellent systems in place. That can compensate for a smaller population if England when through a sustained period without such good system (even with a larger population base).
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RBBAnonymous
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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. However, as RBB been trying to explain, it's not athleticism that the Socceroos lack but football technique. You seem to misunderstand the way success in international elite sport works. It's got nothing to do saying- awww Jeez some of the Socceroos are about as comfortable on the ball as the Kardashians would be be in a leper colony. Wouldn't it be great if Mile Jedinak had the first touch of Patrick Vieira. That gets us nowhere. The NT are almost always just a product of circumstance. Those representing the nation are, almost invariably, the product of the circumstances and systems in place. Countries with the biggest natural advantage are those in which the sport pervades the fabric of society, where the incidence of kids being brought up playing the system is very high, where the systems and infrastructure in place are of a high quality (both at grassroots and elite level) and where there are outstanding professional competitions. This is why it's hardly surprising that countries such as Germany do so brilliantly. Unless we're talking about central midfield or defence, most of the best footballers in the world have technical brilliance, outstanding tactical awareness and excellent athleticism. It's not an either or case. The best tend to excel at it all. As RBB acknowledges, football has access to some of the best athletes in the world (especially in Europe, South America, Africa and Asia). So, what a surprise, it ends up being the case that they can choose from footballers who have technique and athleticism. I think I understand fully, England & Britain are fully brought up on the game of football, they have populations 10 times the size of the likes of Portugal & Croatia, yet England produces more Jedinaks then Vieiras, if unsure look at the Championship & lower part of the PL. Our chances are not going to improve all that much if suddenly there was no AFL played in the country - we would only produce twice as many average players than we are now. You are right about one think quickflick - it is all about systems in place. 1. How old when we first train our kids 2. The techniques we use to train them 3. Repetition and hours of practice 4. Identify our best 5. Nurturing them to full potential 6. Exposing them to best practice and high standard competitions 7. Training and facilities 8. Cost and who wears it 9. Pathways - academies and education, centres of excellence, life outside of football, number of pro teams etc etc etc
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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. 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. +xYes 57% of the country, greater then 1/2, I suppose you call call it most of the country or a huge part, but there is also a fairly large part, 43% that doesn't. NSW 7.77 million QLD 6.14 million13.9m VIC 6.14 million
WA 2.67 millionSA 1.72 millionNT 266,2
TAS 537,166
11.18m
Is someone suggesting where AFL is played it has most of the population base of Aus? or am i reading this all wrong.
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pippinu
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I was listening to a podcast today featuring Adam Peacock and Ned Zelic, discussing why our youth teams do not appear to be doing as well as they did from the late 1980s to early 2000s.
Ned discussed what it was like when he was young. He started with Deakin Croatia in their under age teams at a time when there were proper competitions at under 10 level. He discussed how they wanted to beat the top team, and wanting to stop Michael Bevan (who later played cricket for Australia).
He went to the AIS aged 16, but he made an important point, he possessed much of the skill and technique he needed by that age. He felt that perhaps these days, kids are focusing on skill and technique at too late an age.
He mentioned a key thing growing up, was playing the game constantly, every waking moment, every spare moment, after school, weekends and school holidays. Even during the Summer holidays, he spread his time equally across playing cricket and playing football.
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pippinu
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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. 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. +xYes 57% of the country, greater then 1/2, I suppose you call call it most of the country or a huge part, but there is also a fairly large part, 43% that doesn't. NSW 7.77 million QLD 6.14 million13.9m VIC 6.14 million
WA 2.67 millionSA 1.72 millionNT 266,2
TAS 537,166
11.18m
Is someone suggesting where AFL is played it has most of the population base of Aus? or am i reading this all wrong. Although these days, even in NSW and Qld, participation in aussie rules exceeds rugby union, and isn't all that far behind rugby league.
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Midfielder
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Three weeks ago attended a 3 day tax seminar. Don't worry I am not about to quote from budget paper 15 on truck driver deductions.
But in the meeting where some people from Melbourne who used the time to spend a week in Sydney.
Over lunch one day sport came up as a topic. The Melbourne folk started to laugh when 4 of us at the table starting talking about the A-League and I was explaining to 2 wsw and 1 sfsc fan the plans the Mariners had.... their attitude was one of you can't really be serious you follow soccer... anyhows as lunch worn on we heard endless stories about AFL and the A-League tis almost as if they were watching A-League metrics keeping score.
