Wreck it Ralph: Jon Ralph looks at the 31 reasons this might be the best footy season since 2011

The 2021 season could be something special for footy fans. After a free flowing Round 1, Jon Ralph looks at why it could be a year to remember.

Will this be the most watchable season of footy in a decade? Picture: Michael Klein

We didn’t realise how good we had it in footy as recently as 2009.

St Kilda and Geelong played off in a mid-year epic to take the winner to 14-0, the Coleman Medal winner kicked 86 goals (Brendan Fevola) and teams averaged 91 points per game.

After a rollicking season of footy Geelong squeaked home in a mighty Grand Final decided by Matthew Scarlett’s toe-poke to Gary Ablett.

In 2011 teams averaged 92.4 points, two dominant teams in Geelong and Collingwood lost five home-and-away games between them, and the Cats survived the Pies and Meatloaf to win their third flag in five years.

Now after a spectacular weekend of football full of high scoring and incredible individual feats, here are the 31 reasons why this might be the best AFL season since 2011.

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Footy is back. And it looks good. Picture: Michael Klein

1. Under new rules scoring was high, but not so ridiculously high that the nature of the game has changed.

The 84.9 points per game was well up, but not even as high as the 89.1 points averaged by teams in 2017.

2. Teams didn’t have to score 15 goals to win. The last thing footy needs is a single brand. The Dogs won with 10 goals to Collingwood’s seven, while Melbourne (11 goals), West Coast (12 goals) and St Kilda (13 goals) all won by kicking between 80-86 points.

3. Volatility. Champion Data used to swear by the 30-point rule. As in, put down the glasses if one team had a five-goal lead. Already in Round 1 Hawthorn came from 40 points down to win. Only 8 times since 2010 has a side come back from a 40 point deficit, with the last time in Round 9, when Collingwood beat Hawthorn from 43 points down. It only took a single round for that to happen in 2021.

Teams who get on top will dominate for short periods with their opponent finding it impossible to stop their run.

Sydney kicked nine goals in a quarter, Essendon eight, Hawthorn eight, Port Adelaide eight and West Coast five. Expect the unexpected. Teams moving the ball from their D50 to F50 was up nearly 20 per cent.

4. End to end goals. Remember when Talking Footy used to show the quickest transitions from a kick-in to a goal at the other end. Champion Data said that ratio nearly doubled on the weekend from 2.9 points normalised last year to 5.4 per team.

Teams moving the ball from their D50 to F50 was up nearly 20 per cent.

5. There is now room for star kids who shone under NAB League anti-density rules but looked like AFL duds in clogged forward lines.

Case in point: Peter Wright is exactly the kind of athletic lead-up forward that looked extinct in footy. He and Taylor Walker showed the mark-and-lead forward could be back in a big way.

6. How good is the 2018 draft? Don’t look now, but the 2019 version is coming with a bullet. Matt Rowell, Noah Anderson, Luke Jackson, Lachie Ash, Dylan Stephens, Fischer McAsey, Hayden Young, Caleb Serong, Liam Henry, Tom Green, Sam Flanders, Kosi Pickett, Will Day and Miles Bergman round out the top 14.

Some haven’t emerged, but Jackson took two late marks against Freo that showed he might be the pick 3 talent the Demons believe he is.

Kysaiah Pickett looks to have taken his game to a new level. Picture: Michael Klein

7. Kysaiah Pickett. Indigenous players are rightly aggrieved when it is suggested they thrive on sheer talent rather than the hard work they put in behind the scenes. He went back home for a family funeral, worked his butt off, and returned to light up the MCG.

Melbourne fans who have been blessed to witness Aaron Davey and Jeff Farmer saw a player who recorded the most forward-half pressure points of any small forward for the round.

8. Actually being able to talk up the game on a Monday morning rather than finding solutions to fix the thing.

9. Young talls blossoming. Gerard Healy said Oscar Allen was the best young tall in the game. Thought he was dead wrong given the King boys. But after he tore apart Gold Coast with 4.0, nine marks (two contested) he might be right. I still think Ben King might be the best of the lot.

10. The new AFL rules mean we don’t have to feel as guilty as we once did about the kind of ball-and-all tackles that leave us gasping with excitement. Too often those tackles left players concussed. The AFL is at least attempting to protect the head and suspending those who transgress (mostly). It means we can rejoice when Jack Steele rag dolls Jacob Hopper with a brutal-but-fair tackle.

11. Buddy. Go on, you thought he wouldn’t get back. If he plays against Adelaide at the SCG it might be the hottest ticket in Sydney with 100 per cent capacity allowed. It would be some kind of yarn if he was closing in on that 1000-goal tally late in the year.

