Finals

[Sandrevan]

The AFL has a duty of care to Swans' supporters who will have to listen for the next 30 years how Richmond's premiership was stolen from them if Cotchin gets suspended. Whether he deserves it or not, I hope he gets off, so we can move on to something else after the Grand Final, like what's going on with Kim Jong-un's haircut.

like it

[barry]

Easy answer: AFL is an Entertainment business. Seriously.

[Ludwig]

How delightful it will be to watch a Grand Final with the umpires screwing a team that's not us! There's something about the Swans that make umpires see red, but I can't put my finger on it.

[Ludwig]

Cotchin cleared. Ellis not sighted and no mention of Cotchins hit on Hopper. That's me done with the national game. For to long now the AFL look at the result they want and work backwards. Old saying this is the straw that broke the camels back. I'll be cancelling everything I subscribe to and membership In regards to the national game. Thank you for having me here and I've enjoyed all your company n I hope you all enjoy Richmonds win on Saturday. Cheers


Liz I understand your are the moderator of this forum. Could you please delete my membership/subscription if possible please. As I would prefer not to recieve any notifications from this sight as I will have no interest in the AFL from here on. Thank you

Don't cancel your RWO membership, Boddo.

Matt80 will buy it from you.

[Sandrevan]

2017 is shaping up like 2016. The AFL has to have its fairytale - good for ticket sales, TV ratings, AFL and Richmond club memberships, sales of beanies, scarves, caps, etc. I really hope Adelaide wins because they have been the best team this year. But the Swans were the best team last year and we got shafted by the umpires because the AFL has to have its fairytale. The AFL old boys club cannot let an interstate team win the premiership - it's bad for business.
I hope the Crows wins but Richmond will have an extra 3 players. However, like the Bulldogs in 2017, Richmond in 2018 will fail to make the finals while the Crows will make finals again next year. In some ways, I'm relieved the Swannies didn't make the gf because i just couldn't handle the injustice of last year.

And the AFL will beat their chest and tell us how well equalisation is working.

[Matty10]

It appears to be organised and planned.

The suggestion that there are a series of outcomes designed or contrived by the AFL is ridiculous. We had two decisions this year that were deliberated by the MRP in the same way - that actually indicates a level of consistency. If they had gone the other way this week, it would the rest of the AFL community arguing that the Swans must be a ?protected species? (as has been argued by nut jobs in the past).

I also couldn?t care less what other codes are doing around the world, or have any desire for the code to expand overseas. As long as the game in Australia is in good health, I?ll be happy.


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[stevoswan]

Not sure why all the whinging.
Hall was extremely lucky to play in the 2005 GF.
The Dunkley case back in 1996 was a fiasco.

We've had our fair share of luck in Grand Finals.

Only pre-Buddy recruitment....when we were the fairytale. We are not and never will be the 'fairytale' again, so don't expect us to get our 'fair share of luck' anytime soon. That seems reserved for Victorian teams only.

[stevoswan]

What happened in the past is irrelevant, players need to have their heads protected. The medical science is clear, it is the highest priority.

You also can't look at this incident in isolation, the fact is that over a number of years in finals one team gets the protection of umpires and the other doesn't.

I can't think of a sport on the planet where the rules are so arbitrary and inconsistent.I can virutally never remember a basketball game where the refs were canned, they are hardly ever blamed for bias. Gridiron, soccer , the rules are clear, even though with the low scoring of soccer the stakes are very high for the refs. Even NRL is by comparison predictable.

But AFL, my God!

A reading of the rules shows that there are 32 occasions in which the words "in the opinion of the umpire" are used to describe a rule. No wonder the rules are treated differently from team to team from game to game and from final to final. There is enormous room for bias in the rules themselves, the umpires can never be wrong. The game has absolutely no future as a world code because it is so poorly codified.I don't think that there is a game in the world that is so wide open to corruption because no-one can be held accountable.

The rules are now being interpreted in such a way that the wellbeing of the players is compromised, and it is being done in a way that favours one team over the other on too many occasions. It appears to be organised and planned. I live in hope that we will get to see a fair grand final but I am not holding my breath and I have little hope that the AFL will ever make itself genuinely accountable. I'm afraid the AFL/VFL is saying it is trying to expand the code but is in reality adopting a contraction mentality.

Sick to death of it.

Absolutely +1 !!!!!

[stevoswan]

How delightful it will be to watch a Grand Final with the umpires screwing a team that's not us! There's something about the Swans that make umpires see red, but I can't put my finger on it.

