Around this time of year, as the cream rises and the pretenders are revealed to be just that, we lick our chops and say, “It’s going to be a cracker of a finals series”.
We all get so excited about the upcoming September action that we look beyond the ever-growing list of injuries that every club must contend with, finals-bound or otherwise.
The physical demands of the modern game have often seen clubs rest star players against weaker sides in order to ensure they’re at their peak for the games that count.
Lately it has more or less meant that champions such as Judd, Thomas and Franklin don’t get to flex their muscles against the new AFL whipping boys, the GWS Giants.
Oh wait, Franklin did and look what happened there.
Hawthorn predictably suffered a backlash after naming an apparently suspect Franklin to play in a game that, let’s be honest, the Hawks had no chance of losing.
They say he was fully fit, ticked every box. He may have.
The fact that the matter is, in the modern game, clubs are taking a more cautious approach in order to ensure that their guns are ready to fire when it counts.
Given the scrutiny the Hawks faced after playing Franklin in the Giants game, it would appear that even the fans appreciate the concept of resting players.
So, if we can agree there is merit in resting one player for a week in order to ensure he’s cherry-ripe for the following week, then why not two?
Better yet, why not twenty-two?
The players want two byes per season.
Why? Because they hate their job and want more holidays?
No, because they want the time off to ensure that their bodies are in the best possible shape to play the game at their full potential.
The AFL have more or less rejected the two-byes proposal, but here’s a compromise:
Give the top eight a week off before finals.
Yes, it would mean we have a weekend of absolutely no football when we want it the most.
But it’s fair to say it would be worth the wait.
Maybe we could have the Brownlow Medal presentation on the bye weekend. That would work, but it’s not the point.
The point is we wait all year for a finals season that promises so much.
Does it always deliver?
Few would argue that it doesn’t, but it has so much more potential.
A week off before the finals series wouldn’t magically result in the final eight having a full list to chose from, but it would give the opportunity for all those players who just aren’t at 100% to play at the speed and tenacity that the finals series demands.
The injury list at Essendon just keeps getting bigger and bigger, as does its losses column.
Still, the Bombers might just limp into the finals, maybe in eighth place, and head over to Perth and play a fifth placed Eagles outfit.
Our “cracker of a finals series” could open with an undermanned West Coast side belting an injury-ravaged Essendon side.
To think, just one week could change all that.
After all, a week is a long time in footy.
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