I played that era too mate, I dont know about thugs, I am 59 and played seniors from 1983 until 2000 and saw the game get a lot softer and not for the better. We played it hard but shared a beer afterwards. My wake up call was when I got dragged to go play Ammos with a mate after playing mainly DVFL since the early 80's, it was about 1996 and I was racing a bloke to the footy on the wing, my opponent got there a split second before I did being a bit younger and rather than tackle him I hip and shouldered him over the fence. The Ump charged in and paid him a free kick and when I remonstrated with how soft the Umps decision was he paid the biggest 50 I have ever seen which put the bloke about 30 metres from goal which he kicked. I got dragged and the coach said to me you cant do that, this is Amateurs and not Diamond Valley footy. I had to change my whole way of thinking in regards to tackling and from what I have seen the AFL have gone to the Amateurs model. In a lot of ways its very soft nowadays, but its very quick.