The state of the game is a big issue in the AFL as coaches, former players and journalists suggested in the last round are in crisis due to low scores and ugly on-field actions.
The great Kane Cornes from Port Adelaide does not believe that the AFL has to make massive changes and disagrees with Alastair Clarkson how bad the situation is after the Hawthorn mentor said the game was in a “terrible room”.
Kayo is your ticket to the Toyota AFL Premiership season 2020. Watch every game every round Live & On-Demand. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial and start streaming immediately
Cornes accused Clarkson of over-reacting, but suggested some improvements, including reducing the exchange cap from 90 to 60 so that fatigue came into play and the game opened up more and offered more chances to score.
“You need to limit exchanges,” said Cornes on Channel 9 Footy classified. “You can’t reduce the game by 20 percent (with shorter quarters), but you can keep the exchange cap at 90 because the players are fresher and can defend longer.”
But Footy classified Host Craig Hutchison was not on the same page, saying that the proposal would only hurt the game.
Hutchison: “Do you want to tire the best players?”
Cornes: “Yes.”
Hutchison: “It’s counterproductive.”
Cornes: “No, it’s not Hutchy.”
Hutchison: “They’re not all endurance athletes like you, Kane.”
Cornes: “Tired players cannot defend the ground. You get tired, we see how it opens late in the games. “
Hutchison: “Under what logic in the world do you want to weaken your product?”
Cornes: “Because when you are tired, you cannot put pressure on the ball carrier, which means that the skills are increased and the game is opened.”
Hutchison: “Imagine the NBA saying,” We want to make sure that the players are not fit enough to play the game. “
Cornes: “Well, let’s not compare the NBA to an AFL soccer game.”
Hutchison: “I just can’t understand the logic of trying to weaken and downsize the product to create another mechanism.”
Cornes: “We’re increasing the product because you can’t put a lot of pressure on the ball carrier and the ball that enters (forward) 50 is better, and you’ll see high scores because the game will open.”
Ultimate insult to “embarrassing” crows
Adelaide is the last on the ladder without a win in four games, and his 37-point loss to Brisbane at the weekend was another sad chapter in a season from hell.
Cornes highlighted some “embarrassing” defense efforts and said they did not meet AFL standards.
“Some of the footage from that first half yesterday, I was a little embarrassed for the crows,” said Cornes.
“This is embarrassing for (coach) Matthew Nicks, who says he has worked on defense all season.
“Adelaide, if they lose this week, it’s actually hard to tell where their next win will come from.”
Great Essendon star Matthew Lloyd also criticized Adelaide and made the damned claim that the Crows were playing as badly as GWS and Gold Coast when they first entered the AFL.
“It’s actually pretty sad, and I’ve never used that term very often for an AFL team, but the numbers they put up are just damn,” said Lloyd, when he emphasized how the Crows have only been within 86 since then of the 1950s registered round 2 compared to the 164 entries from their opponents.
“That’s GWS stuff when they started, that’s almost Gold Coast Suns at their lowest ebb.
“I don’t think you could have imagined that if you let the players go and let the experience go, it would be so difficult.”
.
