The AFL is out of touch with the fans and must look at deeper issues than the look of the game
AFL boss Gillon McLachlan seems fixated on making changes to the laws of the game but his time would be better spent looking at a host of other issues which are far more important to the future of Australian football.
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I FEAR the AFL is losing touch with its fans.
Serious issues keep arising while “City Hall” appears fixated on what rule changes and tweaks need to take place to make footy look better in 2019.
That’s my frustration with AFL House, they appear set to make important decisions that will shape football for years to come — all the while it appears they’re ignoring the voices of our most important stake holders — the fans — who want the game left alone.
Unfortunately, when it comes to AFL football it only appears a matter of time, not IF they’ll make change.
I find it quite ironic that on a weekend when the AFL instigated in-game rule trials in the VFL dead rubbers, we had our best weekend of football with four top class matches decided by a combined 13 points.
If ever there was an example of our game being in great shape on the field it was last weekend.
Sure, make small tweaks to improve the game, its best if we start with defining prior opportunity and rewarding the tackler by paying holding the ball and penalising incorrect disposal. Not to mention telling the umpires to throw the ball up quicker and scrap the nonsense ruck nomination rule.
Let’s not forget the ruck nomination rule was only recently brought in and is already set to be thrown out, more reason to take a deep breath before making change.
Do we really think that changing starting positions to 6/6/6 and extending goal squares is going to work? I wouldn’t think so.
Right now CEO Gillon McLachlan is under the pump.
And while the AFL is set to break the all-time attendance figures for a single season, thanks largely to the new stadium in Perth. And having recently inked the richest broadcast agreement in Australian Sport there’s still plenty to do right now.
Tasmanian football is in disarray — and the AFL must take control to fix it from the bottom up.
But how can it be that a footy state like Tasmania can have so many issues?
And why is it we can pour at least $25 million a year into non-AFL state-based clubs GWS and Gold Coast and the likes of Tasmania and the Northern Territory don’t have their own teams competing on the national stage?
Money can’t be the excuse, surely the AFL can afford it. There is no doubt even though Tasmania has had their issues aligning for one common cause I’m convinced giving Tasmanians one team to support playing equally out of Launceston and Hobart will do the trick.
Instead of paying Melbourne, North Melbourne and Hawthorn big dollars to play in Tasmania and Northern Territory the government funding should be diverted into creating and supporting their own teams.
While this can’t be immediate, the plan must be to give Tassie and NT their own teams. This gives the AFL a 20-team competition, fortifying it as the nation’s biggest code and in turn creating a bigger TV/media platform to sell off in the next rights negotiations.
TV ratings
Friday night football has been a clanger in 2018. How can prime time football regularly feature a rebuilding Carlton, a team who lost the right to his play prime time football only a couple of years ago through poor performances?
It’s time games like our own Showdown took centre stage on free to air around the country. The battle is fierce and top quality with a rivalry to match.
No wonder footy fans area switching off — there is nothing worse than getting home after a tough week at work and seeing a seeing a substandard game of footy on the box.
Further, why are we scheduling matches in Cairns in wet season and games in Ballarat in middle of winter? Common sense must prevail.
Women’s competition
How can the AFL introduce two new teams to the AFLW competition in 2019 yet the teams are playing one less match per season? It doesn’t make sense. Surely everyone has to play each other once. If the idea is to grow the game you can’t do it playing less games.
With TV audiences significantly down after a shift to secondary free to air channel last season the AFL needs to make the product more appealing to the football public so audiences tune in to make AFLW a more viable option so TV networks to keep it on air.
But with female participation at an all-time high the AFL must play the long game to establish the women’s league because, at last, young girls have a pathway to the big time that never existed before.
Rules trials
The suggestion Gillon McLachlan made on 3AW radio a few weeks ago about the AFL trialling rules in dead rubber games this season clearly missed the mark.
Fans were understandably up in arms, questioning how the CEO could think about installing something that would damage the fabric and compromise our great game.
Video review technology
It’s been an issue since its inception way back in 2012.
Not enough cameras and poor camera quality.
How is it we are still looking at grainy footage and expecting professional results? It’s embarrassing. The entire system is compromised by a lack of financial investment.
What has been known in media circles for some time is the two broadcasters differ in the number of cameras they use in the broadcasting of the game, with Channel 7 using more than Foxtel. It can also be revealed that behind the goal cameras are only used on Friday night games and a few selected other games.
The system is flawed, how can some games have more camera angles and greater technology available to adjudicate decisions than others.
It’s time the AFL spends the money on slow-mo cameras and ends the unevenness once and for all.
It’s a telling time for AFL house with many unresolved issues needing attention.
Forget about spending ridiculous money trying to fix the look of the game, something that isn’t broken, and put that money to good use into areas that clearly need attention.