The recruitment of Buddy Franklin. We had our papers stamped 'never to win a flag while Franklin plays for the those northern upstarts' the day we recruited him and after Mike Fitzpatrick made his feelings known to our club president in an expletive laden phone rant, reflecting the corrupt petulant child he is. The current AFL administration is just continuing his vengeful legacy of rigging the league against the Swans and have now added to that, anyone else who threatens Victorian dominance.......

[stevoswan]

The suggestion that there are a series of outcomes designed or contrived by the AFL is ridiculous. We had two decisions this year that were deliberated by the MRP in the same way - that actually indicates a level of consistency. If they had gone the other way this week, it would the rest of the AFL community arguing that the Swans must be a ?protected species? (as has been argued by nut jobs in the past).

I also couldn?t care less what other codes are doing around the world, or have any desire for the code to expand overseas. As long as the game in Australia is in good health, I?ll be happy.


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Define "in good health". Please refrain from using the words 'integrity', 'impartial' and 'fair' in your answer but feel free to use the words 'financial', 'contrived' and 'unashamedly biased'.......

[Blood Fever]

The recruitment of Buddy Franklin. We had our papers stamped 'never to win a flag while Franklin plays for the those northern upstarts' the day we recruited him and after Mike Fitzpatrick made his feelings known to our club president in an expletive laden phone rant, reflecting the corrupt petulant child he is. The current AFL administration is just continuing his vengeful legacy of rigging the league against the Swans and have now added to that, anyone else who threatens Victorian dominance.......

We are the last interstate team to win a flag against a Victorian club since Brisbane beat Collingwood in 2003. It is a Herculean task playing in the home city and often on the home ground of an opponent who in a number of cases finished lower on the ladder. Intrinsically unfair but a taboo topic in Melbourne.

[dimelb]

We are the last interstate team to win a flag against a Victorian club since Brisbane beat Collingwood in 2003. It is a Herculean task playing in the home city and often on the home ground of an opponent who in a number of cases finished lower on the ladder. Intrinsically unfair but a taboo topic in Melbourne.

Mind you, the teams responsible for that particular drought were Hawthorn and Geelong, two of the great teams of the time in anyone's reckoning. Not really much chicanery going on there.

And of course we've done it twice!

[Scottee]

The suggestion that there are a series of outcomes designed or contrived by the AFL is ridiculous. We had two decisions this year that were deliberated by the MRP in the same way - that actually indicates a level of consistency. If they had gone the other way this week, it would the rest of the AFL community arguing that the Swans must be a ?protected species? (as has been argued by nut jobs in the past).

I also couldn?t care less what other codes are doing around the world, or have any desire for the code to expand overseas. As long as the game in Australia is in good health, I?ll be happy.

I didn't say AFL as such, but the pattern of behaviour is obvious.You must be a very trusting soul to believe that the AFL is full of squeaky clean ethical heroes.It's not. We will see whether the AFL fairytale is realised next weekend, if it is, at the expense of a fair go for both sides, I will be vindicated along with many others. If not, fair cop.

Your attitude to the long term future of the game is exactly the myopic view that I am criticising, its the reason the code is so poorly run, as a code that is.

The game won't thrive if we know what is going to happen in advance, that is, an unfair match. Lots of money being made though.

Just to be clear, Aussie Rules, or what it once was, is the best game in the world, properly and fairly administered, and I have friends from overseas who vehemently agree, but they as well as I can see the difference from what it was to what it is. The AFL has lost the plot as far as the administration of the game itself, "the code" goes.It has the potential to grow globally, but the opportunities are not being grasped.

[Blood Fever]

Mind you, the teams responsible for that particular drought were Hawthorn and Geelong, two of the great teams of the time in anyone's reckoning. Not really much chicanery going on there.

And of course we've done it twice!

No chicanery but unearned home ground advantage, like this GF, represents major injustice.

[Matty10]

Your attitude to the long term future of the game is exactly the myopic view that I am criticising, its the reason the code is so poorly run, as a code that is.

I have no idea what your viewpoint is but you sure seem angry about it.

I am a Swans man and support this club, in this league. I am not interested in any AFL expansion overseas (which really is only about money). The long term security of the sport is not predicated on international expansion. It can maintain a healthy competition that is locally sponsored and supported, it does not gain anything that is necessary for its existence by becoming a global venture (I would argue that it would probably lose something). If other countries want to take up the sport, good for them - I just hope it is not intended as an expansion of the AFL.

Conspiracy theories are bizarre and tiresome - the outcome of the season cannot be known in advance.

I am pissed that the Swans had a meltdown against the Cats, and feel that we have blown a genuine flag opportunity. But I do not blame the AFL for the loss (or the one last year - even if we did get screwed by the umpires on the day).

It just serves so little purpose to rant and rave about the existence of the fanciful.


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