Rise of the road warrior
Match-day flights could make for nightmare commute
TRIPLE premiership star Alastair Lynch says clubs will rest some veteran players instead of forcing them to travel as many as six hours on game day before taking the field.
AFL players will travel interstate on match-day chartered flights in a significant departure from league rules.
It means AFLPA president Patrick Dangerfield could be travelling for 5-6 hours from Moggs Creek to the Gabba on the morning of Queensland clashes.
Geelong premiership star Cam Mooney said last night it was a “nightmare” schedule that had the potential to see players “pinging hamstrings”.
The AFL’s determination to limit players from staying in interstate hotel rooms will see the league charter flights that leave on the morning of games.
But it means players such as Dangerfield, who lives nearly two hours from Melbourne Airport, will have a significant travel burden on game-day.
Asked what he would have said to a five- or six-hour game-day travel, Lynch replied: “Nah, I am not playing.
“It’s a consideration, no doubt about that. Sitting down for long periods of time is not conducive to footy for guys with bad backs and you would have to get up and keep moving,” he said.
“The conditioning and phys ed guys were never too keen for you to sit down too long.”
Mooney said the potential for injury was extreme but clubs had no other choice but to follow AFL rules.
“It would be a nightmare if (Geelong) flew out of Tullamarine. For some guys from Torquay, or Patty from Moggs, it’s 90 minutes to two hours to the airport, then a flight, jump on a bus and then straight to the ground and play,” he said.
“I can see hamstrings pinging from that one.
“I would be surprised if they didn’t fly out of Avalon. It’s a 5am start for Geelong players, so it’s not ideal but we are not in an ideal world.”
The league hopes to minimise travel times, with teams travelling only between Sydney and Melbourne in the first month of the year and Geelong possibly able to charter flights from Avalon Airport.
The AFL’s protocols for players released over the weekend state that players will be in chartered flights with no members of the public.
“All flights to and from matches will be chartered or closed, with a maximum of two Clubs on any one flight (with seating to be segregated if that is the case). No members of the public will be on your flights,” the rules state.
“The protocols require that where possible, flights will be on game day.”
In some circumstances including flights to and from Perth later in the season clubs might not be able to travel to a venue on game day.