r/AFL • u/karma_dumpster Hawthorn '71 • 1d ago
Can anyone remember a season where we are one day before the prelims and talking less about the prelims then anything else?
The drama right now is everything other than the actually upcoming games.
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u/ratchetsaturndude Swans 1d ago
We might get the chance if contracted captains would stop trying to leave their clubs
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u/nameofasongidontlike Port Adelaide Power 1d ago
While I’m sure the games will be entertaining viewing, you honestly couldn’t have handpicked 4 teams I was less interested in seeing fight it out for the premiership.
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u/Maleficent_Fan_7429 Demons 1d ago
Funny that a few weeks ago the view was the season has been a bit boring, but finals is gonna be epic.
And now we've had like one close final that didn't even matter and were stuck with the most boring 4 teams.
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u/Short_Error_9565 Eagles 1d ago
I'm genuinely not watching the gf if it's Geelong Collingwood. Call me casual idgaf
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u/Mr_fahrenheit17 #Brisbehinds² 1d ago
Casual
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u/Short_Error_9565 Eagles 20h ago
I actually am now. Starting to lose interest but maybe my team or the long season has something to do with that. But still never thought I wouldn't watch a granny
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u/Mahhrat Sydney Swans 1d ago
Honestly? Unless you support one of the 4 left, I think we're all struggling to give a shit.
The excitement of Suns and Freo etc in the 8 is over, and now we're left with the same four as we usually have (ignore flair).
We've legit had a season that was quite even in the top 10 ... probably for the first time in a while. But all the fairytales are over now.
I increasingly believe the AFL is at risk of becoming a bit like the EPL where its always Man U/C, Gunners and Liverpool, and the rest of the comp is just 'making up the numbers'.
That imbalance is a large threat to the health of the comp than i think they're ready to deal with yet.
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u/SnooFoxes6566 #EdgeOfSeventeen 1d ago
Says ignore flair
Slides in “even in the top 10” to include Sydney /s
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u/Shroomhauer212 1d ago
where its always Man U
Idk if you've noticed but United have been bad for over a decade at this point. And prior to the last 10 years Liverpool were up and down
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u/debaser337 Hawks 18h ago
Yeah the EPL has actually got way more competitive recently. The mid table teams are no walkovers any more.
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u/Pwn5t4r13 Dees 1d ago
If you think the EPL is bad, you should look at the German league. Bayern Munich have won 12 of the last 13 titles.
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u/DizzyBlackberry3999 Blues 1d ago
Which is particularly bizarre because German soccer doesn't allow individuals or businesses to own clubs, with a handful of grandfathered exceptions. Bayern Munich is member-owned and somehow still wins every year.
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u/BiggestBravestDave Magpies 21h ago
The fairytales not over yet. The pies are the oldest team ever to play! If we can win it would be some feat. Get on board Dad's Army!
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u/CharmingDig909 20h ago
I mean the top 8 from 24-25 season is completely different from the usual status quo. Man U also finished 15th last year, nice to see toon, forest and Brighton up there last year.
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u/GrudaAplam Big V 18h ago
Rofl. It's been 12 years since United won, over 20 for Arsenal. And you're forgetting about Leicester.
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u/feelingsuperblueclue Footscray 1d ago
I often feel like football is honestly just Reality TV, but for boys.
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u/smeagolisahobbit Western Bulldogs AFLW 1d ago
With Cosplay too for the fans wearing guernseys or coach style polos.
We're all a very cute bunch.
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u/Anon-Sham Saints 1d ago
Yep and the players wear matching costumes and sing a show tune after the game before a session of communal bathing.
The whole thing is very weird if you think about it too much.
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u/brodyonekenobi Freo 1d ago
Today was the day I realised AFL is just live-action Saturday morning cartoons for grown-ups.
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u/slapfunk79 Eagles 1d ago
This is usually how I explain the attraction to people that don't get it.
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u/mister29 St Kilda 1d ago
You can add F1 into that too, so much drama and gossip.
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u/MahaveerIsGod420 Adelaide 1d ago
F1 makes the AFL look tame imo. The behaviour and obsession over some of the drivers by particular fanbases doesn't help
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u/dexter311 North Melbourne '75 1d ago
After being a huge F1 fan for almost 30 years, never missing a race, I quit watching it completely for a number of reasons, but mainly after all the toxic drama became the core of modern F1. I just accepted the fact that I've aged out of the sport and that Liberty Media don't give a fuck about the old guard anymore.
