I acknowledge how hard it is for many footy supporters to embrace change - I'm often one of them - and new rules generally receive the same reception here as the onset of a particularly nasty sexually transmitted disease. However, I've felt for some time (I may even have posted on it at some stage in the past) that we seriously need to consider a reduction of onfield playing personnel from 18 players to 16 per team. It seems that in the next couple of years the timing for such a move would be perfect.
Firstly, watching the Saints-Swans game from Saturday night (don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the tenacity and tenseness of the match) reiterated my thoughts on this matter - two less players per team means four less players choking up forward-50s. This reduction in clutter might go some way to overcoming the uber-floods imposed by both of these teams (and others). The most effective way of doing this on the teamsheets is to simply remove the "wings", VFA style.
Secondly, the use of 18 players per team goes back to an era where players did not have the same level of fitness, stamina and ground speed to get to parts of the arena as often or as quickly as they are now capable. In addition to this, ground surfaces are in far better condition to fifty years ago and enhance this free movement around the ground. Move with the times - players are now far more than 11 (two-eighteenths) percent quicker and capable of "staying" than they were in the deep past, so maybe we need 11 per cent less players on the playing surface.
Thirdly, we would need to consider whther such a change would result in a reduction of a teams overall playing lists from 38 to 36 (plus vets) or not. In the former case, it would mean that the salary cap goes further, whereas the latter case would free up an extra two players on for club depth. Either way, it's beneficial.
Finally, the imminent expansion of AFL clubs from 16 to 18 is the perfect time to reduce playing personnel from 18 to 16, thus preventing any dilution of the talent pool available for any given weekend of football. i.e. there will still only be the best 18X16=288 players involved onfield (plus four interchange per team, of course) in the elite competition each round of footy, and hence we will not need to find an extra 36 players capable of matching it.
This alteration to the current format for player line-ups does not seek to change the game for change sake, just address the contemporary game. It seeks to take care of a few of the issues that we might have with the way the game is and will be played, without actually changing any onfield rules per se.
Firstly, watching the Saints-Swans game from Saturday night (don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the tenacity and tenseness of the match) reiterated my thoughts on this matter - two less players per team means four less players choking up forward-50s. This reduction in clutter might go some way to overcoming the uber-floods imposed by both of these teams (and others). The most effective way of doing this on the teamsheets is to simply remove the "wings", VFA style.
Secondly, the use of 18 players per team goes back to an era where players did not have the same level of fitness, stamina and ground speed to get to parts of the arena as often or as quickly as they are now capable. In addition to this, ground surfaces are in far better condition to fifty years ago and enhance this free movement around the ground. Move with the times - players are now far more than 11 (two-eighteenths) percent quicker and capable of "staying" than they were in the deep past, so maybe we need 11 per cent less players on the playing surface.
Thirdly, we would need to consider whther such a change would result in a reduction of a teams overall playing lists from 38 to 36 (plus vets) or not. In the former case, it would mean that the salary cap goes further, whereas the latter case would free up an extra two players on for club depth. Either way, it's beneficial.
Finally, the imminent expansion of AFL clubs from 16 to 18 is the perfect time to reduce playing personnel from 18 to 16, thus preventing any dilution of the talent pool available for any given weekend of football. i.e. there will still only be the best 18X16=288 players involved onfield (plus four interchange per team, of course) in the elite competition each round of footy, and hence we will not need to find an extra 36 players capable of matching it.
This alteration to the current format for player line-ups does not seek to change the game for change sake, just address the contemporary game. It seeks to take care of a few of the issues that we might have with the way the game is and will be played, without actually changing any onfield rules per se.
