Looks like we're in for some heartbreaking late calls - subs will only be announced 90 minutes before play http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/107121/default.aspx
Griff, check the date on the article! Could that get any older? You'll probably find that link on page 10 here if you have time on your hands lol. I'm interested to know where about it was still showing up! Fev was still playing for the Lions when that was published! etrie was going to be playing round one :Smith was a lock for R3 :Sydney and Freo were both hot favourites to automatically progress from the group stage :Call-iNAN was an iphone app for contacting your grandmother :Super Coach wasn't open!
@Spud Call-iNAN . I like it. I just had a thought though with this new sub rule, I figure that the sub will DEFINITELY be used most games, probably somewhere after half time as it would be a waste to have someone on the bench and not get used but wouldn't want to be used too early in case of a real injury. I would also assume that a fringe/ rookie player would be subbed off and the same type of player subbed on. In that case you would have a lot of possible cash cows/rookie players on the fringe of the team playing less than half a game, in which case they probably wont get the time on the ground to score many points and therefore grow in value. Does it then follow that you are going to be better off with more mid priced players who will probably get a full game rather than rookies who might only get a half a game and score 25 - 40 points???
I don't necessarily think that rookies/fringe players will predominately fill the sub roles - I honestly think most coaches would be looking at using all round players in that role due to their flexibility to play in a variety of positions. One player who comes to mind that has put his hand up and said he'd be prepared to be a permanent sub all season is Chad Cornes - he is exactly the type of player best suited to being a sub coz he can play forward, back and midfield effectively. Food for thought folks!!!
Not a bad thought but if you pick the right rookies I think you'd be pretty unlucky if they ended up the half gamers. But yeah certainly something to suck and see.
The big question with the sub rule is how will it impact the players??? The AFL brought this rule in citing the rapid increase in interchange rotations and flawed data regarding injuries - data that didn't discriminate between injuries suffered whilst playing and injuries suffered on the training track!!! Another excuse was the increase in collision injuries due to the game being played at a faster pace as a result of increased interchange rotations!!! Will we now see a dramatic rise in fatigue injuries due to players having to spend more time on field because of less interchange rotations??? Or will we see no change in the amount of interchange rotations, with coaches just giving players less rest on the bench??? I believe this sub rule throws up more questions than just "who will be used as a teams sub"
Very worried about the subrule but its such an unknown I dunno if theres much we can do about it. Different teams will probably use it differently. FWIW I doubt clubs would want a first year player as a sub but reckon they could be the ones getting subbed off if they run out of legs.
The sub rule actually worries me. The aim of it, isn't to slow down the game directly, the aim of it is to fatigue the players more which will in turn slow down the game. Obviously the morons at the AFL don't realise that fatigued players will likely result in more soft tissue injuries and the like, and will also significantly reduce the standard of the game. Could you imagine if someone with half a brain had a say in this? The obvious thing to do is to change some of the recent 'speed up the game' rule changes back to how they were before. Or there are a thousand other better options than trying to fatigue players.
I agree Ruddy, but the fact the AFL have no idea with their rule changes doesn't change the fact that they have changed. Bearfly seems to think it may be older, more versatile players used as subs or being subbed off. I still think it may be the younger rookies. Maybe it will be a mix of both depending on how the team is going and how far into the season we get. Either way, I think most people are spending all their time on the bye (which is very important), but the sub may turn into a fairly big issue that not many people are thinking about much. I definitely want players on my team who are going to get as close to a full game as possible, but who are they???
<blockquote>Quote from Zander on March 3, 2011, 21:40 I agree Ruddy, but the fact the AFL have no idea with their rule changes doesn't change the fact that they have changed. Bearfly seems to think it may be older, more versatile players used as subs or being subbed off. I still think it may be the younger rookies. Maybe it will be a mix of both depending on how the team is going and how far into the season we get. Either way, I think most people are spending all their time on the bye (which is very important), but the sub may turn into a fairly big issue that not many people are thinking about much. I definitely want players on my team who are going to get as close to a full game as possible, but who are they???</blockquote> I think that's the million $$$ question Zander, apart from the guns of the comp just about anyone could suffer from being subbed!!! And to make things harder, this rule doesn't get used in it's real form until the H&A season starts - makes it a bit more difficult for all of us :?
