Craig McRae calls for shorter games as shock stat exposes AFL’s injury problems in 2024
A damning stat has highlighted the AFL’s widespread injury pain as a leading coach ramped up calls for matches to be shortened.
AFL
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The AFL player union is monitoring the worrying spike in injuries as it renews its call for two in-season byes a year and shorter quarters to reduce the toll on its playing group.
Collingwood coach Craig McRae was forced to call on Category B Wil Parker only 104 days into his Pies career as the premiership coach doubled down on his concerns over the AFL’s 150-strong injury toll this week.
The Herald Sun can reveal only the Covid-affected 2021 season has had a greater injury toll in the past five years, with 1236 games lost to injury by round 10.
It is 148 games up on the 2022 toll to round 10 with Richmond and Carlton decimated by a combination of soft-tissue and collision injuries.
The AFLPA is assessing the situation and is in regular dialogue with the AFL about player safety issues.
It remains steadfast that the league should have retained 16 minute quarters brought in for Covid instead of reverting to 20 minutes and time on.
The league is attempting to keep run times short with quicker goal reviews but game lengths regularly balloon out, with games last weekend running to 140, 129, 128 and 125 minutes.
The AFLPA is also pushing the league to again reconsider its decision to have only one AFL bye per season before the pre-finals bye.
It believes two byes at the third and two-third mark of the season would allow a much-needed rest and mean players are less likely to break down with fatigue and stress-related injuries.
It would also have a flow-on effect to the AFL fixture and reduce the need for so many short turnarounds between matches.
In 2028 when the AFL brings in a 19th team that bye will be handed to one team per round, which means some clubs with the short straw will get a bye very early in the season then play through until round 24.
The AFLPA is also aware some clubs were handed a second bye after the opening round while others will have to wait until round 15 for a bye.
The AFL this week said it would collate its annual injury report post-season, making clear it was a club-based issue.
The player union also lobbied for the AFL to retain the 90-interchange cap used in Covid instead of bringing the figure down to its current 75 rotations.
They have secured longer off-season breaks and rules around five-day breaks for their players.
But Carlton’s pre-season was so short the Blues made clear they needed to get a huge training load into their players so it appears that decision was counter-productive.
McRae said on Tuesday as well as the club’s significant injury toll only half of its players were able to train because of being managed with sore spots.
He said the AFL had to tackle the problem given the 150 players across the league who were not able to take the field.
The AFL’s games record holder Mick Malthouse has long argued for shorter game lengths, believing 90 minutes is the perfect recipe.
“We’ve got to look at our game and say: ‘Soccer is 90 minutes, rugby is 80 minutes, is there somewhere in between where we can get our game to about 90 minutes all up’?” he has said of his ideal game length.
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