For the most part we ignored them, as their arguments where they set the valuation system and under their valuation system there could only be the AFL the winner.
But but but but what we found hhhhmmm no words to describe was their belief that almost every AFL player could walk into the worlds top Football sides... actually giving example of how player X side footed a ball at a certain angle into a goal.
My impression was if this group was any reflection of the broader AFL community they don't believe it when we say touch needs development from 4, 5 or 6 until you are 17. 18 ... they honestly believe or these guys do that we are talking bullshit and the Great Waste of Space players could walk in and be as good as Barca ...
Interesting to hear from posters from the southern states if these guys reflect the broader AFL community.
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RBBAnonymous
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+x+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. 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. +xYes 57% of the country, greater then 1/2, I suppose you call call it most of the country or a huge part, but there is also a fairly large part, 43% that doesn't. NSW 7.77 million QLD 6.14 million13.9m VIC 6.14 million
WA 2.67 millionSA 1.72 millionNT 266,2
TAS 537,166
11.18m
Is someone suggesting where AFL is played it has most of the population base of Aus? or am i reading this all wrong. Although these days, even in NSW and Qld, participation in aussie rules exceeds rugby union, and isn't all that far behind rugby league. Sorry but walking past an Auskick clinic and being included in the numbers shouldn't count.
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Muz
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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. 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. +xYes 57% of the country, greater then 1/2, I suppose you call call it most of the country or a huge part, but there is also a fairly large part, 43% that doesn't. NSW 7.77 million QLD 6.14 million13.9m VIC 6.14 million
WA 2.67 millionSA 1.72 millionNT 266,2
TAS 537,166
11.18m
Is someone suggesting where AFL is played it has most of the population base of Aus? or am i reading this all wrong. You're wasting your time. Like a deer stunned in the headlights of an oncoming car the AFL addled minds of Victorians (and other AFL states) cannot comprehend that outside of the little bubble they live in people do not give a shit about their stupid game. They simply cannot process the information.
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+x+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. However, as RBB been trying to explain, it's not athleticism that the Socceroos lack but football technique. You seem to misunderstand the way success in international elite sport works. It's got nothing to do saying- awww Jeez some of the Socceroos are about as comfortable on the ball as the Kardashians would be be in a leper colony. Wouldn't it be great if Mile Jedinak had the first touch of Patrick Vieira. That gets us nowhere. The NT are almost always just a product of circumstance. Those representing the nation are, almost invariably, the product of the circumstances and systems in place. Countries with the biggest natural advantage are those in which the sport pervades the fabric of society, where the incidence of kids being brought up playing the system is very high, where the systems and infrastructure in place are of a high quality (both at grassroots and elite level) and where there are outstanding professional competitions. This is why it's hardly surprising that countries such as Germany do so brilliantly. Unless we're talking about central midfield or defence, most of the best footballers in the world have technical brilliance, outstanding tactical awareness and excellent athleticism. It's not an either or case. The best tend to excel at it all. As RBB acknowledges, football has access to some of the best athletes in the world (especially in Europe, South America, Africa and Asia). So, what a surprise, it ends up being the case that they can choose from footballers who have technique and athleticism. I think I understand fully, England & Britain are fully brought up on the game of football, they have populations 10 times the size of the likes of Portugal & Croatia, yet England produces more Jedinaks then Vieiras, if unsure look at the Championship & lower part of the PL. Our chances are not going to improve all that much if suddenly there was no AFL played in the country - we would only produce twice as many average players than we are now. I don't want to get bogged down in this point because I don't advocate a situation in which the whole country plays football but plays it badly. But, honestly, I don't think it's true we'd produce twice as many average footballers. I think it would be a case of having lots of averages and better hopes of producing golden generations. E.g. look at basketball. Look at the NBL. Then look at the quality of Australian basketballers abroad; Patty Mills, Matthew Dellavedova, Aron Baynes, Andrew Bogut, Dante Exum, Thon Maker, Ben Simmons. That's a golden generation. Lots in the NBA and some truly world-class basketballers despite ordinary infrastructure at home. Nevertheless, I agree that this isn't exactly