22 minutes ago, Jontee said:

AFLW is going well (?)

The AFL came late with a fixture and the only reason the players have a deal is because the men’s wouldn’t seperate out the deals.

The AFL tried to shortsell them by saying your tv numbers are down (as we  arrange for 5pm and 11am games) and your crowd numbers are down (while burying them in suburbia at awful time slots around ‘the real stuff.’

The AFLW need a strong CEO of its own willing to take own the boys club that is treating like a virtue signalling adventure; “we love women! But we don’t want to do anything to support them or what they want…”

Everything good in the last 20 years has been driven out of the clubs.

We can only hope that high on the AFLs 2024 priority list are corporate accountability and transparency, and improved standards of umpiring with a level playing field for all clubs.

Happy that Gil is leaving, unhappy that his replacement is from within the Boys Club

There should be more to the AFL than making profits

When you think of what a farce the ARC is, the umpiring never seems to be improving, and the total mess the MRO/ Tribunal is you can't say it was their greatest year. Then there is the only paying lip service to the concussion issue, so no , on many fronts it hasn't been a good year.

They got what they wanted.  Big crowds, filth and blues in finals, filth winning the cup.

11 minutes ago, buck_nekkid said:

They got what they wanted.  Big crowds, filth and blues in finals, filth winning the cup.

And it will be the standard from now.

3 hours ago, layzie said:

I find myself sitting here, the day after, wondering if this has genuinely been a good year for the AFL in terms of showcasing the sport and taking it to a new level.

The general footy public mainly think it was the bees knees and I get that straight after a sleeping giant has triumphed, even haters of Collingwood are getting swept up in the Eurphoria of it, there's a reason they are the most talked about sporting club in the country. But let's look at it as a whole, did this season do what the AFL wanted it to do?

Off the top of my head the Gather Round appeared to have been a success and the level playing field and standard of finals games but I think of the following things and don't know if they add up to a great look for the league:

- Concussion: Does the AFL care enough? The Alir and Jones incident was a total joke. Then the Maynard and Gus incident, the player got off and the story sold papers but did we actually learn anything from it?

- Fixturing: Where do you start? 

- The MRO: New rules every week and what could now appear to be a conflict of interest in the position. No consistency.

- The rules: Still no clarity on the stand rule and a heavy penalty for the slightest of movements on the mark. A heap more nonsense 50 metre penalties and a sport that has never been harder to explain to a new fan. 

- The Brownlow: Losing more credibility. Yes Neale's year may have been better than we thought but the number of shock 3 voters and non votes for others seemed high.

- And lastly, the umpiring:

I take nothing away from Collingwood who have been toughest the longest in 2023. But with wins by 7 points, 1 point and 4 points, knocking out a key player in the first, having at least 3 no calls in the prelim go their way and then the rub of the green in the Grand Final culminating with the most ridiculous advantage of all time, it's almost fitting that this season was underlined with that as the exclamation point.

Nothing is ever perfect but I felt this season missed the mark on quite a few quality metrics. A big club winning the flag is not papering over the cracks, it's wallpapering over a gaping hole. The league has got their TV cash and Gil leaves on his horse into the sunset while Dil picks put a new $5k Herman Miller task chair for the office. Yes there is some saltiness right now but I'm keen to hear views on this. Was it a good season for the AFL and the game in general? Happy to hear both sides, keep it respectful. 

Summed it up Layzie in a few top paragraphs.

I would just add that i think the AFL are definitely scared of Collingwood and they showed it by all the fended off  phone calls that were made to Headquarters the evening of the Maynard charge. 

Hopefully someone will come up with the necessary bulls to make the required clearances on the Board as well as the overall administration levels like Caro says...

You can add the stupid 666 warning as well

2 years on!

1 hour ago, Little Goffy said:

 Gold Coast is being kept at AFL level by nonsense levels of academy concessions, and Sydney not only is only relevant due to its own previous huge concessions, but it only made finals on an obvious yet uncorrected goal umpiring error which would not have happened in any other professional-level sport in the developed world.

You clearly don’t follow Liverpool and didn’t watch Liverpool v Tottenham.

Human error even in premier league VAR resulting in clear wrong call resulting in disallowed goal. https://sport.optus.com.au/news/premier-league/os63898/liverpool-tottenham-var-error-disallowed-goal-offside

4 hours ago, Jontee said:

Record breaking crowds which is remarkable in the age of online entertainment

All that proves is you can fool most of the people most of the time.

3 hours ago, Clintosaurus said:

We are well and truly in the sports entertainment era. Maximising revenues is God, and a Pies flag with Carlton making the prelim is huge for the coffers. Expect this to be the norm. 

We have to get to 85-90k members to get a look-in on the gold.

What do you mean by this?

Thanks

3 minutes ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

What do you mean by this?

Thanks

I think he is trying to say that, unless we become a "big club" , we will always be unfairly treated by the AFL.

1 hour ago, loges said:

When you think of what a farce the ARC is, the umpiring never seems to be improving, and the total mess the MRO/ Tribunal is you can't say it was their greatest year. Then there is the only paying lip service to the concussion issue, so no , on many fronts it hasn't been a good year.

Yep absolute fuggin farce!

Listening to Gil on AFL 360 the other night saying the league does whatever it wants is enough for me. Arrogant [censored] of a man. 
 

ed: and I’d also like to raise the fact that this site is caving into censorship ridiculousness. 
 

How the hell can fl_og be censored?

Please provide a vocabulary for me. 
 

