AFL rejects six-man interchange push for season restart
AFLX,” one insider said. Quarters have been trimmed this year to allow a shorter turnaround between matches in the event more weeks are lost if the season is halted again because of the spread of the coronavirus.
“It's not something that we're contemplating for next year,” McLachlan told 3AW.
But the decision to maintain 20-minute quarters plus timeon will complicate the AFL’s bid to slash club list sizes next year.
AFL Players’ Association president Patrick Dangerfield has warned a regular 22-game home-and-away season, plus finals, “requires a significant list size”.
Dangerfield’s Geelong used 39 players last season. But clubs fear that lists could be cut back to 35 next year.
The league has also given ground on limits to football department staff able to return to work.
Currently only 25 staff are permitted to interact with players, which will rise to 27 people on Monday and to 30, plus three media officials, on match days.
Some clubs have opted to bring back IT specialists instead of coaches in a bid to gain a match-day advantage.
Eight club staff members will be granted access to the coach’s box and 11 will be allowed on the interchange bench, while the roof at Marvel Stadium will remain closed for the duration of the 2020 season. Carlton coach David Teague and Western Bulldogs counterpart Luke Beveridge
IT had everything. Two great sides, captivating drama and an edge-of-your-seat finish at a time many regarded football to be at its peak.
Ask any Geelong fan and they will put the 1994 preliminary final win over North Melbourne high on the list of their favourite matches.
The game has become part of AFL folklore for one moment, but its entirety was something to bottle.
Geelong’s only goal for the final quarter came after the siren, after Gary Ablett’s onehanded pluck in the goalsquare from a wobbly Leigh Tudor kick with scores level and two seconds remaining.
The goal was a formality, sending Geelong supporters into delirium and the Cats into the grand final.
Mick Martyn kept Ablett to two goals to that point and was one of the best players on the ground, but he was left on his haunches when the champion forward went back on his mark to break North Melbourne hearts.
“There is no justice in football,” commentator Dennis Cometti cried.
The game was played at a frantic pace, the ball sweeping up and down the MCG in a breathtaking display.
North Melbourne great Anthony Stevens ranked it as one of the best games he played in outside his grand final wins.
“It was a pretty full-on game in regards to the intensity,” Stevens recalled.
“When you get to the last quarter going goal-for-goal, battle from battle, contest to yesterday said they did not want extra numbers on the bench.
“We want the best players out there and it’s already short quarters,” Teague said.
Beveridge said: “I’m okay with staying at four.”