what we're aiming for. Success can be brought about with structure, rather than fluke. I don't believe in fatalistic crap. +x+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. However, as RBB been trying to explain, it's not athleticism that the Socceroos lack but football technique. You seem to misunderstand the way success in international elite sport works. It's got nothing to do saying- awww Jeez some of the Socceroos are about as comfortable on the ball as the Kardashians would be be in a leper colony. Wouldn't it be great if Mile Jedinak had the first touch of Patrick Vieira. That gets us nowhere. The NT are almost always just a product of circumstance. Those representing the nation are, almost invariably, the product of the circumstances and systems in place. Countries with the biggest natural advantage are those in which the sport pervades the fabric of society, where the incidence of kids being brought up playing the system is very high, where the systems and infrastructure in place are of a high quality (both at grassroots and elite level) and where there are outstanding professional competitions. This is why it's hardly surprising that countries such as Germany do so brilliantly. Unless we're talking about central midfield or defence, most of the best footballers in the world have technical brilliance, outstanding tactical awareness and excellent athleticism. It's not an either or case. The best tend to excel at it all. As RBB acknowledges, football has access to some of the best athletes in the world (especially in Europe, South America, Africa and Asia). So, what a surprise, it ends up being the case that they can choose from footballers who have technique and athleticism. I think I understand fully, England & Britain are fully brought up on the game of football, they have populations 10 times the size of the likes of Portugal & Croatia, yet England produces more Jedinaks then Vieiras, if unsure look at the Championship & lower part of the PL. Our chances are not going to improve all that much if suddenly there was no AFL played in the country - we would only produce twice as many average players than we are now. I've highlighted this twice because this second response is more important. I think I haven't explained a key idea well enough. It's not just a matter of having the best athletes. You probably have some idea that countries which have success in football have strong football cultures. It occupies people's leisure. But here, in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, it's very difficult to get that. Why? Because AFL dominates that landscape. We need that culture and tribalism and culture in football. Pippinu made a fairly valid point in suggesting that one of the differences between families with kids playing football here and in places such as Europe and South America. Here, the kid may just play football but their parents don't really engage with the sport that much (beyond wanting the best for their kid). In those places, the kid is often brought up and the whole family engages with the sport. Thank goodness for immigration from the Italian, Greek and Balkan migrants otherwise football would never have gotten off the ground here. As things stand, those communities were some of the only places where any semblance of that culture has existed.
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City Sam
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+xThree weeks ago attended a 3 day tax seminar. Don't worry I am not about to quote from budget paper 15 on truck driver deductions. But in the meeting where some people from Melbourne who used the time to spend a week in Sydney. Over lunch one day sport came up as a topic. The Melbourne folk started to laugh when 4 of us at the table starting talking about the A-League and I was explaining to 2 wsw and 1 sfsc fan the plans the Mariners had.... their attitude was one of you can't really be serious you follow soccer... anyhows as lunch worn on we heard endless stories about AFL and the A-League tis almost as if they were watching A-League metrics keeping score. For the most part we ignored them, as their arguments where they set the valuation system and under their valuation system there could only be the AFL the winner. But but but but what we found hhhhmmm no words to describe was their belief that almost every AFL player could walk into the worlds top Football sides... actually giving example of how player X side footed a ball at a certain angle into a goal. My impression was if this group was any reflection of the broader AFL community they don't believe it when we say touch needs development from 4, 5 or 6 until you are 17. 18 ... they honestly believe or these guys do that we are talking bullshit and the Great Waste of Space players could walk in and be as good as Barca ... Interesting to hear from posters from the southern states if these guys reflect the broader AFL community. They definitely represent a large portion of the AFL community. Those who read shit like the Herald Sun as the ultimate source of validity and much like humans of old whom thought the Earth was the centre of the universe believe the world rotates within the AFL's web of sporting and technical brilliance. But generally this large portion are an older generation, the younger an AFL supporter is the more understanding they are from my experience.