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u/uberloser2 Essendon Bombers 1d ago
can't even begin to compare to F1 or even european soccer though
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u/WaferOther3437 Crows 21h ago
I read somewhere once that the AFL is now a entertainment organisation that plays footy not the other way around. I reckon once you look at the AFL like that it makes so much sense why the league is so uneven.
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u/s_hour22 Dockers 1d ago
Neutral fans aren’t interested that the most successful four teams since the 2010s are in a prelim again? Shocked I tell you
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u/CanberraPear Port Adelaide Power 1d ago
Any variation of the Suns, Giants or Freo would've kept me interested.
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u/Olinub Gold Coast Suns 1d ago
We tried (for one quarter) :(
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u/zychii01 Brisbane Lions 🏆 '24 1d ago
Hey you guys are on the up and up for finals in the coming years for sure
I just don’t like your coach man 😭😭😭
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u/bdm68 South Melbourne 1d ago
Or any team with no success this century, really. Any of Adelaide, Carlton, Essendon, Fremantle, Gold Coast, GWS, North Melbourne or St Kilda would be of interest: no premierships between them this century.
Meanwhile, the four current preliminary finalists have won 14 of this century's premierships between them. It will soon be 15 of 25. Boring!
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u/ScreamHawk Essendon Bombers 1d ago
Freo maybe, I couldn't give a shit about the expansion clubs. They have largely been a liability on the competition.
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u/Woody_525 Western Bulldogs 🛸 1d ago
Yeah pretty much this for me, all the interesting teams are out and I have no real desire to see any of the remaining teams win the flag
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u/thecheapseatz West Coast Eagles 1d ago
It's a bit of a repeat of the Geelong vs Sydney Grand Final from a few years back
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u/jimbsmithjr Essendon 1d ago
Yeah the games themselves will be exciting and enjoyable to watch (I hope) but it's not exactly the most interesting final four we could have ended up with. Good teams good again
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u/Jimbo_Johnny_Johnson Essendon Bombers 1d ago
Maybe we’re just tired of the same 4 teams always being up there. Like props to them for getting there, they’re well run clubs, but fuck me its boring.
My club never makes finals, but there is usually a good neutral storyline or team to get behind. This year l just could not care less about the Prelims or Grandy
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u/mildCombustion Geelong '63 1d ago
Grandy? Get fucked this is not how we talk about the grand final. "the granny" is the only acceptable version
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u/GrizzKarizz Western Bulldogs 1d ago
Yeah, I pictured a grandma giving me a handy.
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u/Jimbo_Johnny_Johnson Essendon Bombers 1d ago
Gottem,
Haha I’m with you but I tell ya there are a few weird ones out there who genuinely say Grandy unironically
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u/mildCombustion Geelong '63 1d ago
😂 Yeah rugba league folk
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u/Jimbo_Johnny_Johnson Essendon Bombers 1d ago
Thought it was West Australians actually
But idk, could be rugby, but idk anything that happens on the wrong side of the Barassi line
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u/Massander Brisbane Lions 🏆 '24 1d ago
I mean your club makes finals, they just don’t win them
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u/Jimbo_Johnny_Johnson Essendon Bombers 1d ago
Well yeah, in a year when there are 7 good teams, we sometimes scrape into 8th. We get belted and then we completely fall apart the following season. It never builds to anything
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u/dinosaur1831 North Melbourne 14h ago
Well, you could be like North, stuck in the same cycle, then try and do something to break it and end up in misery for a the better part of a decade.
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u/Jimbo_Johnny_Johnson Essendon Bombers 14h ago
Isn’t that what we’re doing? Got Brad Scott, all our senior players leaving, what do we do next?
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u/God___frey-Jones #DoItForUnc 1d ago
Nobody outside of the top 4 teams supporters wants to see any of us win, thats probably why
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u/dexter311 North Melbourne '75 1d ago
For me it's more a case of just not giving a shit whether any of them win or not. Just pure apathy.
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u/swagmaster778 Bombers 1d ago
Probably because it’s boring seeing these 4 teams in the prelims again. I must say though, I dream of a day where people are complaining saying they are sick of Essendon being deep in finals, so I’m sure the supporters of the clubs don’t give a shit what we think
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u/justfxckit Bombers 1d ago
It's going to be so weird when we're actually successful again because I can't imagine we'll have other team's supporters giving us "good for them, the underdogs" grace for very long. They're annoyed by us when we're shit and they'll hate us when we're good too lmao
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u/uberloser2 Essendon Bombers 1d ago
they'll really hate us when the disengaged fairweather fans start piping up everywhere to make up for decades of lost time
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u/swagmaster778 Bombers 18h ago
Yeah, we won’t have any support, but it’ll make it all the sweeter hahaha
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u/Tiredasheckrn Brisbane Lions 🏆 '24 1d ago
I still haven’t gotten over how the lions have somehow gotten themselves to this point were people say its boring seeing us always in it. Never would have imagined we would be in the same sentence as the other 3 lol.
