Shaun Higgins is helped from the ground during the AFL Round 11 match between the Collingwood Magpies and the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium, Melbourne. Slattery Images
Rule changes are once again on the agenda at the AFL, with several possible changes for next season being floated yesterday. Naturally, at the top of the AFL’s list was the interchange.
The changes being considered by the league in this regard are a cap of 80 for interchanges per game (which has been on the cards for some time) and also having substitutes to replace injured players.
The substitute idea has a bit of merit, although a proper trial of the rule in the NAB Cup (ensuring only genuinely injured players and not just anyone can be subbed off) would be the ideal place to start on that front. The cap idea, meanwhile, is struggling to win over footy fans and it isn’t hard to see why.
The AFL have put forward a graph with evidence from recent years that shows the number of interchanges per game has increased in line with the overall prevalence of injuries.
Now it’s all well and good to point this out, except the graph also presents the average player speed increasing over this time period as well. Which begs the obvious question: which came first, the increase in interchanges or the increase in speed?
The AFL are selling an interchange cap on the idea that it was the former, but it must be remembered that the AFL’s own rule changes have been widely accepted as the source of the game becoming faster. There’s also been the shift from the Swans’ style of football to the more free-flowing style initiated by Geelong.
If anything, rather than interchanges causing a faster game, it was the other way around. It’s easy to assume that interchanges would naturally go up as a result of the game being faster, as players would become more fatigued more easily, and would therefore need to rest more frequently.
So while the numbers in the AFL’s graph do seem on the surface pretty convincing, they should by no means be taken as gospel and need to be looked at in some context. They certainly shouldn’t be the main motivation behind changing a rule of the game.
History will tell us, however, that many of the league’s rule changes have – in spite of an angry initial response – gone on to have the desired effect. The interchange cap could very well follow a similar path.
And the AFL have put forward one argument that suggests this could be the case – the example of the NRL’s interchange cap. After bench moves were capped at 12 in rugby league, “the relative risk of injury significantly decreased from 72.5 per 1000 playing hours to 51 per 1000 playing hours,” according to Adrian Anderson.
The counter-argument to this would be that the two sports expose themselves to different types of injuries. Listening to both players and coaches in the AFL, the biggest concern seems to be that soft-tissue injuries will go up if there’s an interchange cap. So while some injuries may be avoided, the NRL example does not refute the idea that others may increase.
Opposition to the AFL’s plans has been hard to miss. Quite a few high-profile figures don’t like the idea of a cap.
“Last year, we were (one of) the highest rotation teams in the competition and had the least amount of soft-tissue injuries. From our point of view, there’s certainly a correlation there,” said Western Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade.
Earlier in the year, right here on The Roar, Port Adelaide’s Troy Chaplin put forward an even stronger and more detailed argument.
“If the AFL does cap interchange numbers it is going to mean that players are going to be spending more time on the field than what they previously have,” Chaplin wrote.
“The speed of the game has made it physically more taxing on the body and if interchange numbers are capped this will result in more soft tissue injuries. Players come off in order to avoid fatigue, and this is what is one of the biggest causes of soft tissue injuries. The more fatigued a player is then the more likely they are to ‘pull’ a hamstring, calf or a quad.
“Due to the speed of the game every sports scientist in every team will tell you that rotations are extremely important for teams to run out games.”
Of course, in recent months we’ve heard many join Eade and Chaplin in voicing their disapproval, including a number of other coaches (Mick Malthouse, Brett Ratten, Paul Roos, Brad Scott, Dean Bailey, Matthew Knights) and players (Jonathan Brown, Adam Goodes, Daniel Jackson).
That’s not to say there aren’t those in favour of the cap. John Worsfold and Neil Craig are. Lenny Hayes and Dean Cox are. Mark Thompson, coach of the side that uses the lowest number of interchanges, isn’t opposed to the idea.
But there aren’t enough people – or evidence – on board to be too convinced.
In other rule change-related news, the other ideas being floated by the AFL yesterday included changes to:
– The length of game; to keep quarters between 29-30 minutes.
– The advantage rule; to have the player not umpire decide advantage (as seen in the NAB Cup).
– Free kicks at stoppages; to allow boundary umpires to pay holding and high contact (as seen in the NAB Cup).
– Free kick against player who drags ball under opponent.
– Rough conduct; to make a player who shepherds liable if he makes forceful contact with the head.
– The scoring system; to award a goal if a ball hits the posts inside the goal-scoring area and goes through.
Whatever their final decisions, it looks like the rules committee will have a busy off-season.
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