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quickflick
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+x+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. 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. +xYes 57% of the country, greater then 1/2, I suppose you call call it most of the country or a huge part, but there is also a fairly large part, 43% that doesn't. NSW 7.77 million QLD 6.14 million13.9m VIC 6.14 million
WA 2.67 millionSA 1.72 millionNT 266,2
TAS 537,166
11.18m
Is someone suggesting where AFL is played it has most of the population base of Aus? or am i reading this all wrong. You're wasting your time. Like a deer stunned in the headlights of an oncoming car the AFL addled minds of Victorians (and other AFL states) cannot comprehend that outside of the little bubble they live in people do not give a shit about their stupid game. They simply cannot process the information. Don't tar us (people from Victoria and those states) all with the same brush. I'm fully aware of the insignificance of AFL outside these states. I've lived in a few different places around the world (and been to various others) and there was neither hide nor hair of it. Same goes for when I've been to Sydney. I'm just pointing out that it does, unfortunately, remain a big hindrance to the improvement of football in those parts of the country where it is exceedingly popular.
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+xThree weeks ago attended a 3 day tax seminar. Don't worry I am not about to quote from budget paper 15 on truck driver deductions. But in the meeting where some people from Melbourne who used the time to spend a week in Sydney. Over lunch one day sport came up as a topic. The Melbourne folk started to laugh when 4 of us at the table starting talking about the A-League and I was explaining to 2 wsw and 1 sfsc fan the plans the Mariners had.... their attitude was one of you can't really be serious you follow soccer... anyhows as lunch worn on we heard endless stories about AFL and the A-League tis almost as if they were watching A-League metrics keeping score. For the most part we ignored them, as their arguments where they set the valuation system and under their valuation system there could only be the AFL the winner. But but but but what we found hhhhmmm no words to describe was their belief that almost every AFL player could walk into the worlds top Football sides... actually giving example of how player X side footed a ball at a certain angle into a goal. My impression was if this group was any reflection of the broader AFL community they don't believe it when we say touch needs development from 4, 5 or 6 until you are 17. 18 ... they honestly believe or these guys do that we are talking bullshit and the Great Waste of Space players could walk in and be as good as Barca ... Interesting to hear from posters from the southern states if these guys reflect the broader AFL community. They are mental, it's almost as if they are brain damaged. When you travel to Europe and meet them they are so blinded by the 'superiority' of their game that when they ask you what you've been up to and you say 'well I just went and saw a Serie A match' or some other league fixture in another country they look at you almost in pity as if to say why would you waste your time doing that. I am struck constantly by the complete ignorance of Victorians when it comes to other sports played in Australia and not just football. In NSW or Qld you might not follow a particular sport closely but you'll still know when the basketball finals are on, who the wallabies are playing this weekend and what went wrong again, when the the Origin starts and if the Hockeyroos are off in somewhere in another world cup. Almost never would you speak to a NSW or QLD person who is as one eyed and ignorant about sport besides AFL as a Victorian. (I don't have much to do with South Australians so someone can enlighten me there.). They're the Americans of Australia. They're not well people.
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+x+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. 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. +xYes 57% of the country, greater then 1/2, I suppose you call call it most of the country or a huge part, but there is also a fairly large part, 43% that doesn't. NSW 7.77 million QLD 6.14 million13.9m VIC 6.14 million
WA 2.67 millionSA 1.72 millionNT 266,2
TAS 537,166
11.18m
Is someone suggesting where AFL is played it has most of the population base of Aus? or am i reading this all wrong. You're wasting your time. Like a deer stunned in the headlights of an oncoming car the AFL addled minds of Victorians (and other AFL states) cannot comprehend that outside of the little bubble they live in people do not give a shit about their stupid game. They simply cannot process the information. Thought that was exactly what was going on but i had to make sure. hahahahaha thanks buddy you made my night cheers.
