Postby bennymacca » Wed Sep 22, 2010 10:14 am
dave wins thread.
most of the arguments that i have heard favouring the older games are skirting around what we are talking about.
this is the crux of the matter
1. It is very hard to compare the game styles across different time periods, because the game really was different back then.
2. what you can do however is compare individual things, like the amount of tackles, the speed of collisions etc. all of these statistics point towards the fact that the AFL players run faster, for longer periods, and have more body collisions at a bigger impact than in the past.
this is a simple bi-product of the increased training loads that come with a truly professional game. players are fitter and stronger on average than they were in the past. this isn't a blight on those in the past, but just a fact.
as dave also mentioned, because of the freedom allowed by australian rules football, tactics change very rapidly, and will continue to change even more quickly as the game is analysed more and more. the game continues to evolve, and thats one of the things that i love about it the most. every era of football is exciting to me, especially when you watch the evolution of one style of play to counter another. the game ebbs and flows, from extreme defence to extreme offence, and every piece of the spectrum in between. and its great.
20-40 years ago, a long kicking style was favoured to power forwards like ablett dunstall and lockett.
15 years ago, pagan re-invented the tactics of the game by moving his half forwards and pockets up the ground to play as midfielders, and then have them charge towards the goals in support of carey, i.e the paddock.
at the same time, teams like adelaide and north melbourne were becoming the masters of the rebound from defence. it was during this era where the half backs became some of the most damaging players in the game.
then teams like sydney adapted to this free running and kicking style of play to the extreme by flooding the opposition forward line and streaming out of defense.
more recently, this flooding has been adapted again to full ground zone defences.
but once again, attacking and quick football has been the winner, with teams like geelong finding the best way to counter this is through the quick use of handball. collingwood have adapted to it by precision kicking around the boundary to get around the zone.
now i know i have been rambling, but my point is that football in every era is bloody awesome, and that the game styles are adaptations to beat other game styles. no longer can you put your rose coloured glasses on and say that the way to win is just to kick it long down the line. just because that was a winning strategy in the past, doesn't' mean it is now. and just because the came was comparatively simple back then, doesn't mean it was worse.
we can debate about this all day, but we cannot debate about the fitness and speed of todays game, because it is undoubtedly faster, simply due to the increased training. thats just a fact.