12. Key defenders who go for their marks. We love the Golden Fist award, but we love Darcy Moore’s 12 marks more. Even if the Pies need to trial him at centre half forward after 24 and 25 goals in his second and third seasons. Noah Balta took four first-half intercept marks and might be the game’s best centre half back in another 40 games.

13. We have to wait for Jamar Ugle Hagan’s debut. The anticipation is only going to make it better. He peeled off five VFL goals and moved like an AFL player after a summer of being buffeted off the ball by Dogs teammates.

Lance Franklin could be back in action this week. Picture: Getty Images

14. Small defenders still have to defend. Jason Johannisen isn’t in the team because he won’t defend, while Leigh Montagna has already called out Carlton and Essendon’s half backs for kick-chasing.

15. The Suns. How often in their 10 year 216-game history have you truly been excited about watching them apart from that brief period in 2014 when Gary Ablett dragged them to 7-2? They run and gun, they tackle like fiends, they aren’t only about Matt Rowell. They are just bloody good to watch.

16. Pressure still creates diamonds. For all the fancy tactics in the world Tommy Hafey’s methods still win games of footy. Outnumber the opposition, crack in hard, kick it down the guts. Adelaide did it to Geelong and it was glorious.

17. The best kicks in footy will only get better. The laces-out pass inside 50 is even more important as footy’s money kick. The best 10 at that particular skill last year might surprise you. In order they were Mitch Duncan, Patrick Dangerfield, Dayne Zorko, Travis Boak, Hugh McCluggage, Taylor Adams, Jarryd Lyons, Dustin Martin, Dylan Shiel and Kamdyn McIntosh.

18. Shaun Burgoyne. At times last year we thought he was shot. How about the fanfare when he adds 10 more games for his 400-match milestone, joining Brent Harvey, Michael Tuck, Bartlett and Dustin Fletcher? KB used to joke he and Tucky had their 400-game reunions in a telephone booth. Burgoyne couldn‘t be more worthy.

19. Jack Riewoldt. At times last year we thought he was shot. The three-time Coleman medallist and triple premiership player moved like a young pup on Thursday and needs only 32 goals for 700 career majors.

20. Tyler Brockman. Hawks senior assistant Sam Mitchell, who is as measured with his public words as any coach, said of him in the Herald Sun this year: “He is going to have a pretty special highlights tape. If we fast-forward 10 years, you look at the career he is going to have and if you look at the highlights tape there won’t be too many better.”

No one would disagree after Saturday night’s debut.

21. Clarko v Bevo. If it’s on between two senior coaches before Round 1, imagine what it’s going to be like by mid-winter. Love the senior coaching spats.

The fans are back at the footy. Picture: Mark Stewart

22. Crowds will build. Have we ever had such a sense of anticipation about 75 per cent capacity at the MCG. Or perhaps 100 per cent for Anzac Day? Doesn’t bear thinking about the spine-tingling moment that will be.

24. The simple pleasures of a beer at the footy. Had a beer in the MCC’s Frank Grey Smith bar before working at Richmond-Carlton game. By myself. It cost $6.30. I would have paid $20, it was so good to be back.

25. Charlie Cameron told us he wants to be the best small forward in the comp again last week. He isn’t. That mantle belongs to Liam Ryan. Ice in veins as he sealed the contest on Sunday night. It doesn’t mean Charlie won’t reclaim the mantle by year’s end. Bring it on.

26. For all the navel gazing over the rules over summer, does anyone actually know what the holding the ball rule is? Did Dan Butler tackle or bump or spoil as he won the holding-the-ball free against Cal Ward? Dunno. But by gut feel it was a free kick. There is a level of absurdity over the shades of grey in our rules. It’s ridiculous but it’s brilliant.

27. Joe Daniher. He probably staged at one stage when throwing himself forward in a marking contest. He grabbed his jumper after a goal in the same way as he did when playing for Essendon last year, which indicated he might stay. He got reported. He kicked a goal that defied gravity. What is he going to do next?

28. Hungry little small forwards. Errol Gulden, Zac Fisher, Jason Castagna, Jason Cripps. Love them.

29. The over celebrators. Gulden went off his chops after his goals. So did James Rowe. Some traditionalist might hate it. Loved every bit of it.

30. Remember when Cal Mills and Isaac Heeney were seen as the only good Swans kids.

Now it’s James Rowbottom, Gulden, Ollie Florent, Nick “The Lizard” Blakey, Braeden Campbell, Tom McCartin, Logan McDonald and Chad Warner as well.

31. Footy clubs are so much better than they used to be. Geelong does great community work, got rid of its pokies, showed what kind of club it was with the outpouring of grief over the passing of doorman Vic Fuller. This week they went troppo when their beloved footy admin staffer Sammy, who has Down Syndrome, returned from his COVID-inflicted break.

There have always been great people in footy clubs, they are just more inclusive with less of the macho bulls***.