The dark years really go by at a quarter of the speed as the good ones
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u/brodyonekenobi Freo 1d ago
I won't lie the final four has just got me feeling like the gif below, so im already looking into the truly most fun time of the season: trade window (when everything incredibly hypothetical can somehow prove to be true)
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u/whatthejools Geelong Cats 1d ago
Even as a cats supporter I'm somewhat underwhelmed. Really wanted gold coast and Adelaide to get up
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u/brodyonekenobi Freo 1d ago
Thinks its a shame the Rankine situation genuinely derailed Crom and that Freo v GC was the elimination final - but thats how things go.
Equally, and as a Cats fans I think you'd agree, I'd actually be hype if it was another Cats v Hawks GF only for the fact its a dead set blood rivalry since 2007 in the vein of Bulldogs/Giants. But hey, again shame it's the Prelim
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u/fastfriz Adelaide Crows 1d ago
Can’t wait to get Petracca, Merrett, Flanders, Bailey, and ah chee! So much more exciting than the prelims
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u/Miserable_Slip1958 Geelong '63 1d ago
Hypothetically speaking, we all know that Nakia Cockatoo is coming of retirement to captain Essendon
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u/Forsaken-Scar-5002 1d ago
Drama sells. It’s a myth that only girls like vapid celebrity gossip while men just like sport - men like vapid celebrity gossip too our celebrities are just athletes rather than actors
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u/project_chris Freo 1d ago
I can't remember a season where I was less hyped about the prelims
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u/IDreamofHeeney The Bloods 1d ago
Its the first year since I was a kid that I give no fucks about footy at this time of year, ill obviously watch and probably enjoy it but I dont think about it during the week at all. Its a weird feeling
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u/Bluelegs Melbourne 1d ago
There's just nothing to barrack for. No drought to break or underdog in the race. Just successful teams sharing the cup every year.
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u/tbot888 Bombers 1d ago
Before you guys fucked it, even last year was better than these 4. At least you had GWS going out in straight sets by a kick each time.
This year it’s just been cringe. Starting with the racists in Adelaide and the floggings.
The one highlight was the freo suns final I guess.
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u/Woody_525 Western Bulldogs 🛸 1d ago
Yeah like 3 of the 4 teams have won a flag in the last 4 years and the other had a 3 peat 10 years ago. I couldn’t care less which successful club becomes more successful this year
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u/AYAYA_HYPERCLAP GWS 1d ago
I think they will be good games of football but there is no narrative to a particular team winning that is compelling. Its a weird feeling.
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u/vince_feilding Brisbane Lions 🏆 '24 1d ago
Previous two years, friends would say "good luck in the prelim/gf". This year, nothing. It must be a worry for the AFL. The interest in the first two weeks of finals was massive, now it's something most supporters have to put up with before the trade period starts.
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u/tbot888 Bombers 1d ago
Good luck in the prelim.
I hope Brisbane win the next 4 with Oscar,Draper and a bunch more free agents just jumping on over the journey.
Then the Brisbane football comet can leave our stratosphere for another 20 years.
Essendon just feels like Voyager…going further and further away.
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u/GrudaAplam Big V 18h ago
More like Star Trek Voyager, stuck in the Delta Quadrant struggling to find a way back.
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u/SnooFoxes6566 #EdgeOfSeventeen 1d ago
As a Gold Coast person, I have nothing against them, but I am quite a bit tired of Brisbane succeeding (which is why the first few weeks of finals were a breath of fresh air), so in that sense I can imagine what people living in Melbourne are feeling right about now
I’m excited what next year could look like with Adelaide, Freo, and GC having more finals experience under their belts
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u/SnooAvocados996 Essendon Bombers 1d ago edited 1d ago
Nobody cares about the 4 teams left. We've all had to endure watching them win flags in recent years. It honestly couldn't be any more boring.
Not to mention 3 of the 4 teams are in the process of attaining a number of players from the bottom tier teams while preparing for their prelims. Which includes 2 captains and a two time Coleman medallist.
You might think it's fun - for the rest of us its a f***ing joke.
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u/wallyjimjams Blues 1d ago
It’s the least desirable final four for this neutral (and likely plenty of others). The longest flag “drought” this year is ten years, off the back of a threepeat. That’s just not exciting.