I think the sub will be used towards fossils in their last year. A coach can leave them on and burn them whilst rotating younger mids then 1/2 way through the 3rd sub them if game is going to plan and run the game out imo. Point made with C Cornes earlier could work either way , either play them early or sub them in. D Kerr for instance could be used for this or even someone coming back from injury. I think this season is great for all the unknowns that have been thrown in, ie: extended bench, Bye, multi bye, less NAB Cup time for research, sub. Will be a season to remember lol....For better or for worse...As they say.
I reckon the sub will be someone with leg speed or an inconsistent freak. ie. Wojo, Neon, Wonameeri, maybe even a Jurrah or Letta (Ess) if they fail to run out games early on and fall away.
I honestly believe the tactics used with the sub rule will vary week by week, team by team - nobody will use the same approach all the time, it'll all depend on opponent, venue, weather conditions, match-ups and a host of other variables, which could actually turn it into the most valuable tactical tool for coaches!!!
You should also consider the change in how the sub rule will be used as the season progresses.. I think they will use it more on the superstars at the start of the season and also more on the superstars when the game is in trouble of being lost. Lastly, I've made the decision not to have Gaff in my team for two reasons: 1 is that he doesn't have an eye for football, dosn't look natural. But 2 is because he has been used as sub for all games so far
What annoyed me about the sub rule was what the HS decided to write about it earlier this week. The headline in the paper the day after the Collingwood/WC NAB match was along the lines of "Pies unhappy about sub-standard rule" or close to that. The premise of the HS sports editor in choosing that headline was that if the Pies had already used their two subs at the point that they suffered a serious injury (such as Maxwell's internal bleeding), they would be severely disadvantaged. I call bullshit. If the substitutes were used as intended, no disadvantage would occur. Only because clubs are trying to strategise about how to maximise their use of the subs as quasi interchange players is there even an issue. What makes this even worse on the part of the Hun is that there was not any mention of Collingwood actually crying foul about any of this! It was entirely a media beat-up and a chance to use that headline to express their own point of view.
@Jason- Couldnt agree more.... The fact is, no matter how hard the league attempts to alter rules to change the game, teams will always attempt to push the limits to gain the smallest of advantages. So although probably intended by the AFL as injury insurance, we all know that it will most likely be used for burst type players. What I'm looking forward to seeing, is if any team uses an extra tall or ruck as the sub, and subsequently if the opposition counters this by also adding a ruck. I think we may see a fair few spare rucks named on the extended bench this year.
It still comes down to this simple equation... Previously: 4 on bench - 2 injured = 2 players short Now: 3 & 1 sub - 2 injured = 2 players short Yea yea if you sub someone off too early and then you get a couple injuries then you another man down, but thats your own fault for being to premature and trying exploit the system...
I can also see AFL coaches getting lambasted for poor substitute decisions. I also wonder whether anyone will be subbed out for disciplinary reasons.
Thunda, if you don't sub off early though, onfield, you're only 1 player short. So in that sense, it works a charm. Yes, you are short the tactical usage of the sub, but when he comes on, he's still a fresh pair of legs. As for it's usage, I've read a couple of times that coaches are going to be going tall in - but I'm sure that will differ from team to team. A team like the Bombers who do have the ability to swing talls players around will have a bit more leeway. Another aspect that I've heard around the traps is that when players are conditioned to run their guts out for 4 quarters, subbing them off at half time could be more detrimental to their overall fitness. These are high end athletes and I reckon the fitness staff would have to be well on top of that before they start pulling off the real runners in the comp (which accounts for the majority of players that we'll have in our team.) Still, it's gunna be an interesting on to watch- might be a good idea to look to other sports and see how they deal with it. Soccer is probably a good example, how do they tend to strategise their subs?