AFL MUST GIVE ITS PLAYERS A BREAK

AFLPA boss Paul Marsh says the AFL should not necessarily jump into four- day breaks between games based on the success of it in 2020.

To get the 2020 season completed amid COVID- 19 fears and restrictions players had to deal with shortened rest periods between matches.

This allowed the AFL to host ‘ footy frenzy’s’ with games on every night of the week.

The footy frenzy could return in 2021, with the AFL football operations boss Steve Hocking last week flagging a rolling fixture could be implemented again next season.

As part of an agreement to alter the Collective Bargaining Agreement for 2021 the AFL and the AFLPA will establish a working party that will look at the future of fixturing among other parts of the game.

Marsh said just because four- day breaks worked in 2020 it did not necessarily mean it would work in 2021.

“We probably need to get some formal feedback but let’s not lose sight of a couple of things here,” he said on SEN.

“There wasn’t much travel involved for much of it... when you throw travel on top of it four days becomes pretty taxing. On top of that there was a genuine fear from everyone that the season could be hindered at any time so it was a bit of a calculated risk from everyone.

“We have to be a little bit careful that we don’t just jump to four- day breaks because the risk of injury is greater.

“There will be travel you’d hope into the future.

“We tend to keep an open mind with these things but there are some barriers to hop into four- day breaks.”