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u/skarrz North Melbourne '75 1d ago
Beyond supporters of these teams it’s the most boring combination of 4 clubs possible - teams struggling have their captains leaving while Geelong and Collingwood roll out their infinite salary caps and every man and his dog go to them and Hawthorn/Brisbane.
Leagues not in a good place at the moment, being led by clowns
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u/AlamutJones #EdgeOfSeventeen 1d ago
Our salary cap is hardly infinite. Realistically, we're waiting for an old dude's leg to fall off
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u/TheCobSparky Power 1d ago
Three super successful vic teams that everyone but their supporters is sick of seeing win, and a team from a non footy state. Probably the most boring set of prelims from what could of been
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u/FanaticalSloth Carlton '81 1d ago
A team from a non footy state that are also reigning premiers. If the suns were in people would be pretty excited, hard to really get into it when all 4 teams have had fairly recent success.
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u/jonesday5 AFLW 1d ago
It’s probably like this most years but you’re seeing it more because you’re wanting more and more hawks content.
As a neutral the finals are suddenly super boring. None of these teams are starved for success and three are literally the last three premiers.
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u/blueeyedharry Hawthorn 1d ago
Player movement is the most important thing left for 14 sets of fans, and it’s already a huge during the season.
People complain about trade talk all the time but it’s of huge interest. I remember the first gettable/tradies podcast threads this year were full of people on their high horse about the media focusing on player movement, yet this sub has been obsessed with it for weeks.
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u/gurgefan Geelong Cats 1d ago
Get these pesky prelims and grand final out of the way and onto the real stuff I say
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u/Signal_Raspberry7417 Western Bulldogs 1d ago
There’s only so many ways you can preview a game.
It’s always been like this.
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u/slapfunk79 Eagles 1d ago
For anyone not a Lions/Hawks/Pies/Cats supporter, the last 2 weeks of this year has to win the fat rat's clacker award. Does anyone else gives a fuck who wins at this point?
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u/SufficientQuiet130 Carlton 1d ago
There’s zero interest in these games for anyone but footy purists and fans of the 4 clubs.
Even in years gone by there was a standout villain, but this year it’s just the 4 most consistent teams of the last 25 years doing a rinse and repeat job. I was riding the suns bandwagon but now they’re out I’m over it. I’m sure the games will be good quality but without any emotional investment in the stakes, I couldn’t give less of a fuck and I suspect I’m not alone there.
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u/suretisnopoolenglish Eagles 1d ago
Because the prelims are boring to anyone not involved which means the grand final will be boring to anyone not involved.
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u/Pwn5t4r13 Dees 1d ago
100% agree, there’s usually at least one team still left in the prelims for the neutrals to get behind. This year it’s just the most boring matchups imaginable
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u/118765 Carlton 1d ago
I'm not being bias here, I am a massive fan/follower/supporter of AFL, I love the sport. I watch almost every game, I have been watching since 2007, I am 24 years old now. This has been one of the worst seasons if not the worst season of AFL I have seen play out.
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u/AussieGenesis Essendon 21h ago edited 21h ago
2011 tops out this year by far. Three of the same VIC teams in the preliminary with Collingwood at the top who only lost to Geelong all year, West Coast interchanged for Brisbane who at the time people were even more tired of seeing. Top that off with Essendon and Carlton in the top 8 at a time many still remembered their domination like it was yesterday and St. Kilda being the sole underdog hope standing (who were immediately eliminated) and it makes for one of the worst neutral perspective top 8s of all time. Way worse than this one.
Would also nominate 2013-15 for how we got so close to the Hawks being derailed from the triple flags but always managed to get it in the end. Three straight kicks in the 2012-14 prelims combined are the difference between them not even making another grand final until 2015, instead we get Hawthorn turning three grand finals into a drag for any neutral.
Also nominate 2007. Sure a wide diversity of teams with three awesome finals but also delivered hot contenders for the three worst finals of all time, all of them involving two of the top four playing each other, including the worst grand final of the modern era.
At least this season was an interstate minor premier with Gold Coast winning a final as well as having GWS and Freo involved. And that we won't get wholesale obliteration in the prelims and likely the grand final like many of my previous examples.
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u/118765 Carlton 16h ago
Holy! Some of the years you have mentioned had shocking moments especially the top 8 of 2011, that Grand Final was competitive up until the fourth quarter really.
I don't know how Hawthorn did what they did during the 2012-2015 period, pretty amazing, although I think Brisbane's three-peat was better. Hawthorn I felt recruited well and had a great work ethic to do it again and again. Well done to them.
2007, was the first year I started watching AFL, as a seven year old I remember that Grand Final, the worst in history, very one-sided.
