Another ‘stupid’ comment

Barcodes ruckman Darren Jolley’s blast at the AFL’s mooted ‘two and two’ interchange, being trialled in this year’s pre-season, as “stupid” and “ridiculous” is itself pretty stupid and ridiculous.

 

While AussieRulesBlog acknowledges that the game was different, lets remember that prior to 1978 and the introduction of interchange players were expected to be able to play 120 minutes of football — in more-or-less continuous 30-minute chunks. The game’s rhythm was dictated by the players’ fitness level.

 

Over time, as coaches have sought more and more advantage from interchanges, we reached a point where a player like Dane Swan is interchanged continually throughout the course of the game, often only for 30 seconds or so. In turn, the modern game’s rhythm has attuned to continual interchange and the consequent higher performance levels.

 

Jolley’s comments, and the concerns voiced last pre-season by Bombers captain Jobe Watson, seem to be based on the assumption that the game will remain the same in every other respect other than interchanges. Commonsense dictates that an adjustment like restricting interchanges will, in turn, require consequent changes in the rhythm of the game, players’ fitness and endurance and game strategies. The game will evolve to cope with changed circumstances.

 

More to the point, rarely does the game evolve so quickly that the acme of overall performance is delivered the year after a change is implemented. It requires coaches and strategists searching for advantage and trying new ideas to unearth the most effective responses — the responses that stand up over time against the pressure of opponents’ strategies.

 

There are probably as many people suggesting the current frenetic pace of the game begets more injuries as there are those suggesting a two-and-two bench will generate more injuries due to greater fatigue. We won’t know how it will play out until we get to the future.