Fair dinkum. Loosen the [censored] up. 

Edited October 1, 20231 yr by McQueen

1 hour ago, Watson11 said:

You clearly don’t follow Liverpool and didn’t watch Liverpool v Tottenham.

Human error even in premier league VAR resulting in clear wrong call resulting in disallowed goal. https://sport.optus.com.au/news/premier-league/os63898/liverpool-tottenham-var-error-disallowed-goal-offside

Oh mate don't get me started! 

Terrible weekend all round.

the Womens game is getting zero respect. 10 Rounds is just a step up from the Fosters Cup FFS. 14 rounds minimum next year. they have the opportunity to have a fair draw with a 17 game season. use the medium small grounds. do all the stuff the AFL has stuffed up

the stupidity of it all is that the old boys club at the AFL don’t even realise how much money they would rake in if they did it properly. 10K crowds would be the norm and would only grow

1 hour ago, Watson11 said:

You clearly don’t follow Liverpool and didn’t watch Liverpool v Tottenham.

Human error even in premier league VAR resulting in clear wrong call resulting in disallowed goal. https://sport.optus.com.au/news/premier-league/os63898/liverpool-tottenham-var-error-disallowed-goal-offside

The VAR is the primary reason i don’t watch the EPL anymore. We’ll never get it wrong they said. try again. you can barely celebrate a goal in case someone fouled a player 60 seconds earlier. 

The joy of the game has taken a huge hit

Don't think the 4 umpires has worked. They were bought in to oversee what the others missed.

That advantage call should have been communicated back to the ump that paid the free to bring it back. 

12 hours ago, layzie said:

This is my feeling this year. They used to sweep under the rug pretty well bur something shifted this year even further. I can't remember a season where the final 8 was shaped by as much controversial events as this one. The execution and skill of the players was not forefront (Although I will say it was in the GF) it was anything but.

I'd also like to add to this: The media. I'm sure there's others that still love any sort of football media but this was the year that completely turned me off any sort of football shows and commentary. The concussion debates firstly with Alir and Jones then Maynard and Gus seemed to pit the ex players against us idi0ts that wouldn't know because we never played the game. It's left me with an uncomfortable feeling and a lot of division. 

We'll see what ends up happening with this class action, who knows maybe there will be more division but as many here have said the money is piling in so they'll be fine.

In the class action the Maynard assault will be shown with the comment : " your honour in 2023 this is still allowed under the rules"

It seems I’m in a minority here. 

I enjoyed season 2023 more than many other season (2021 the obvious exception).

IMO the quality of the game is trending upwards and equalisation is working (has there ever been a better bottom 4 side than 2023 Gold Coast?). Combined with great crowds for great at-stadium atmosphere, and I’ve loved it.

I completely agree that the MRO system is broken. I don’t subscribe to the corruption guff many on here believe from the Maynard incident - the rules are murky and there has been inconsistency as to classification of bumps for years - but the entire system is stuffed and needs an overhaul. I also agree that umpiring is at historic low levels of performance. 

But for whatever reason, I can get past that and enjoy the sport. 

I’m super excited for 2024. 

From a Melbourne perspective let's be honest it was a crappy ending so the season sucked. 

Congrats to the club for making finals but so many things seemed to just go wrong.

It's a credit that with all the injuries we still could have gone all the way but poor skills ruled the day.

To see a team that we could have beaten scrape through all their finals win a flag is the final slap in the face.

Hard not to feel robbed but I do believe we will be a force again in 24 with a better list and less unlucky . 

14 hours ago, Deebauched said:

I hope Dillon is more urgent in fixing problems unlike McLachlan who left the AFL umpiring in a hot mess and didnt care about the goal review saga as  the (right teams) won in Swans /crows and Carlton/Melb games.

 

Wouldn’t hold my breath. He made a very brief visit to us in the cheer squad during our AFLW Round One match and he was like McLachlan’s ventriloquist doll. Sadly, nothing will change imo.

11 hours ago, Watson11 said:

You clearly don’t follow Liverpool and didn’t watch Liverpool v Tottenham.

Human error even in premier league VAR resulting in clear wrong call resulting in disallowed goal. https://sport.optus.com.au/news/premier-league/os63898/liverpool-tottenham-var-error-disallowed-goal-offside

Several human errors in this game, the disallowed goal. Two Liverpool players sent off incorrectly. You cannot make this stuff up. There is an agenda in the EPL as much as the AFL wanted a Collingwood grand final.

9 hours ago, DubDee said:

The VAR is the primary reason i don’t watch the EPL anymore. We’ll never get it wrong they said. try again. you can barely celebrate a goal in case someone fouled a player 60 seconds earlier. 

The joy of the game has taken a huge hit

This is EXACTLY what I’ve discussed with other DA members. It’s gotten to a point where you (unconsciously or not) hold back celebrating a little lest a goal be overturned, for example. Or someone takes a great mark but there’s a possibility it mightn’t be paid for whatever reason. It’s like the lid can’t be fully let off “just in case” which goes against the very nature of what we do. Tentative cheering just isn’t the same. 🙁

The bottom line.....is the bottom line. AFL have made great progress on paying off debts incurred during COVID. So on that alone you have to hand it to them.

Everything else will be in the eye of the beholder. As Melbourne supporters we were on the wrong side of a key moments, which could have gone the other way. Collingwood just happened to be on the other side... and sometimes that is the difference.

This is the year Jake Melksham came of age on the demonland forums.