That's a wrap for today and another huge week of AFL news. Stick with heraldsun.com.au for live coverage of Essendon v Melbourne tonight and games all weekend – and we'll be back at 7am Monday with another edition of AFL Daily.
AFL Daily: Live rolling footy news from around Australia for April 4, 2019
Coaches as well as players are at risk of fatigue after four or five-day breaks as some clubs grapple with short turnarounds for the first time. The warning comes as the Western Bulldogs, Sydney, Richmond and Melbourne prepare for short turnarounds. RECAP TODAY'S FOOTY NEWS
Coaches as well as players are at risk of fatigue after four or five-day breaks as some clubs grapple with short turnarounds for the first time.
Western Bulldogs and Sydney must front up five days after their Round 3 games this weekend while Richmond and Melbourne will do battle on Anzac eve just four days after their Round 5 matches.
RECAP ALL TODAY’S AFL NEWS IN THE BLOG BELOW
High performance expert David Buttifant said the challenge wasn’t only physical and suggested clubs should enjoy “a little bit of frivolity” to stay fresh.
“There might be a bit more emphasis on yoga or meditation or they might go to a different venue, reduce meeting times and things like that,” Buttifant said.
“If you do too much they can go in mentally fatigued. It’s that cognitive energy. It’s holistic — the psychological and the physiological are so closely connected.
“That’s why it’s not just the players, it’s actually the coaches and staff as well that need to be able to have a bit of a breather and regroup.
“The coaches doing a lot of analysis, working overtime, giving feedback to players and reviewing games. They need a bit of time off, too.”
Norm Smith medallist Jason Johannisen (ankle) was close to returning for the Dogs on Sunday although next week’s five-day break was likely a consideration in holding him back.
Excluding Anzac games, five-day breaks were prohibited until this season.
But the AFL Players’ Association approved one per team to help play more Thursday games.
Geelong kicked clear against Adelaide on Thursday night off the back of a five-day lead-in plus an interstate trip.
Buttifant, co-founder at Resilience Builders, said extended breaks afterwards also needed planning.
“You’re using a lot of adrenaline to get yourself up for that four, five-day turnaround,” he said. “It’s that aftermath as well — giving them a bit of R & R to recalibrate and to give them a chance to recover.
“It’s not just in footy. We need an opportunity to recharge our batteries and there’s things footballers do that normal people can do as well.
“It could be just getting back to family and reconnecting, that could be enough as a bit of recovery too.
“When you’re focusing and using all your adrenaline to get through those two weeks for example, and when you’ve had a really heavy load — like if you’re at uni and you’ve got exams — after it you get sick.
“You’re using adrenaline and your auto-immune system starts to become vulnerable.”
Recap all today's footy news in the blog below
Updates
Final Sunday teams
The six teams playing on Sunday have trimmed their squads – and there is good news for SuperCoach players.
Kangaroos youngster Bailey Scott has survived and will play against Hawthorn.
WESTERN BULLDOGS v GOLD COAST
Bulldogs: No changes
Gold Coast: No changes
HAWTHORN v NORTH MELBOURNE
Hawks: IN Chad Wingard, David Mirra. OUT Shaun Burgoyne, Liam Shiels
Roos: IN Trent Dumont. OUT Marley Williams
FREMANTLE v ST KILDA
Dockers: IN Taylin Duman, Brandon Matera. OUT Sean Darcy, Lachie Schultz
Saints: IN Hunter Clark, OUT Jack Steven (managed)
AFLW draft order announced
Collingwood will have the first pick in Monday's AFLW draft.
The AFL has released the order for the draft, with the Pies – who finished bottom in Conference B – holding the No.1 pick.
The order is based on overall results, ignoring the competition's two conferences.
Brisbane, which finished second-last in Conference B with two wins, has the No.2 pick.
A lottery was conducted to determine where expansion clubs Richmond, St Kilda, Gold Coast and West Coast would fall in the draft order. Last year expansion club Geelong had the first draft pick, selecting Nina Morrison.
All clubs can sign up to three rookies and expansion clubs can sign up to 12 players including no more than four from any Victorian team, Adelaide or GWS, and no more than eight from Fremantle or Brisbane.
A second trade and free agency period will be held from April 23-26.
