It’ll end up like T20. Some will love it/like it and others will hate it/ignore it. While some will only like it on TV because of all the hoopla going on live. At my first T20 games I was “what the heck is going on?” But I like it on TV. And it feels they have scaled down the on ground theatrics a bit. I won’t be subscribing or going to AFLX.
It’ll be up to the AFL clubs to see how they embrace/use the AFLX comp. Looking at T20, it is based on new clubs. And it brought in new players who don’t/can’t play the longer forms of cricket. AFLX is using the same teams and lists. Depending on how the style of play evolves in AFLX it may be something that favours certain types of players who are more adapt at playing it. BUT WHAT THAT TYPE OF PLAYER MAY BE I HAVE NO IDEA. In T20 the batsmen and bowlers innovated their shot making and bowling to suit the format. It allowed the pace of the match to be cranked up as you only had 20 overs to do your business. Not sure what AFLX is going to do.
I had two T20 points. The first is the fans either liking or hating it. And we see that some do and some don’t want a bar of T20. That’ll sort itself out depending on what these games look like.
The other was how the T20 comp was set up and how it favoured different players. I agree with you that T20 is just 50-over played a hell of a lot shorter and more intensely. But I have no idea how AFLX is going to end up as an actual game compared to footy. As I see it though, AFLX is about the AFL making their sport
transferrable internationally to broaden their $$$ market.
playable as a comp during the warmer, non-AFL season, months to get more $$$ and to give its supporters something to look at until round 1.
Have their own football format which the AFL provide through the AFL’s own streaming services. $$$$
$$$$
What useful purpose it will serve to the existing AFL clubs is unclear to me. It may be a distraction for the players before the season proper kicks off. Or maybe the playing style may be such that it allows some players to hone certain skills under a competitive environment against opposing players. It’s a big unknown at this stage.
A lot of people will watch it, with great interest, at least initially. A fair number of those people will watch it purely to point out how rubbish it is.
Watching some of those training vids, it kinda looks like school yard footy when you just had to make the best of limited space, and made up rules in order to get some semblance of a game going.
How it helps condition professional players for a long afl season is beyond my small brain, it’s kind of like a version of “french cricket” but with a footy.
Well, I guess it’s up to the individual. I’m a bit of a sport addict. And an Essendon tragic. I’ll watch anything with ‘Essendon’ attached. It could be Bomber Mums playing curling for all I care. I’ll watch it. If it is a good live spectacle, I’ll even go and see it live. And pay for it. I don’t have any legacy problem with ‘maintaining the purity of the holy code’ or anything like that. If I like it and it ain’t harming anyone, I do it.
Which is great and I understand that, and I hope you enjoy it. For the sake of footy, I hope it’s a success, but to me it’s like caring who wins in the Big Bash.
Deckham was talking about selecting players to specialise in AFLX, as is done in rugby 7s, and then repreing the AFL clubs (and then possibly Victoria, Australia etc). I agree, that’s be eventually what should happen if the format succeeds.
I thought he was talking about developing a new league with new teams, like Big Bash, which I disagree with.