AFL 2020: League could fixture up to seven games during 32 days in hubs.
Geelong will head to its next hub in Perth after taking down the Lions ready to expose its full list of players with breaks as short as four days between games now the expectation.
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Geelong superstar Patrick Dangerfield says it would “make sense” to jam more AFL games into a shorter period and would back a move to extend the bench to ensure player safety.
The Cats lost two players in Thursday night’s win over Brisbane, with both Mitch Duncan and Quinton Narkle needing scans to assess their hamstring injuries.
They will travel with Geelong to its next hub in Perth and Dangerfield, who went best on ground against the Lions in a standout showing, expected the majority of the team list would be “exposed” this season.
It’s believed the AFL could try and play as many as five games across a 20-day period when the next bunch of games are released, which could include breaks as short as four days between matches.
AFL boss Gillon Mclachlan suggested this morning the league was even looking at plying up to six rounds while players were out of Victoria for at least the next 32 days.
“While players and clubs are up there, I think they go, ‘Let’s play’,” he said on 3aw.
“There’s a huge logistical challenge about actually getting the games away given who’s played who and who’s where.
“So, we are looking at, if we can, playing certainly more than one game a week over a period of time. Whether we can get through that and how that works is being worked on at the moment.”
Dangerfield, also president of the AFL Players Association, said that was “not ideal” but conceded it was the right move to complete the 2020 season.
“To me it makes sense that the season is condensed. If that means there are times we have to play off a four-day break or five day breaks which is already happening, that’s what we have got to,” he said on Friday morning.
“We have to make sure we expose all our list and rotate where it’s appropriate, and there will be a few more changes this week with those players coming out
“It’s not ideal, but this year nothing is ideal. We understand our obligation to the league more broadly.
“We’ve got to make sure the health and wellbeing of players is well catered for, but I dare say at some stage we are going to get into a situation where there may be the potential for games off a really short turnaround.
“It just means as clubs, as players, everyone is going to have to be ready.”
Dangerfield said he supported the interchange bench staying at four as a rule but acknowledged that could need to be changed.
“My view has been to leave it as it is, but I use the word fluid, and if we are playing games in the next period of time, maybe there would be the potential to extend it,” he said.
“That is something that could be decided upon quite late.
“Let’s keep the status quo at the moment, but if there is the potential for games to be condensed there is that increased risk to players and injury rates to increase if you played off a four-day break, then potentially a good move could be to increase it.”
Geelong remains $10 in premiership betting despite the thumping of the red-hot Lions.
Dangerfield said the Cats were starting to play their best football more often, and their best was “damn good”.
But he also said they needed to do it more consistently.
“We know our best is pretty damn good. It’s about consistently performing at that level,” he said.
“It feels like we are starting to play more of our brand more often. In a season like this, wins are crucial.”
Originally published as AFL 2020: League could fixture up to seven games during 32 days in hubs.