HOW TO FIX THE GAME
Sometimes we need to look backward to go forward …
IT’S time the AFL looked in the rear-view mirror.
Instead of hurtling this great game down the freeway at a rapid rate we need to slow it down a bit.
I’ll get to my solution to the pacemakers in a minute, but first, I’m a numbers man and this is what I’ve got.
This weekend 194 players will be sidelined with injury.
That’s 25 per cent of the competition.
On the flip side 110 players have played every game.
That’s up from 94 last season and 87 in 2016. Curiouser.
So, there’s been an increase in the number of players playing every game when there was a decrease in interchange rotations. Curiouser and curiouser.
To complete a study into why there are more injuries, or less injuries, from one year to the next must account for so many hypotheticals . Let’s look at a few of them. Players are running longer distances in games. We know that’s true because there’s a swarm around the footy no matter where on the ground it is.
Sprints to the interchange bench are nearly on world record pace for the 100m. So does that leave players less time to relax their muscles before heading out again or are they putting their muscles under more strain just to plonk themselves on the pine that they’d be better off just taking a light jog in the forward pocket?
We have full-time staff paid to ensure every blade of surface grass is cut, primed, green, adequately refreshed and ready for the weekend stampede.
Gone are the days of the muddy middle.
Surfaces are hard, flat tracks these days and the cushioning underfoot makes an afternoon run in the park more like a 10km run around an athletics track.
Now, I haven’t even touched on the advancement in the locker rooms of footy clubs.
Sports scientists are ensuring players are fit, healthy, output on target, input healthy all before a sock has been unravelled.
But is all this making our game the greatest it can be? I vote no.
My simple solution, actually, I’m not alone with this, is so easy, blatantly staring the decision makers in the face, but for some crazy reason they want to waste time with other stuff.
Forget an elongated goal square. Ditch the starting zones. Do this. Cut the interchange bench. Again.
Slash it this time. Make it 20 rotations per game. That’s it. No more.
Players and coaches will adapt, they always do, that’s what they’re paid for.
It’ll de-clog the ball-ups. It’ll free up the forwards. It’ll bring back more one-on-one duels.
No one wants a quarter of their list sitting on the sidelines due to injuries.
And it’s becoming clear that no one at AFL House likes seeing a ball-up bonanza.
So instead of inventing new rules, just tweak a current one.
I know it’ll work. I played when it worked.
No one wants a quarter of their list sitting on the sidelines due to injuries.