The lottery has been drawn, the playoff....meh. The NFL hasn't started.

Time to dabble in a new sport.

Not many takers for cricket, perhaps this is more your taste.

This is footage of the 2007 Elimination final (5th v 8th) between Hawthorn (my boys, brown and gold) and Adelaide. The star of the show is Lance Franklin, 196cm (6' 6&quot, 101kg (220 lb) and age 20.
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=_Nd-0AQ1Y1I&NR=1

The rules:

Two teams of 22 each - 18 on the ground, 4 substitutes (unlimited substitutions allowed).

Scoring through the sets of goals at each end. Kicking the ball between the two big ones is 6 points, between the big and the smaller post to the side is 1 point and is known as a 'behind'. A ball sent through any part of the goal by hand by a member of either team is worth a point a 'rushed behind'.

Short highlight reel - about 3 minutes
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=d-PFRrJQtew&feature=related

This is a long 2007 highlight reel - about 10 minutes.
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=oyFwk4A8MMM&NR=1

Good package of the skills required. Hard hitting, great foot skills and courage.

Thanks for the info and links Aus.

For some reason Youtube doesn't work right now on my work comp. I'll have to check this out at home and get back to ya.

I can't believe they play this game without pads. What a wild game. I would love to watch a whole game but I don't think it's on my Teli. Thanks for the education!

By the way, who is that a statue of on your avitar. I know it's not Paul Hogan or Keith Urban.

Wow... now that's my kind of sport! Very intense, I like it! First off, I can't believe they don't wear any pads. Crazy... there has got to be some bad injuries I would guess.

A few random questions:

- Why do they "dribble" the ball sometimes while running?

- How many games or matches or whatever in a season?

- Are there playoffs or just best "regular season" record wins the league? (I'm thinking like the EPL as an example.)

- How much do these guys get paid?????

mmaland wrote:

QUOTE:
I can't believe they play this game without pads. What a wild game. I would love to watch a whole game but I don't think it's on my Teli. Thanks for the education!

By the way, who is that a statue of on your avitar. I know it's not Paul Hogan or Keith Urban.

the statue is of John Kennedy Snr, former club captain, premiership coach and one of the iconic figures of the club. His finger points over the training ground.

His grandson now plays for the club.

College Wolf wrote:

QUOTE:
Wow... now that's my kind of sport! Very intense, I like it! First off, I can't believe they don't wear any pads. Crazy... there has got to be some bad injuries I would guess.

It's can be brutal, although the old timers think the game is getting soft. There are fewer collision injuries than you'd think. Knee injuries are common due the turning required (ACL's particularly), also hamstrings, and stress related injuries.

A few random questions:

QUOTE:

- Why do they "dribble" the ball sometimes while running?

A player can't run more than 15m without bouncing the ball. It's even signalled with the travel call.

[quote]
- How many games or matches or whatever in a season?

- Are there playoffs or just best "regular season" record wins the league? (I'm thinking like the EPL as an example.)[/quote]

16 teams play 22 regular season games. Doesn't fit I know, but the AFL is league formed from the old Victorian League with two teams moved to different states and four expansion teams.

Playoffs (Finals) involve the top 8 teams. All games are one off, like the NFL. The final game, our equiv of the Superbowl is the Grand Final.

QUOTE:

- How much do these guys get paid?????

Not as much as you'd think. There is a salary cap of about AU$8.5 mil for a squad of 38 (AUD = 95c US). Thats Antoine Walker's salary. There are some vet exceptions, but not many. The average salary is about 200k a year; drafted players start at about $55k, which is not far above the average wage here. Contracts are generally short, but all money is guaranteed. Three years is a long deal.

The best players make 500k - 800k. With marketing allowances, the top 2-3 may make a million a year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Football_League

Will give you some background on the league. I'll cover some other topics about the sport itself; the ball, ground, rules etc.. Any requests and questions answered.

Awesome... thanks for all the info.

I don't think I've ever seen any games here on TV on a non-premium channel, but I'd probably watch a game if I had the chance. Actually, I wasn't thinking that they would get paid very much at all. Other than the big American Sports, for the most part, it seems like most other athletes are very "underpaid" in comparison.

What are the average crowds like? Are they big enough to sustain the team salary?

College Wolf wrote:

QUOTE:
Awesome... thanks for all the info.

I don't think I've ever seen any games here on TV on a non-premium channel, but I'd probably watch a game if I had the chance. Actually, I wasn't thinking that they would get paid very much at all. Other than the big American Sports, for the most part, it seems like most other athletes are very "underpaid" in comparison.

What are the average crowds like? Are they big enough to sustain the team salary?

The grounds have different capacities, but the two stadia in Melbourne, the Melbourne Cricket Ground (The G) holds 95000 and Telstra Dome about 50000. Attendances vary with clubs but an average Hawthorn games pulls about 40-45000. The clubs make a fair bit on that, plus the club has 40000 members who tip in a fair amount.

Now I had every intention of conducting a through education of you lot in the great game, but well,
there you go.

Nothing doing NBA wise, the NFL is just starting,

It's AFL FINALS TIME PEOPLE

And you have a team to get behind.

My boys, Hawthorn, absolutely went to town on Friday night and handed the Western Bulldogs a 51 point caning in front of 76000 people.

I mentioned in earlier posts our superstar, Lance Frankin, Well Buddy has had a maginificent season, winning the Coleman Medal for leading goalkicker in the league and becoming only the 28th man to kick 100 goals in a season. He is the first aboriginal to perform the feat and the first person to do so in the regular season in a decade.
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=PK-AtxY7re0&feature=related

This is the 100th goal, and how we traditional celebrate such a feat. (just watch the first couple of minutes.


So the AFL finals system

Placings after the end of the regular season

1. Geelong 21-1
2. HAWTHORN 17-5
3. Bulldogs 15-6-1 draw
4. St Kilda 13-9
5. Adelaide 13-9
6. Sydney 12-9-1
7, North Melbourne 12-9-1
8. Collingwood 12-10


Teams that finish in the top 4 have what is called a "double chance", ie, their matches are not instant elimination. St. Kilda had to win their last match by 90 points (which is a massive margin) to finish 4th. They won by 109.

The eight is also split in two, so that if you lose a Qualifyign final, you are switched to the other half of the draw and must earn the right to be matched against the other team that is higher ranked. You can only meet the same team twice if you make it to the Grand Final.

1st week

Qualifying Finals

1. Geelong v 4. St Kilda The winner of these matches proceed directly to week 3 of the finals (Preliminary Final)

2. Hawthorn v 3. Bulldogs The loser of these matches plays the winner of the Elimination Final


Elimination Finals

5. Adelaide v 8. Collingwood The winner plays a qualifying final loser. The loser is eliminated.

6. Sydney v 7. North Melbourne


Hawthorn 18.19 (127) d Bulldogs 11.10 (76)

Bulldogs play winner of Sydney v North Melbourne

Adelaide 14.10 (94) lost to Collingwood 19.11 (125)

Adelaide is eliminated, Collingwood play the loser of the Geelong v St Kilda match in week 2.

Sydney/NM is in progress (Syd winning). Winner will play Bulldogs in Week 2

Geelong/St Kilda on Sunday.

Very interesting... thanks AusWolf. Also, Good luck to Hawthorne.