Round 1
1 Collingwood
2 Brisbane Lions
3 GWS Giants
4 Western Bulldogs
5 Melbourne
6 North Melbourne
7 Geelong Cats
8 Fremantle
9 Carlton
10 Adelaide Crows
11 St Kilda
12 Richmond
13 West Coast Eagles
14 Gold Coast Suns
SuperCoach last word
MOST POPULAR TRADES
1. Dustin Martin to Tom Rockliff
2. Isaac Heeney to Tim Kelly
3. Isaac Heeney to Tom Rockliff
4. Noah Balta to Matt Parker
5. Dustin Martin to Lachie Neale
Are you on the Tom Rockliff train? The Phantom is – and he says the return of Ollie Wines isn't putting him off.
Here's his final word on Round 3: https://bit.ly/2uLG5uv
Magpie legend's extraordinary Hird outburst
Collingwood legend Tony Shaw has declared James Hird should never coach at AFL level again.
And the Magpies premiership captain and former coach didn't hold back about what he thought of Hird's actions during the Bombers' notorious supplement scandal.
"He should never coach at AFL level again, whatever happened at Essendon should never have been allowed to happen," Shaw told Macquarie Sports Radio.
"People say you’ve got to forgive and forget. No, you don’t.
"What happened to them were the darkest days we’ve even seen in the history of the AFL."
Hird has left the door open to a return to coaching and the Bombers, where he was in charge for 85 games from 2011-15 – interrupted by a 12-month AFL ban.
Asked on radio last weekend if he could make a coaching comeback, Hird said "never say never".
But Shaw rejected that suggestion outright.
"What those young players were put through, if that was my son involved as one of those young players I would have gone down there and grabbed him by the neck and tried to belt the s— out of him – excuse the expression," he said.
"I'm probably going to be proved wrong, I think he might go somewhere and be an assistant coach, but I don't think he should ever coach at AFL (level) again."
Port says Wines is ready to go
Port Adelaide expects returning co-captain Ollie Wines to make an immediate impact as the Power faces Brisbane at the Gabba on Saturday night.
Midfield coach Jarrad Schofield said the club was confident in Wines after assistant coach and former Crows grunt player Scott Thompson put his injured shoulder through a rigorous test this week and expected him to play both in the midfield and attack.
"I'm super excited – it's the first time I get to coach Ollie in a game," Schofield said. "He'll play as normal."
Wines was ready to run within weeks of injuring his shoulder in a water skiing accident and the only reason he had been held back in the first two rounds was to build up his contested work.
The Footy Show may want to check their sources. This is from earlier today …
– Liz Walsh from The Advertiser reports …
Scans on Crow Paul Seedman’s knee have ruled out an ACL injury.
Crows science and medical services co-ordinator Steve Saunders said this afternoon the scans revealed Seedsman had sustained significant injury to capsular and bone structures after he hyperextended his left knee in the last term against Geelong last night, and he would require an MRI to better understand the damage.
“We were obviously concerned for Paul given the nature of the injury,” Saunders said.
“Follow-up examination post-game was more encouraging than initial assessments and imaging undertaken today has proved good news for him.
“He has not injured his ACL. Paul sustained significant injury to capsular and bone structures that required MRI to understand these better. We will know more as to timeframes for Paul as we assess his clinical progress over the next five to seven days.”
Seedsman was stretchered from the oval in significant pain after the incident in the final term.
Seedsman dodges ACL injury
– Liz Walsh from The Advertiser reports …
Scans on Crow Paul Seedman’s knee have ruled out an ACL injury.
Crows science and medical services co-ordinator Steve Saunders said this afternoon the scans revealed Seedsman had sustained significant injury to capsular and bone structures after he hyperextended his left knee in the last term against Geelong last night, and he would require an MRI to better understand the damage.
“We were obviously concerned for Paul given the nature of the injury,” Saunders said.
“Follow-up examination post-game was more encouraging than initial assessments and imaging undertaken today has proved good news for him.
“He has not injured his ACL. Paul sustained significant injury to capsular and bone structures that required MRI to understand these better. We will know more as to timeframes for Paul as we assess his clinical progress over the next five to seven days.”
Seedsman was stretchered from the oval in significant pain after the incident in the final term.
Crows: Season in danger of slipping away
LINCOLN MOORE reports …
ADELAIDE Crows assistant coach Ben Hart is hoping the weekend off can help reinvigorate the players ahead of their round four clash against North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium.
A number of Crows stars struggled in their 24-point loss to Geelong at Adelaide Oval on Thursday night and Hart said they needed to turn things around quickly to stop their season slipping away.
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