Interchange numbers

[piedys]

Okay, so being a pesimistic voice of doom and gloom [wha? You Dyso? Surely not?] I'm getting on my high horse, and lambasting the AwFul for not granting at least another two interchange players for the duration of 2020 season, or until VFL resumes.

The proof will be in the pudding tonight, and for the remainder of round 2, as to which clubs suffer the worst fallout from soft tissue injuries over the coming days.
I expect an abnormal run of hamstring and calf issues to manifest across most clubs over the next couple of rounds, not dissimilar to what we might experience in the pre-season games.

The cause of this will be obviously lost conditioning, due to ISO restrictions placed on society in general. The onus would have been on the clubs and players to manage the fitness of the list during covidiocy. All that pre-season work has now effectively gone to waste.

I can't seem to find any solid releases from the club about how our fitness was managed in the period after round one concluded? I only hope the players have done sufficient sprint work in their own time to minimise fatigue.
What other clubs have done in that same time window doesn't concern me; not our problem.
Whilst I trust the professionalism of our club, and the dwindling number of staff available due to cost cutting, but the idiocy from the AFL is baffling?

If there is no sign of a VFL competition resuming any time soon, then surely common sense, a commoditiy rarely used at AFL house, would imply that players need to be added to the current allowance of 22 per side, to simply maintain their fitness, even at a reduced game time capacity?
I'd suggest 24 would be fair, with another 2 players as subs, or 2nd half emergencies? Look, I always despised that putrid sub concept introduced in 2011, and was glad to see it made obsolete a few years back.
Personally I'd have it set at 30 players per team [28 on the park; 2 in sub/reserve seated behind the interchange area], at least until the VFL resumes.

But... under the current circumstances, we cannot tolerate to see any club crippled by avoidable soft tissue injuries and have their interchange bench decimated during a game.
That only promotes scoreboard blow-outs after fatigue sets in, and the AFL loathers these, so why tempt fate?
And with clubs forced to cull medical staff, we are suddenly back to 1980s level fitness departments; overworked and underpaid.

I really hope it doesn't come to this, but I do fear the worst, and will hold the AFL accountable, who are never held accountable for anything.

Below are the only urls I could find, in relation to how any possible changes to Interchange numbers have been considered:

https://www.afl.com.au/news/440133/afl-considering-one-or-two-extra-interchange-players

https://www.afl.com.au/news/440196/explainer-what-changes-have-been-made-to-footy-for-2020

https://www.afl.com.au/news/432506/old-fixture-binned-traditional-time-slots-a-priority-in-full-rewrite

Rant Over peeps; light the torches, start to flame me....

Dyso

[K]

[piedys]