Could there be a bigger waste of time or space than any debate around Fremantle resting players in the upcoming Round 23?
The answer is of course yes, which is a strange position to take given I’m going to write about it, but so it is. We can’t let these nonsensical debates continue.
Fremantle announced yesterday that they would be resting up to 11 of last round’s 22, managing soreness and fatigue among their player group.
Eight Dockers have played every match this year, and no bookie would give you odds on any of them getting on a plane to Adelaide this week. The eight are Aaron Sandilands, Lachie Neale, David Mundy, Stephen Hill, Michael Barlow, Danyle Pearce, Garrick Ibbotson and Nick Suban.
Chris Mayne has played ten matches in a row, and we know the physical presence he brings to the Freo forward line, averaging over six tackles a game in that time. He’s unlikely to play.
Matthew Pavlich has only missed one match, albeit being subbed out in two others. Surely he doesn’t go. Lee Spurr has only missed one match, which was in the first half of the season, and is one that logs big minutes in games.
That’s eleven players already, which is not including injury-prone veteran key defender Luke McPharlin, and Cam Sutcliffe, who dislocated his shoulder on the weekend.
The surprise isn’t how many players Fremantle will rest, but that it will only be 11.
The Fremantle Football Club has a finite amount of players on their list. They are entitled to pick any 22 of them to represent the club, under any circumstances they like, in any configuration they wish.
The rest is just nonsense. Don’t give me any rubbish about integrity of the game, or manipulating ladder positions.
Ross Lyon’s job is to win Fremantle a premiership. He believes the best way of doing that is to finish on top of the ladder, more than a game clear of second place, and then rest players in the last home-and-away match to keep them fresh for their first final.
If I’m a Docker fan, I’m backing him in to do exactly that, regardless of location or opposition.
There has been some talk about Peel Thunder, Fremantle’s connector club in the WAFL, and how they’re going to be playing their first final this weekend, but will now have almost no chance to win it.
Well, for supporters of Peel, and the players and officials involved….we don’t get everything we want in this world, and sometimes life just isn’t fair. Tough.
As for supporters of other AFL clubs, you just need your team to get better, so they can be in a position to make the same moves. The more you win, the more rewards there are, as it should be. When it comes to winning, rarely do the ends not justify the means.
For Ross Lyon and the Dockers, this means having the best 22 players they can put out on the field in the first final, in the best possible condition they can be.
How they do it is entirely up to them.
Don Freo
Guest
Tom, every club had that opportunity. They all have 42 on their lists.
Tom Baulch
Roar Guru
I think its unfair how they get to rest players and other teams don't, kind of sounds unfair to me?
Rob McLean
Guest
Yep, Peel get screwed over (which is fine for that club, as they signed that agreement) and so does the club who finished behind them and is not playing finals because of it.
jax
Guest
184 comments on an article stating that any debate on the topic is nonsense - was that reverse psychology? Whatever it was, it's ironic and it's priceless.
Johnny
Guest
What a waste o time and space. Could not be bothered with most of the comments. Must all be retired with not much else on! Move on!
andyl12
Guest
I didn't know Freo reached the Prelim last year.
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
I think player numbers is too easily overlooked when people compare the recovery etc of AFL teams to other sports. Our game times are longer too and require, impact, strength, endurance and speed in high doses from the players, whereas other sports are more specialised. Yet there's talk of drastically reducing the interchanges, hoping it will increase skills and lead to more exciting play. Very very doubtful it will have any dramatic positive impact and likely the most noticeable (and possibly only) impact will be to increase fatigue. Thinking laterally on this I think there's a better case to reduce the number of players allowed on the oval to 16, having a bench of six (with the sub rule thrown out). That way there's more space on the field, and players will have more opportunity to refresh and display skills. It seems too radical to be taken on, but it is the most direct and simplest way to open up space.
