Footy at its absolute peak IMO. It was all downhill for the game from 99’.
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you of all people should be thrilled with how much more money is in the game these days.
How could you forget Brad Johnson?
I’m jealous they managed to.
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They started allowing the defenders to hold onto guys who didn’t have the ball. Remarkable how that makes a defenders life easier.
Edit. By defenders I mean players all over the ground.
Very true. 
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Nah.
Terry Wallace vs us, then the Paul Roos Swans of the mid-2000s paved the way for modern defensive structure.
You don’t have to hold onto someone when you have another half dozen teammates within 10m of you to provide a chop out.
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It’s the around the ball holding I’m talking about. Basically every player in the contest is tackled before they take possession. This creates messy play that works in concert with the defensive structures you talk about to make it much much harder to get structured play going forward. (Which then has had the effect of making small forwards who can deal with chaos ball more important as goal kickers than tall forwards who just have to make sure they don’t get out marked when the ball comes in under pressure and with defensive players outnumbering the forwards.