Capping the number of interchanges

[one-eyed]

Lethal wants gladiator footy
05 April 2007   Herald-Sun
Andrew Hamilton

 BRISBANE Lions coach Leigh Matthews wants to scrap the interchange bench and turn football into a survival of the fittest.

Matthews floated his radical proposal yesterday to eliminate the impact injuries have on the results of games.

Matthews suggested tonight's opponent St Kilda benefited from the "flaw in the system" last week when it ran over the top of Melbourne after Demons Brock McLean and Matthew Whelan were hurt in the first half.

And he said Brisbane was challenged late in its game against Hawthorn only when Nigel Lappin and Robert Copeland were on the bench nursing corks in the final quarter.

Lappin has been named for tonight's clash and is confident of playing, but he must prove his fitness this morning.

The Saints' stocks have dipped with star forward Nick Riewoldt ruled out by his hamstring and back problems.

On the eve of tonight's clash, Matthews said the interchange system had been troubling him for some time and revealed two radical plans that would reduce the impact of injuries on results:

ELIMINATE the interchange bench and return to the old substitute system.

EXTEND the bench by another two players.

The first would be considered the most left-field, but Matthews gave the impression it was his preferred option.

"It would be a survival of the fittest," he said.

"Once you are off the field, you are off for good.

"In some ways I've always liked the idea that you have to try and use the players on the field for the whole game."

"It would mean a return to the ruckman resting up forward pocket, which would be a good thing I think," Matthews said.

The four-time premiership coach said interchanges had become such a tactically important part of football that any injury gave enormous advantage to the opposition.

"The game is such a 22-man game. If you get a couple of injuries and it becomes 22 on 20, you lose," Matthews said.

"Because you don't want the game to become more dependent on it (interchange) as it is, do you increase it by a couple or go the other way and abolish it."

Matthews, one of football's most senior and respected statesmen, said the idea began to solidify in his mind last year during the soccer World Cup and was brought to the front of his mind last week when he watched the Melbourne- St Kilda match.

"When the soccer World Cup was the focus of our attention, I first asked myself what would AFL be like if we went back to the substitute system," he said.

"We'd have the good players out there for 100 per cent of the time.

"Last weekend was further reinforcement of this; it is amazing what an injury or two can do.

"Melbourne couldn't rotate in the second half and St Kilda ran over the top of them."

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,21508710%255E20322,00.html

[one-eyed]

After a record 58 interchanges per team last weekend, the AFL will discuss trialling a cap on them during the NAB Cup. About 6-8 per quarter.

2005 - 35
2006 - 46
2007 R1 - 57
2007 R2 - 58

[one-eyed]

Call to trial cap on interchange
13 April 2007   Herald-Sun
Mark Stevens

AFL interchange moves have exploded to new levels, raising fresh concerns about the impact the "revolving door" is having on the game.

Rotations from the bench this year have risen to an average of 115 a game - or one every 63 seconds.

Four-time premiership coach David Parkin, a member of the AFL's research board investigating the rise, last night backed trialling a cap on the number of rotations.

"I would love to trial it, because I think it has an end product of raising the excitement through a higher level of uncertainty," Parkin said.

"I'll do anything at the moment to do that -- the game's become highly predictable, highly certain and less exciting in too many instances.

"The league is keen not to give the coaches any more control. They want to slow the game down."

Any NAB Cup trial, possibly involving a cap of about 30 interchanges a team, would have to be rubber-stamped by the AFL Laws of the Game committee.

AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson last night confirmed rising interchange numbers would be on the agenda, but denied changes were already afoot.

"The Laws of the Game committee will discuss it this year," he said.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,21547857%255E20322,00.html
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RICHMOND coach Terry Wallace has tipped interchange moves will continue to soar if left unchecked.
 
Rotations from the bench have lifted 117 per cent since 2003 and Wallace is sure the trend won't stall, pointing to the rapid-fire rotations in ice hockey.

"I have the opinion it will only keep spiralling in the same manner as it is at the moment," Wallace said.

"Look at ice hockey in the US. They don't play for any longer than 45-second stints or something ridiculous like that," Wallace said.

"It's just dynamic. One off, next one on. That's how it rotates.

"I'm not saying our game has the ability to do that because it is not as easy to get on and off, but it will keep going up - certainly before it plateaus."

Wallace said he would be happy to look at trialling a ceiling on bench moves. A limit of 30 a team has been mooted.

"You won't hear me barking from trees saying it's a blight on the game to restrict it," Wallace said.

"I'd be a bit horrified it went back to very limited changes. I haven't seen any studies done on what that would do to over-use or stress injuries."

Wallace said he liked the way bench rotations promoted high-intensity football.

"I like the way it keeps the game at a break-neck speed so you see the hardest, fastest football you can see," he said.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,21548127%255E19742,00.html

[Piping Shrike]

It has worked pretty well in league. One thing it's done is help retain the specialist position players, slowing down the move toward having a side of homogenous robots that you just cycle around.

Of course, another option is for the AFL to go back to a point in time when it thinks the game was good (say 1973) and undo every rule change made since then!

[one-eyed]

AFL flags interchange revamp
07 June 2007   Herald-Sun
Daryl Timms and Gareth Trickey

THE use of only two interchange players is being considered by the AFL for next year.

Clubs would still be allowed four players on the bench but two of them would be substitutes and the other two designated interchange players.

Like the old system of the 19th and 20th men, the players who they replace would not be allowed to return to the field.

The AFL is seeking input from clubs and players as it gathers reports on three key issues -- interchange, rushed behinds and kicking backwards -- which will be referred to the Laws of the Game Committee.

The rules could be tested again in the NAB Cup next season or introduced into the home-and-away season.

AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson confirmed last night the league was seeking feedback.

Full article at: http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,21862520%255E19742,00.html