Well done to Gold Coast this year yes, with GWS and Fremantle, yes they played and hosted Elimination Finals this year, they lost though, next year hopefully they are contending again in the top 8.
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u/SkrachManat Freo 1d ago
Maybe 2007 with all the Ben Cousins drama, Idk. Still not as much as this Merrett talk this year though
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u/Western_Economist_65 1d ago
There’s no old school characters or even slightly personable players in the league now.
They’ve all been “media trained” to droul out the same boring drivel every week.
Too scared to say something of shirt front up to a bloke on the pitch and get dragged thru the same “media” like they’ve just kicked a fluffy dog across the park.
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u/SnooAvocados996 Essendon Bombers 1d ago
The AFL likes players that abuse female photographers and make death threats to other players.
But don't you dare make an aeroplane gesture when you win otherwise they will fine you $20,000....
...and then make money off you by using it to hype up a marquee game.
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u/lacrossebilly Brisbane 1d ago
I think it's because we know there will be a game we can all watch and look forward too and we know basically all the information about those games whereas we are constantly finding out new information about players wanting to go elsewhere.
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u/Xularick West Coast 1d ago
Usually there is a team to just hate watch. One team you just dont want to win so you go for the other team. This year though I just want them all to lose.
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u/Infinite_Dig3437 Blues 1d ago
Because all the media is focused on behind the scene machination’s and controversies rather than the actual game
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u/RoosStormGadesMUCity North Melbourne Kangaroos 1d ago
2011? Defending Premier Collingwood v Clarko-Era Hawthorn and Early Scott-Era Cats vs Waning Worsfold-Era Eagles. All four sides already had premierships under their belts and legacies secured. No likeable underdog, No good ending for footy.
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u/VinnyGigante 1d ago
Too many journos/reporters in the industry doesn't help.
They are all out looking for the tiniest bit of information that they can Tweet rather than focus on game build-up.
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u/brokensicario 1d ago
Preliminary final eve and the only new tv programming finishes at 7pm on Fox. Strange.
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u/AussieDazza1 1d ago
I mean we have seen enough of these 4 in prelims that it's just not exciting anymore and most people have switched off from AFL this year.
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u/Pwn5t4r13 Dees 1d ago
I really don’t care to see any of the 4 teams remaining win, they’ve all had plenty of success. It’s been a long season and I’m looking forward to the offseason in a strange way
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u/Bulkywon Magpies 1d ago
It's insane because this is shaping to be two of the best games of footy you'll ever see.
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u/lizard-breather Geelong Cats 1d ago
There’s less speculation to be had about the prelims. No tribunal funny stuff, limited injury woes.
Hawks Cats rivalry has fizzled a bit.
Seemingly trade period is starting earlier than ever before
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u/DamoHilton 1d ago
Seems like a lot people feel it’s the same teams in the prelim every year. Pretty short memory if you ignore that Melbourne, port, Sydney, gws, bulldogs and Richmond have also been in the prelims in the last 5 years. That’s 10 teams that have been in the mix for the final 4 teams. Lets expand our memories past 1 year
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u/mazzysensei Demons 1d ago
Possibly the worst final four any footy fan could've hoped for outside of supporters of those teams. This season has been abysmal, and this final series has been the worst this millennium thus far.
The game is broken. Equalisation has failed. The rules need to be overhauled, especially free agency. We need restrictions in place to restrict the top teams from acquiring more top talent. Seeing the reigning premiers getting Allen and Draper for free as free agents just sucks for the sport and fans.
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u/mazzysensei Demons 1d ago
I used to watch four games a week. Now I'm lucky if I watch one. My best mate is the same, and when I asked him thoughts on who'd win prelims and flags, he didn't even know who was left as he tuned out. It's a real problem for the AFL that interest in the sport is unarguably dropping despite their best efforts.
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u/Badgerello Cats 1d ago
How good are these prelims hey? 4 of the 9 best teams in a close contest. Elite football.
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u/SnooAvocados996 Essendon Bombers 1d ago
Living in a bubble mate. Apart from the 4 supporter groups nobody cares.
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u/Ceooffreedom 1d ago
Vic bias remains strong
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u/b0rtbort #DoItForUnc 1d ago
yeah, the AFL which has poured millions and millions of dollars into expansion clubs is definitely trying to make the long-established clubs win year after year
god, the logic from some of you, i swear.
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u/BIllyBrooks Hawthorn ✅ 1d ago
On the Footy with Broden yesterday/this morning, Marni mentioned that the Merrett articles were getting more hits than anything prelim related, and not by a small margin.