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RBBAnonymous
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+x+x+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. However, as RBB been trying to explain, it's not athleticism that the Socceroos lack but football technique. You seem to misunderstand the way success in international elite sport works. It's got nothing to do saying- awww Jeez some of the Socceroos are about as comfortable on the ball as the Kardashians would be be in a leper colony. Wouldn't it be great if Mile Jedinak had the first touch of Patrick Vieira. That gets us nowhere. The NT are almost always just a product of circumstance. Those representing the nation are, almost invariably, the product of the circumstances and systems in place. Countries with the biggest natural advantage are those in which the sport pervades the fabric of society, where the incidence of kids being brought up playing the system is very high, where the systems and infrastructure in place are of a high quality (both at grassroots and elite level) and where there are outstanding professional competitions. This is why it's hardly surprising that countries such as Germany do so brilliantly. Unless we're talking about central midfield or defence, most of the best footballers in the world have technical brilliance, outstanding tactical awareness and excellent athleticism. It's not an either or case. The best tend to excel at it all. As RBB acknowledges, football has access to some of the best athletes in the world (especially in Europe, South America, Africa and Asia). So, what a surprise, it ends up being the case that they can choose from footballers who have technique and athleticism. I think I understand fully, England & Britain are fully brought up on the game of football, they have populations 10 times the size of the likes of Portugal & Croatia, yet England produces more Jedinaks then Vieiras, if unsure look at the Championship & lower part of the PL. Our chances are not going to improve all that much if suddenly there was no AFL played in the country - we would only produce twice as many average players than we are now. I don't want to get bogged down in this point because I don't advocate a situation in which the whole country plays football but plays it badly. But, honestly, I don't think it's true we'd produce twice as many average footballers. I think it would be a case of having lots of averages and better hopes of producing golden generations. E.g. look at basketball. Look at the NBL. Then look at the quality of Australian basketballers abroad; Patty Mills, Matthew Dellavedova, Aron Baynes, Andrew Bogut, Dante Exum, Thon Maker, Ben Simmons. That's a golden generation. Lots in the NBA and some truly world-class basketballers despite ordinary infrastructure at home. Nevertheless, I agree that this isn't exactly what we're aiming for. Success can be brought about with structure, rather than fluke. I don't believe in fatalistic crap. +x+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. However, as RBB been trying to explain, it's not athleticism that the Socceroos lack but football technique. You seem to misunderstand the way success in international elite sport works. It's got nothing to do saying- awww Jeez some of the Socceroos are about as comfortable on the ball as the Kardashians would be be in a leper colony. Wouldn't it be great if Mile Jedinak had the first touch of Patrick Vieira. That gets us nowhere. The NT are almost always just a product of circumstance. Those representing the nation are, almost invariably, the product of the circumstances and systems in place. Countries with the biggest natural advantage are those in which the sport pervades the fabric of society, where the incidence of kids being brought up playing the system is very high, where the systems and infrastructure in place are of a high quality (both at grassroots and elite level) and where there are outstanding professional competitions. This is why it's hardly surprising that countries such as Germany do so brilliantly. Unless we're talking about central midfield or defence, most of the best footballers in the world have technical brilliance, outstanding tactical awareness and excellent athleticism. It's not an either or case. The best tend to excel at it all. As RBB acknowledges, football has access to some of the best athletes in the world (especially in Europe, South America, Africa and Asia). So, what a surprise, it ends up being the case that they can choose from footballers who have technique and athleticism. I think I understand fully, England & Britain are fully brought up on the game of football, they have populations 10 times the size of the likes of Portugal & Croatia, yet England produces more Jedinaks then Vieiras, if unsure look at the Championship & lower part of the PL. Our chances are not going to improve all that much if suddenly there was no AFL played in the country - we would only produce twice as many average players than we are now. I've highlighted this twice because this second response is more important. I think I haven't explained a key idea well enough. It's not just a matter of having the best athletes. You probably have some idea that countries which have success in football have strong football cultures. It occupies people's leisure. But here, in VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT, it's very difficult to get that. Why? Because AFL dominates that landscape. We need that culture and tribalism and culture in football. Pippinu made a fairly valid point in suggesting that one of the differences between families with kids playing football here and in places such as Europe and South America. Here, the kid may just play football but their parents don't really engage with the sport that much (beyond wanting the best for their kid). In those places, the kid is often brought up and the whole family engages with the sport. Thank goodness for immigration from the Italian, Greek and Balkan migrants otherwise football would never have gotten off the ground here. As things stand, those communities were some of the only places where any semblance of that culture has existed. I agree to a certain extent that a culture of football in a country does help in some way. However, there are plenty of countries around the world who have this culture and who are not very good at football. I have also mentioned that Athleticism does play a part in producing a good footballer, but the point I am making is that all countries are capable of producing good Athletes. If they train hard enough, if they have the right nutrition, if they have facilities etc etc etc. My one constant throughout this debate has been that to produce a good footballer is to focus on the technical aspects of football, skill, touch, technique. That is the overriding factor and it is probably 75-80% of the make up of a good footballer. Agility, athleticism, strength can all be gained from playing lots of football, but just because you play lots of football doesn't mean you will be a good footballer. You need to be taught the right technique for that to happen.
