Resting players isn’t anything new to AFL, but the sheer quantity of Fremantle coach Mark Harvey’s ins and outs columns in the past few weeks certainly revived the issue. The old school said he was flirting with form, while the new school pointed to the sports science aspect of it.
Hindsight was always going to be the judge of Fremantle’s policy and – despite copping a 116-point hiding from Hawthorn in Round 21 – they achieved their aim of claiming a home final, to give themselves the best shot at progressing beyond the first weekend in September.
James Hird (who originally trumpeted the idea of Freo resting players on Fox program On The Couch) wrote in the Herald Sun he believed the Dockers’ success with the strategy ‘shows a shift in the psyche of AFL coaches’.
He wrote this even if that conclusion relied on Fremantle clinging on for a narrow one-goal win over Carlton last Friday (Harvey did look pretty stressed in the coaches’ box in that last term to emphasise the tightness of the contest!).
But who knows, had Fremantle not rested players the week before maybe they would have been beaten by the Blues?
Time will be the judge of whether it really represents a shift in the psyche of AFL coaches on resting players. At this stage it’s actually pretty hard to know what opposition coaches are thinking, although the footy world appears to have come around to Harvey’s tactic.
Carlton coach Brett Ratten certainly made his thoughts known in the build-up to the game claiming ‘form is something you just can’t turn on, you just can’t flick the switch’.
Harvey responded in kind and Ratten backed down claiming he probably would’ve done the same thing if in the Dockers mentor’s shoes.
Ratten was probably trying to play games with Harvey and wisely backed down. The argument you can’t flirt with form has become a little outdated.
In Round 15 last season, Geelong did something very similar to the Dockers when they sent an undermanned side up to the GABBA before getting smashed by the Brisbane Lions.
In the long-run it didn’t hurt the Cats, despite the obvious short-term wounds of the defeat.
Again, the sheer quantity of players being rested is what provokes interest in these occasions. But resting players happens regularly (albeit less memorably), particularly late in the season.
St Kilda’s Lenny Hayes and Stephen Milne, Geelong’s Joel Selwood, Corey Enright and Shannon Byrnes, Hawthorn’s Luke Hodge and Collingwood’s Alan Didak all were given a rest when they normally would’ve played in the past fortnight.
The sports science aspect suggests it makes sense, in ensuring no risks are taken and players are in peak physical condition for the matches which truly matter.
Perhaps you could argue Fremantle didn’t need to rest all those players at once, effectively conceding defeat against the Hawks and undermining the integrity of the competition.
But the similarities between Fremantle and Geelong’s cases are the travel factor, something the AFL has no fix for the West Australian sides.
Harvey, a born-and-bred Victorian, has been very vocal this season about inequalities the Dockers face due to travel. So it’s understandable he took the action he did for the Tasmania trip. It makes sense.
Referring to the 13-day rest the Dockers players who didn’t head to Launcestor received, Hird wrote in his Herald Sun column: “To think that you can lose your form and ability to play in 13 days is ridiculous.”
If utilised professionally, the physical and mental gains surely outweigh any supposed loss of form or momentum.
Ironically, Fremantle’s upcoming finals opponent is Hawthorn, the team they sent an undermanned side to face in Round 21.
Adding to the irony was the fact the Hawks sustained two injuries in that clash (Hodge and Grant Birchall) while the likes of Matthew Pavlich, Aaron Sandilands and Stephen Hill put their feet up back in the west.
The Dockers – fully rested – will have no excuses for this game and that’s probably what you want as a Fremantle supporter.
They’ve given themselves every chance to win and that makes a lot of sense.
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