13th Man
Guest
i'm thinking Griffin has done enough and Clarke has been very average. Agree Mayne, Sheridan, Pearce (of all 3 varieties), Johnno and Dawson all need game time. Not sure that we can win this one though. However as you say its better to have fringe players playing their hardest instead of the top players relaxing. Sadly i am also tipping a Peel loss too, 100 points plus.
13th Man
Guest
yes hilarious
13th Man
Guest
yes true. NFL players have far more players on the pine than what AFL teams do.
Don Freo
Guest
It's really no different to last year's Prelim final when Freo had so many players out and more injured during the game. Maybe Port can snatch a last minute victory again. Exciting for the patrons.
Axel
Guest
Even if Port were gunning for finals - its just one of those things that would be good luck for them, akin to playing a team struck by injuries, or sickness, or whatever. Games can be impacted by rain, heat, etc. Given the AFL has finals, it is only natural that clubs focus on them. If it was like the English Premiership (soccer), then this would not be an issue (and Dockers would be premiers already)
Don Freo
Guest
?
jax
Guest
Rick, neither of us is wrong. We're looking at it from differently angles. I'm probably macro and you're micro and I might expect more of them. I'm not disagreeing with you but I can see how you might think that. I'm pushing for wider changes and brought some of that with me to this conversation.
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
As do Freo spruce. There is another difference though, a lot of those sports have much smaller on-field numbers, so they get more of a chance to rotate higher quality players through across a season.
jax
Guest
To be fair Selwood has missed a lot games since winning the B&F. He'll come good at the Cats when he strings some games together. Butler is another that needs to string a few games together. He's the last player from the 2006 flag side and he's reliable and makes good decisions. Either way it's safe to say that the depth is being challenged more than ever at the moment
jax
Guest
He was fine until Tex sat on him. The Crows played fheir best footy for the year and WC were off and I don't know why. Too many of our players had off days, just lazy and fumbly footy. Schoey, Welli and Butler are starting back 6 and they didn't play and Gov was injured in Q2 so yes they were very stretched down back but our forwards and midfielders didn't give the defenders much of a chance, it was a team wide issue on Sunday. Adelaide are a seriously good side in great form. Schoey and Butler are tests and Welli for the first final hopefully. The Crows are on a mission.
spruce moose
Guest
I do. A lot actually. Its cool to see them in the lounge every now and then. They are professionals. Well paid. If they don't like it, transfer to another club. If travel becomes part of the job, it's surprising how quickly it becomes second nature. I'll bet they are all pretty good at getting a bit of kip on the plane. Like i said earlier, nz warriors don't complain...and they have to put up with the annoyance of international travel and sydney airport. Much more time consuming than the domestic legs. Door to door it takes longer for them than it does the dockers.
spruce moose
Guest
Actually if you click on the link and then click on a few other subsequent links you'll find that is not the case. Mid West and NE teams do half as much...call them the brisbane lions or adelaide crows equivalents. No complaints from seattle though. They just play ball.
jax
Guest
Good question Rick. i also have questions, read what Colless had to say about Mike Fitzpatrick. I want an independent investigation into the allegations and I want to know why the media isn't all over this? http://www.smh.com.au/sport/ashamed-of-sport-says-afls-longest-serving-chairman-richard-colless-20150730-gio2xp.html Below you will find a link to an article on the AFL's drug policy that states: "It will not matter how many strikes the AFL decrees is the right number to attach to its illicit drugs policy before a player is named publicly, simply because the policy was never designed to "out" a footballer." "The AFL's policy, run by private company Dorevitch, does not set out to do anything of the type. It finds enough drug users. In fact it finds way too many. But from there, well, all sorts of things happen which conflict with the definition of a drugs policy." "Forget the numbers the AFL produces each year. They are just numbers based on very selective testing." http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-04-09/drugs-policy-strikes-out We have 800 players and we've never had 2,000 tests in a year. The chances of getting caught are neglible and the player has a safety net if he self confesses.