Dangerfield: Four-day breaks make sense
GEELONG 73 1.4 3.4 10.7 11.7 46 BRISBANE 1.6 4.8 4.9 6.10 BEST
Geelong: Dangerfield, Menegola, Hawkins, Simpson, Blicavs, Ablett. Brisbane: Neale, Rayner, Zorko.
GOALS
Geelong: Hawkins 3, Ablett, Rohan, Menegola 2, Ratugolea, Parfitt. Brisbane: Rayner 2, Cameron, Neale, Hipwood, McCluggage.
INJURIES
Geelong: Narkle (hamstring), Duncan (hamstring) Brisbane: Robinson (quad), McCluggage (shoulder)
UMPIRES
Fisher, Chamberlain, Fleer, Howorth.
RUSSELL GOULD
GEELONG superstar and AFL players’ union head Patrick Dangerfield says it would “make sense” to jam more AFL games into a shorter period and would back a move to extend the bench to ensure player safety.
The Cats lost two players in Thursday night’s win over Brisbane, with Mitch Duncan and Quinton Narkle needing scans to assess their hamstring injuries. They will travel with Geelong to its next hub in Perth and Dangerfield, who was best-on-ground against the Lions in a standout showing, expected the majority of the team list would be “exposed” this season.
It’s believed the AFL could try to play as many as five games across a 20-day period when the next bunch of games are released, which could include breaks as short as four days between matches.
AFL boss Gillon McLachlan suggested on Friday morning the league was even looking at playing up to six rounds while players were out of Victoria for at least the next 32 days.
“While players and clubs are up there, I think they go, ‘Let’s play’,” he said on 3AW. “There’s a huge logistical challenge about actually getting the games away given who’s played who and who’s where. So we are looking at, if we can, playing certainly more than one game a week over a period of time. Whether we can get through that and how that works is being worked on at the moment.”
Dangerfield, president of the AFL Players’ Association, said that was “not ideal” but conceded it was the right move to complete the 2020 season.
“To me it makes sense the season is condensed. If that means there are times we have to play off a four-day break or five-day breaks which are already happening, that’s what we have got to,” he said.
“We have to make sure we expose all our list and rotate where it’s appropriate and there will be a few more changes this week with those players coming out It’s not ideal but this year nothing is ideal. We understand our obligation to the league.
“We’ve got to make sure the health and wellbeing of players is well catered for but I dare say at some stage we are going to get into a situation where there may be the potential for games off a really short turnaround.
“It just means as clubs, as players, everyone is going to have to be ready.”