The Saintsational Man wrote:Funny thing is.....American sports rates a player as been at his peak at the age of 27.
Thats combining both mental and physical aspects.
I think once guys like Riewoldt, Kosi, Dal Santo, Goddard ect. reach near or around those ages.....we won't need flashy quick/young players.....
Hopefully the guys mentioned above will be so skilled that the ball will circle round the field between our players like clockwork.
Two quick points on that:
1) American Sports focus that way partly because they measure statistics more, but mainly because (as you point out) that's when the male physique is supposed to be at it's developmental peak prior to the inevitable aging that captures us all.
2) At least a couple of American sports have a much higher retirement age.
The arobic requirements and injuries of AFL mean that players often have taken a lot of damage by 27. OP, knees, soft tissue degradation, these all seem to be harder to come back from in AFL than in any of the US games. At the same time, we don't have the careers dissapear due to concussion like the NFL and NHL, so it's not all bad... but you ask the question, will Chris Judd ever be as good as he was at 22 again? Will Luke Ball ever be as good as he was at 21 again? Lenny Hayes is in the Prime by US numbers right now, but not in career best form, what's the knee done to him? And hence, does the same profile fit AFL as a sport? (I'd be fascinated to read a breakdown by someone like champion data on the subject)
The other thing is a philosophical difference... in NBA, NHL, defensive players tend to be the older guys, younger guys left to do things on talent... in AFL, players break in as taggers, and let offense shine as they get a "feel" for the speed of the game.
I agree with the Americans. I think a lot of our best players still have their best footy ahead. They have their best leadership ahead... someone like Nathan Buckley didn't really emerge as a true leader until he realised that sometimes where he led others could not follow, and made his leadership about other things that others could replicate - routine, respect, and team ethic (remember reading about it in the footy record in '01 or '02). Perhaps it will be the same for Reiwoldt (hard to say without being inside the other players heads), it can be tough to follow the example of someone as beyond gifted as Reiwoldt, as even things like his endurance come to be seen as pure talent rather than a reflection of hard work...
But whether it's your best 8 or your worst 8 that win premierships, 22 guys take the ground every week, and it's certainly handy having a good worst 8... so we need to be making sure that for as long as we've got a good core, we're doing everything we can to support them. I'd say we have for '08 so far, and it hasn't produced results. We don't need to flush '08 yet... but we should be making sure we don't hurt '09 or '10 by playing the wrong last 8.
