THE quickening speed of 21st-century football and its physical demands on players has prompted the AFL to consider a pre-season experiment to limit the use of the interchange bench.
With a research project into the link between injury and the rapidly growing use of the interchange bench already commissioned, AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson confirmed yesterday that thought is being given to trialling a cap on its use during the 2008 NAB Cup.
With evidence showing that the game was 10% quicker in 2007 than in 2006 and a documented increase in the use of the interchange bench of 234% since 2000, Anderson floated the idea of a limit of 15 interchanges per team, per quarter, with the league's football managers.
Paradoxically, a suggestion from Sydney to increase the number of interchange players permitted in the NAB Cup, from six to eight, is also likely to be trialled.
While the home-and-away interchange average per club this year was 58, the number rose towards the season's end and peaked in September when Collingwood and Sydney used the interchange 174 times during an elimination final.
"The suggestion is that because of the increased use of the interchange the players are hitting each other harder, are moving at top speeds for longer and more likely to suffer collision injuries but we really need to look at that in-depth to see if the theory holds true," Anderson said.
"Basically, we've asked for some ideas (from the clubs), some input on the possibility of a limit. Is it worth thinking about?"
The AFL has already announced that there will be no changes made to the rules governing the season proper in 2008, meaning that any restriction on the use of the interchange in home-and-away matches could not be introduced until 2009 at the earliest.
The league has used the pre-season competition to experiment, of late to hasten the speed of the game and reduce the number of stoppages.
Anderson said that the league was not now thinking of slowing the game through an interchange limit but looking how it might be possible to keep it from getting even quicker if collision injuries increase.
