Re: AFLW - General discussion thread
Reply #35 –
Women's soccer has grown into a mature sport now imo and from what I have seen of it (not a huge amount) the standard and skill levels are pretty high. Not sure yet whether footy will reach those heights (I confess to having seen a lot less of that), remains to be seen I guess. I'm not such a fan as yet mainly because I have time limits on the amount of sport I can or am prepared to watch - which is mainly AFL atm. However, any sport has to provide a highly skilled spectacle to be ultimately successful in the commercial sense these days, well at least imo.
I agree Cookie2, the fan base is just another divided resource, I gather that is why the AFL has quickly moved the AFLW outside of the AFL season.
Ultimately, I want to watch good football be it men or women, preferably that involves Carlton winning. I've been surprised to find my wife interested in AFLW, she normally hates female sport especially the tennis and other non-contact efforts. But when she saw some of the head on aggression at contests in the AFLW she was won over.
One thing, I read Leigh Matthews comments about shorter quarters for AFL, I'd have no qualms in giving this a try at AFLW to increase the general intensity and urgency of play. I'd even like to see it trialled at VFL and TAC Cup level. I don't think that will take away from the height advantage tall players have late in games which I think must be retained to ensure we do not change the flavor of the game. I just think coaches and players would go harder and faster earlier with shorter periods of momentum management.