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Waz
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@ pippinu
I don't actually have a lot of time for some of the "golden generation" commenting on youth development. Most are doing it from the outside looking in and quite frankly are drawing a long bow with some of the conclusions being reached.
As an example you say "He felt that perhaps these days, kids are focusing on skill and technique at too late an age" .... this is just nonsense, skill and technique is introduced at mini-roo level and continues throughout a kids development. This occurs with varying degrees of success but the main problem is not when it's introduced it's who's introducing it - there aren't enough qualified coaches, the coaching courses we have are also too expensive, and these courses are mainly available in two states.
If you watched FoxSports coverage of the Roos game last week the "golden generation" were complaining that players had lost their physicality and competitive nature. In short they're turning into grumpy old men and nothing today is as good as when they were a lad. Just because they can say it doesnty make them right.
All is not perfect but romantic notions that a past system that had one suitable academy and kids played competitive league games at under ten level is somehow better or advisable today is folly. The golden generation were good in spite of the development they were given not because of it.
The last point is very valid though - as a junior coach myself I can tell which kid plays with a football between training session and which kid only kicks a ball twice a week at training and on match day. It takes about 6-8 weeks to see this difference develop and the difference continues to expand about every 6-8 weeks; but getting people to play outdoors with their kids midweek is, well, a thing iof the past.
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pippinu
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+xThree weeks ago attended a 3 day tax seminar. Don't worry I am not about to quote from budget paper 15 on truck driver deductions. But in the meeting where some people from Melbourne who used the time to spend a week in Sydney. Over lunch one day sport came up as a topic. The Melbourne folk started to laugh when 4 of us at the table starting talking about the A-League and I was explaining to 2 wsw and 1 sfsc fan the plans the Mariners had.... their attitude was one of you can't really be serious you follow soccer... anyhows as lunch worn on we heard endless stories about AFL and the A-League tis almost as if they were watching A-League metrics keeping score. For the most part we ignored them, as their arguments where they set the valuation system and under their valuation system there could only be the AFL the winner. But but but but what we found hhhhmmm no words to describe was their belief that almost every AFL player could walk into the worlds top Football sides... actually giving example of how player X side footed a ball at a certain angle into a goal. My impression was if this group was any reflection of the broader AFL community they don't believe it when we say touch needs development from 4, 5 or 6 until you are 17. 18 ... they honestly believe or these guys do that we are talking bullshit and the Great Waste of Space players could walk in and be as good as Barca ... Interesting to hear from posters from the southern states if these guys reflect the broader AFL community. You appear to have about half a dozen variations of this same story you pull out every now and then. The Victory has been the largest A-League club since the 2nd season of the A-League, in fact no other A-League club comes close in terms of attendances, membership and revenue. The Victory is located in Melbourne, and traditionally, half of its membership base have been AFL members (it's a similar story for City). Have you ever tried reconciling how the largest A-League club is located in AFL heartland and actually relies on AFL members for half of its revenue? Whereas the Mariners is located in a region where there is no AFL, and yet it's the puniest club in the A-League and is stuck in an ongoing battle for relevance and survival.
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MarkfromCroydon
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By Daniel Garb Liverpool’s former head of conditioning, Australian Darren Burgess, and his sports science countrymen have now all departed Anfield. But they do so with fond memories, and plenty of stories.
As a computer illiterate, i don't know how to post a link, but take a look at the Anfield Wrap re Darren Burgess and Liverpool. it's not in that interview, but I also remember hearing him in one interview say that Premier League players were the players he regarded as the most astonishing athletes of all the athletes he's trained and Stevie g in particular. From memory he was most impressed by the number of high intensity matches they played. if anyone knows the interview where he said that, I'd love to hear it again. To me, having a guy like him say that sort of stuff highlights that footballers are elite athletes and all this rubbish that's been talked about footballers not being world class athletes is just that, rubbish. Of course, there is a difference between the athletic profile of a front row rugby forward and a footballer who's a defensive midfielder. Fit for purpose, different body shapes and aerobic abilities, but both still elite athletes.
