I’m quite new to the whole AFL scene and living in Victoria, I really do want to get into it as I’ve always been a fan on contact sports (like rugby as I played for 5 years myself up until 2 years ago).

But I’ve noticed in watching a few games that it really is a “softened” contact sport.

Case in point – Lance Frankin suspension! It’s a very fast contact sport, you don’t have a chance to “think” out there. When he bumped the Adelaide guy (sorry, not sure of the name!), he went for a hip & shoulder (I’ve been told that it’s legitamate part of the game) and the ONLY reason why he hit the guy in the head was because of teammate of his was tackling the Adelaide guy to the ground!

And he gets a week for that?

I went further – and looked at old footage (thanks YouTube) of people like Dermie (VERY surprised at how tough he was, considering all the cosmetic surgery he’s had done today!) and other guys like Dipper and some others (don’t know their names unfortunately). These guys were just plain and simply HARD guys who played the game the way it was meant to – HARD!

I honestly expect players to withdraw from attacking the ball now in fear that they MAY hit someone hard and get penalised or even more so, SUSPENDED!

Bring back the good ole days – I’d definitely be a fan back then!

It’s turned into a game for pussies! All the AFL want to do is market the game towards women, so that they get more kids playing.

So what are you 2 guys/girls into? Pussy Soccer where you go to a game and get so bored you start fighting with other spectators that don’t follow your colours…. ;-)

I’m a relative newcomer to Australia. I have to say that AFL is possibly the worst game I have ever seen. I appreciate the athletisism of players, but the game itself is a mess. And it is way too long. There are far too many blowout results where the game is virtually decided by half time.

Sorry I just can’t stand it.

Why not look into VFL, more young guys willing to put their body on the line to pick up an afl contract plus they don’t charge like a wounded bull to see a match,
Go the Scorpions !!!!!

this may sound a bit smart arsey but anyone who thinks AFL is a soft game should probably play a game or two. Fair enough if its not your cup of tea, it takes all kinds to make a world, and while it has been somewhat sanitisied in recent years it is still a pretty extreme physical contest Pretty much every game you watch you’ll see a number of contests with both players running full tilt at each other and the ball and some of the contact is seriously extreme. I think i’ve probalby seen about two or three incidents so far where it appears a player has pulled out of a contest for fear of undue contact, on one of the cases it was noted seagull Travis Johnston so yeah…
Is it softer than the eighties? Yeah probably but to call it a soft game is i think a bit harsh it takes alot of courage/studpidity to run out onto a footy field…

Soft !! no way. Yes theyve been takin the biff out but thats so 10 year olds dont go home n belt shit out of each other simply
becoz their idols do it.Its all about protectin the head n spine.

The old schoolers were no doubt tough as, but now days
their more athletic and a hell of a lot quicker if you get two or three
guys colliding at full steam what a train wreck.

At least they dont make like their legs broken without gettin
kicked they just get up n start runnin again.

A couple of month ago i sat at AMI stadium with 3 yanks
who play college gridion and they recon were completly f*n crazy
playin this game with no padding. If anyone reacons its soft give it
a go youll soon change your opinion…