Hardwick 'open to' trial rules in dead rubbersJennifer Phelan
afl.com.au
Jul 26, 2018 12:04PMPREMIERSHIP coach Damien Hardwick says he would be "open to" clubs abiding by trial rules in the later rounds if directed to and has applauded the AFL for "trying to innovate" by tweaking the current game.
While the Tigers won't be involved in any potential trials this year in dead rubber matches, he said he didn't believe the integrity of the game would be affected by the concept.
"It's tough to answer because I know once again coaches prepare thoroughly and they want to give themselves the best chance to play the game," Hardwick said on Thursday.
"I'm not in that situation at the moment but I could have quite easily have been a few years ago.
"I probably would have thought I would have been open to it, just for the challenge of our players to see what this game presents. It might be a good thing.
"I don't think we'll look back on this decision in three years and say it affected certain situations.
"We've got a draw that's skewed – we can talk about the integrity of the game but we're probably talking about a lot of things that don't really matter that much for mine."
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-07-26/hardwick-open-to-trial-rules-in-dead-rubbers