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RBBAnonymous
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+x@ pippinuI don't actually have a lot of time for some of the "golden generation" commenting on youth development. Most are doing it from the outside looking in and quite frankly are drawing a long bow with some of the conclusions being reached. As an example you say "He felt that perhaps these days, kids are focusing on skill and technique at too late an age" .... this is just nonsense, skill and technique is introduced at mini-roo level and continues throughout a kids development. This occurs with varying degrees of success but the main problem is not when it's introduced it's who's introducing it - there aren't enough qualified coaches, the coaching courses we have are also too expensive, and these courses are mainly available in two states. If you watched FoxSports coverage of the Roos game last week the "golden generation" were complaining that players had lost their physicality and competitive nature. In short they're turning into grumpy old men and nothing today is as good as when they were a lad. Just because they can say it doesnty make them right. All is not perfect but romantic notions that a past system that had one suitable academy and kids played competitive league games at under ten level is somehow better or advisable today is folly. The golden generation were good in spite of the development they were given not because of it. The last point is very valid though - as a junior coach myself I can tell which kid plays with a football between training session and which kid only kicks a ball twice a week at training and on match day. It takes about 6-8 weeks to see this difference develop and the difference continues to expand about every 6-8 weeks; but getting people to play outdoors with their kids midweek is, well, a thing iof the past. Its all those things and more Waz. I honestly think we are producing a better technical footballer than we were back with the golden generation. A few things to note however, back when the Golden generation were growing up there were a lot more fathers kicking the ball around with their kids as you pointed out. Everyone now is too busy working and paying off ridiculously high mortgages. There are more distractions for kids than ever, internet, social media, netflix, mobile phones, play station etc etc. There was no pathway to becoming a professional footballer in Australia so by the time you were 16-20 if you weren't thinking about going overseas to finish of your football education then you would not make it. The world is also a lot smaller, back then there were less African players in Europe, less Japanese and a host of other nationalities who have developed the game of football in their countries. The talented kids in football were being exposed earlier to the top tier even though the standard I don't think is as good as now (debatable). Someone like Aloisi and Popovic, Archie Thompson, were all playing in the NSL at ages of 15-17 or getting their first taste of it. You don't see that no where near as much as before.
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paladisious
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+x+xThree weeks ago attended a 3 day tax seminar. Don't worry I am not about to quote from budget paper 15 on truck driver deductions. But in the meeting where some people from Melbourne who used the time to spend a week in Sydney. Over lunch one day sport came up as a topic. The Melbourne folk started to laugh when 4 of us at the table starting talking about the A-League and I was explaining to 2 wsw and 1 sfsc fan the plans the Mariners had.... their attitude was one of you can't really be serious you follow soccer... anyhows as lunch worn on we heard endless stories about AFL and the A-League tis almost as if they were watching A-League metrics keeping score. For the most part we ignored them, as their arguments where they set the valuation system and under their valuation system there could only be the AFL the winner. But but but but what we found hhhhmmm no words to describe was their belief that almost every AFL player could walk into the worlds top Football sides... actually giving example of how player X side footed a ball at a certain angle into a goal. My impression was if this group was any reflection of the broader AFL community they don't believe it when we say touch needs development from 4, 5 or 6 until you are 17. 18 ... they honestly believe or these guys do that we are talking bullshit and the Great Waste of Space players could walk in and be as good as Barca ... Interesting to hear from posters from the southern states if these guys reflect the broader AFL community. You appear to have about half a dozen variations of this same story you pull out every now and then. The Victory has been the largest A-League club since the 2nd season of the A-League, in fact no other A-League club comes close in terms of attendances, membership and revenue. The Victory is located in Melbourne, and traditionally, half of its membership base have been AFL members (it's a similar story for City). Have you ever tried reconciling how the largest A-League club is located in AFL heartland and actually relies on AFL members for half of its revenue? Whereas the Mariners is located in a region where there is no AFL, and yet it's the puniest club in the A-League and is stuck in an ongoing battle for relevance and survival. What does that even mean? Victory is only successful because half it's members are also AFL members? This is a stretch even for you. Fuck it, I'm in Sochi to support Australian football today, I'm not wasting any more of my time on your negative concern trolling.
