All this AFL trying to "convert" basketball players makes me hate the league. I'll never follow AFL.

Eddie McGuire also said on his EMT show last night that Collingwood had a crack at Patty a couple of years ago.

All this AFL trying to nab basketball players doesnt make sence to me, surely they could find some 18yo that have played all their lifes but never quite committed to going to the next level because of other interests or fitness etc and then flog them into shape.

haha NWYA I hated AFL before anyway, because of all the media coverage it gets, jealous for the NBL haha..

Weirdly though I am coming second in the office footing tipping... mwahaha.

Meh. When your sport needs 18 players on the ground at once (plus what, another 6 on the bench?), of course you're gonna try to recruit people who are already proven athletes, especially from a sport where hand skills are critical.

If the athlete in question makes the swap then they weren't 100% committed anyway - either that or they just wanted to play sport professionally for a living and decided basketball wasn't going to get them paid.

I don't dislike AFL because they poach players from other sports. I dislike the AFL becaue the Australian football sucks.

Anyway, you people are acting like basketball wouldn't be poaching players from other leagues if it was the dominant sport in this country.

This run of (well, two) stories seems like a bit of a grab by the AFL and AFL writers to steal thunder from an Olympic sport in an Olympic year.

Would be nice to see follow up stories from basketball writers with quotes from the two players in question talking about how they love that basketball provides far greater travel opportunities, leagues to play in, the opportunity to play on the international stage in the Olympic games and World Champs, that Mills has just turned down the $885k option year with the Spurs, etc.

That said, I do like AFL and think that it's one of the best and most watchable sports around, and very well supported in this country. Prefer basketball though...

Great points Isaac - I tend to agree with you all on counts.

Of course it is globally, but it has the highest salaries of any Australian based team sport.

AFL is a confusing inconsistent game with too many rules changes.

I'd rather watch a game of rugby league than AFL.
I like seeing meat heads bang and crash into each other for 80 minutes.

I know exactly why they get basketball players. The skills transfer over to footy so well and usually the higher profile basketball players have a little height as well.

Basketball gives you great hands, vertical leap and other skills that are needed for a lot of positions in the AFL.

The AFL might seem like the bad guys but would you mind if Nic Naitanui decided to hang up his boots and play in the NBL?

How did this thread become a Thugby League vs AFL debate? When will people learn that you CAN NOT argue with crowd numbers, revenue streams, memberships and the pure atmosphere of an AFL game vs the NRL. They are both great sports. One is more successful for a reason.

The NBL could learn a great deal from the AFL in terms of giving back to the "grass roots" of the sport. The AFL have had a very committed grass roots policy with Auskick and other initiatives. The NBL and Basketball Australia need to have a serious focus on developing what is STILL the number 1 participative sport in the country. As far as strategies to do this go, I don't know squat about marketing so I have no idea. With the recent "acquisitions" of guys like Folau and Hunt, and the attempted recruiting of Mills, the AFL certainly know a thing or two about how to attract interest in the sport. Even if Folau can't play the game, at least people are curious to check it out.

As if these all these guys were targeted. There was probably just a coffee chat here or there. Geez beat up much.

Guys like Ingles and Mills are our top line bballers. They earn big bucks playing basketball. The Afl will get the odd Dowdell but will struggle to get the top talent.

I have my doubts whether guys like Pendlebury or Watts would have been that good. I think the AFL like to beat that up by suggesting these guys would have been star bballers.

Bobby Tables, they found two actually. Names were Scott Pendlebury and Jack Watts.

BTW - Pat was quite a decent junior AFL player in Canberra playing for his school, Marist. He clearly focussed on Basketball once he was offered the AIS Scholarship vacated by one Scott Pendlebury.

Seems Mark Worthington is without a team , and is interested in playing footy , and Richmond have interest.
Watching Anstey playing footy on TV Tuesday night , reckon Wotho would be pretty good.

The Richmond-interest story seems to be another Worthington fairy tale alongside the Italy contract.
All started by the Boomer himself.