“I think we got it wrong going from 16 to 18 teams... I just don’t think the depth’s there."
Tom Rockliff has called for the AFL to go back to a 16 team competition.
READ HERE:
Learn about the power law of talent distribution, crusty footyheads. We're already into the long tail, the next 800 guys outside the league are indistinguishable from the bottom few of hundred on lists within it
This is an insane take, if you spread the top talent across twenty teams and topped up the bottom 5% of every list with players not currently on an AFL list the game would be indistinguishable from what it is currently.
Side that's eschewed contested footy and clearances in favour of a successful second layer pressure and turnover game, that's mostly fielded reactive rucks. Not really a surprise they'd be outliers.
Attempting to figure out drawing power for AFL teams as away team in Melbourne.
I calculated the average away crowd in Melbourne for each team against each host since 2000, and how much above the lowest-drawing opponent they are.
Probably be worth someone with access finding out how many of them are in Hobart, how many are in Launceston, and how many just chucked them ten bucks because why not?
A new
@AFL
team that can sign 40k prospective members in a few hours - years before they join the competition - might need a ground that holds more than 23,000, even in a small state.
Thanks for sticking with HPN over the Trade and Free Agency period (to date). We are going to roll out a complete summary article in the coming days, and will continue to update until the start of next year.
Also coming - draft coverage.
Stay tuned.
The AFL is strongly considering granting Sydney and GWS Giants a cost of living allowance, with the Harbour City ranked second to Hong Kong as the world’s most unaffordable.
✍:
@SamLandsberger
Some news: This year HPN are heading to Sydney to cover the draft LIVE. We will try to cover the bits that slip through the cracks.
Also, the final HPN Consensus Phantom Draft will come out Friday morning.
Stay tuned.
Following Garry's passionate plea for state of origin this morning, we've picked our VIC/SA/WA teams for 2024. 🔥
Only players who could probably play this weekend and aren't injured.
Should the
#AFL
Bring back SOO?
Should the AFL explain Richmond's massive free kick disparity?
@rohan_connolly
and
@rodneyeade26
discuss whether the AFL needs to come out and explain the ‘massive differential’ in Richmond’s staggering free kick tally.
FULL EP 🗣️ :
Exclusive
The AFL has instructed its umpires to immediately shorten the “reasonable time” component of holding the ball in a significant & rare in-season interpretation change. Clubs were on Tuesday night sent a memo notifying of the shift. More soon at
AFL bye discourse seems to operate in a superposition where having a bye before a game is both better or worse than not having one, despite the analytical answer seeming to be "neither"
Has the fans association ever taken a stance on whether they think MCC and AFL Members getting not much less than half the stadium is good? Because fiddling at the edges of relatively small numbers of "corporates" isn't going to get you very far for expanding club member access
We are continuing our push to get more competing club fans to the AFL grand final. We are also launching our 2024 Fans Survey today to hear your feedback. Complete and go into the draw to win a personalised video message from an AFL player of your choice.
Probably a good time to announce the that HPN Trade Calculators have been updated for this offseason. Find out the value of a Horne-Francis or a Jackson right here.
More content coming soon.
Maynard getting booed is how you know this crowd is full of every sicko keen footy fan in the state and not a bunch of casuals who wouldn't recognise him or know the whole situation there.
The idea of a single league wide bye weekend in the AFL is going to become popular consensus almost the same time as it becomes impossible to implement
-fringe players empirically contribute more than they used to, everyone does stuff now rather than a few stars hogging the stats
-maybe a thinner talent pool would mean more dominant stars again and be good, actually
The timeline here does absolutely vital context. It shows the Eagles scrambled a bunch of snaps at goal in 4Q that were either smothered or fell short, and the volume of those chances is what pushed total xscore in their favour.
HPN is back! This year look for daily recap posts, plus some issues worth exploring in more depth. Will try to swing a deadline day liveblog as well. And - if we can work it out - something else special.