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Waz
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Well said RBB 👍
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pippinu
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Group: Banned Members
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+x+x@ pippinuI don't actually have a lot of time for some of the "golden generation" commenting on youth development. Most are doing it from the outside looking in and quite frankly are drawing a long bow with some of the conclusions being reached. As an example you say "He felt that perhaps these days, kids are focusing on skill and technique at too late an age" .... this is just nonsense, skill and technique is introduced at mini-roo level and continues throughout a kids development. This occurs with varying degrees of success but the main problem is not when it's introduced it's who's introducing it - there aren't enough qualified coaches, the coaching courses we have are also too expensive, and these courses are mainly available in two states. If you watched FoxSports coverage of the Roos game last week the "golden generation" were complaining that players had lost their physicality and competitive nature. In short they're turning into grumpy old men and nothing today is as good as when they were a lad. Just because they can say it doesnty make them right. All is not perfect but romantic notions that a past system that had one suitable academy and kids played competitive league games at under ten level is somehow better or advisable today is folly. The golden generation were good in spite of the development they were given not because of it. The last point is very valid though - as a junior coach myself I can tell which kid plays with a football between training session and which kid only kicks a ball twice a week at training and on match day. It takes about 6-8 weeks to see this difference develop and the difference continues to expand about every 6-8 weeks; but getting people to play outdoors with their kids midweek is, well, a thing iof the past. Its all those things and more Waz. I honestly think we are producing a better technical footballer than we were back with the golden generation. A few things to note however, back when the Golden generation were growing up there were a lot more fathers kicking the ball around with their kids as you pointed out. Everyone now is too busy working and paying off ridiculously high mortgages. There are more distractions for kids than ever, internet, social media, netflix, mobile phones, play station etc etc. There was no pathway to becoming a professional footballer in Australia so by the time you were 16-20 if you weren't thinking about going overseas to finish of your football education then you would not make it. The world is also a lot smaller, back then there were less African players in Europe, less Japanese and a host of other nationalities who have developed the game of football in their countries. The talented kids in football were being exposed earlier to the top tier even though the standard I don't think is as good as now (debatable). Someone like Aloisi and Popovic, Archie Thompson, were all playing in the NSL at ages of 15-17 or getting their first taste of it. You don't see that no where near as much as before. Footballers like Dukes, Kewell, Okon and Zelic had great technique.
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pippinu
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Group: Banned Members
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+x+x+xThree weeks ago attended a 3 day tax seminar. Don't worry I am not about to quote from budget paper 15 on truck driver deductions. But in the meeting where some people from Melbourne who used the time to spend a week in Sydney. Over lunch one day sport came up as a topic. The Melbourne folk started to laugh when 4 of us at the table starting talking about the A-League and I was explaining to 2 wsw and 1 sfsc fan the plans the Mariners had.... their attitude was one of you can't really be serious you follow soccer... anyhows as lunch worn on we heard endless stories about AFL and the A-League tis almost as if they were watching A-League metrics keeping score. For the most part we ignored them, as their arguments where they set the valuation system and under their valuation system there could only be the AFL the winner. But but but but what we found hhhhmmm no words to describe was their belief that almost every AFL player could walk into the worlds top Football sides... actually giving example of how player X side footed a ball at a certain angle into a goal. My impression was if this group was any reflection of the broader AFL community they don't believe it when we say touch needs development from 4, 5 or 6 until you are 17. 18 ... they honestly believe or these guys do that we are talking bullshit and the Great Waste of Space players could walk in and be as good as Barca ... Interesting to hear from posters from the southern states if these guys reflect the broader AFL community. You appear to have about half a dozen variations of this same story you pull out every now and then. The Victory has been the largest A-League club since the 2nd season of the A-League, in fact no other A-League club comes close in terms of attendances, membership and revenue. The Victory is located in Melbourne, and traditionally, half of its membership base have been AFL members (it's a similar story for City). Have you ever tried reconciling how the largest A-League club is located in AFL heartland and actually relies on AFL members for half of its revenue? Whereas the Mariners is located in a region where there is no AFL, and yet it's the puniest club in the A-League and is stuck in an ongoing battle for relevance and survival. What does that even mean? Victory is only successful because half it's members are also AFL members? Without doubt, the Victory's commercial success and popularity is predicated on being domiciled in an AFL city, thus from a very early point, it led SFC on all key metrics.
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