1980 The Final Story

[mightytiges]

Re-watched the 1980 GF the other night. It's more enjoyable to watch it knowing now it no longer is our last flag and a constant reminder of years of failure. Eerily similar to last year's GF where the opposition (Pies) hung in for 20 mins before we demolished them. Just like now too we destroyed them with our teamwork backing each other up, our pace on the spread and our fast direct footy to our forwards. KB deserved the Norm Smith (that goal against Magro is still my all-time favourite) but Jimmy Jess was best on in the first half when the game was alive. The tragedy of that team will always be that it didn't go on to win another thanks to our off-field stupidity.

The biggest difference between then and now is the massive difference in how the game was umpired. There would be a whistle for a ball-up if even just two players were fighting over the same ball and it didn't immediately come out. Not wait half-an-hour for 30 players to run to the contest and jump all over each other. Push in the back was paid even for a slight nudge with the body let alone use of the hands. Holding the ball was paid against ALL illegal disposal. No such thing as prior opportunity either in those days so players would knock the ball on rather than take possession and get caught.

Obviously, a more a positional game back then too so there was little congestion nor defensive/zone structures.

[Tigeritis™©®]

The biggest difference between then and now is the massive difference in how the game was umpired. There would be a whistle for a ball-up if even just two players were fighting over the same ball and it didn't immediately come out. Not wait half-an-hour for 30 players to run to the contest and jump all over each other. Push in the back was paid even for a slight nudge with the body let alone use of the hands. Holding the ball was paid against ALL illegal disposal. No such thing as prior opportunity either in those days so players would knock the ball on rather than take possession and get caught.

Obviously, a more a positional game back then too so there was little congestion nor defensive/zone structures.

I agree MT. Umpiring was much simpler then.
The other Big difference from then and now is that the interchange was rarely used.
I’m an advocate for KBs call for no interchange bench except for injuries, getting rid of the prior opportunity rule. And teaching umpires to pay the indiscretions as stated in the rule book.
Hold the player off the ball - free kick.
Push in the back - free kick.
You do not dispose of footy by hand or foot when tackled - free kick.

I’m hoping they at least drop interchange to a maximum of 4/quarter as a trial next year.

[mightytiges]

The biggest difference between then and now is the massive difference in how the game was umpired. There would be a whistle for a ball-up if even just two players were fighting over the same ball and it didn't immediately come out. Not wait half-an-hour for 30 players to run to the contest and jump all over each other. Push in the back was paid even for a slight nudge with the body let alone use of the hands. Holding the ball was paid against ALL illegal disposal. No such thing as prior opportunity either in those days so players would knock the ball on rather than take possession and get caught.

Obviously, a more a positional game back then too so there was little congestion nor defensive/zone structures.

I agree MT. Umpiring was much simpler then.
The other Big difference from then and now is that the interchange was rarely used.
I’m an advocate for KBs call for no interchange bench except for injuries, getting rid of the prior opportunity rule. And teaching umpires to pay the indiscretions as stated in the rule book.
Hold the player off the ball - free kick.
Push in the back - free kick.
You do not dispose of footy by hand or foot when tackled - free kick.

I’m hoping they at least drop interchange to a maximum of 4/quarter as a trial next year.

My only issue with the idea of reducing the cap on interchange is in its attempt to reduce congestion by fatiguing the players will it cause an even further decline in skill level. It's a compromise situation.

As for subs: The problem these days is players lose their match-fitness base by being subs. That's why the AFL got rid of them again. A coach would have to constantly rotate his subs to and fro from the ressies every week. It wasn't an issue back in 1980 as footballers were only semi-pro at best. They worked a job on weekdays and trained only 2-3 nights.