For years, probably since the beginning of home
computing there has been soccer based management
games. Now, at last, we
have a title in Premiership Coach which simulates a
professional Australian rules football club. <insert
crowd road>
You will notice when the game starts that it has
unfamiliar names. Obviously this game is not AFL
licensed so they have had to make slight alterations
to team nicknames and other common AFL namings such
as the Brownlow medal in order to get around having
to pay out a licensing fee. It is very easy to
modify and only takes five minutes to change to the
correct names when you are setting up your new
league. As an example, North Melbourne 'Wallabies'
and Melbourne 'Devils'.
The game itself is a highly detailed sports
management simulation, so that means you
unfortunately do not get to guide your team around
with a controller kicking and punching balls.
Instead, the actual match is a number of numbered
dots that
represent the players. What you do control is
everything that surrounds the players at a club.
You are initially presented with a contemporary
squad of players, representing the club you see on
today's AFL with the
correct names and similar attributes. You will then
be required to manipulate the team's performances by
training, recruiting
specialised coaches, tinkering with financials,
using various options in motivating players.
You
also will need to create a team's playing style, for
example, playing wide or using the corridor. There
are numerous overall team systems you can employ,
which are being used in modern AFL sides. You can
even micro manage individual players,
even tailoring their training intensity depending on
whether they are injury prone or needing
improvement.
The level of detail will interest those of you who
are hardcore Aussie rules football fans. It allows
you to scout for future players in the regional
second tier competitions that you can draft for
later seasons of which you are able to play
indefinitely.
This game is very much a detailed and complex
simulation which requires a fair bit of time to get
to understand what will
work tactically with your squad of talent, so it
would be a wise move to read the instructions
carefully before you play.
Overall, you really need to be a footy nut to
properly enjoy this game and you need plenty of time
to really get into it. If you are, it will probably
add quite a deal to your understanding of what goes
on in the modern AFL world. I played the game and
followed the sport for thirty years
and a lot of this had left me quite bewildered. The
game has changed so much and has almost become a
science in itself.
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