Demons, Bombers will miss out on rolling bye in order to play rescheduled clash
The AFL’s cram plan is set to push all teams to their limits – but none more so than Melbourne and Essendon, which will also have to make up their postponed Round 3 match.
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Essendon and Melbourne are expected to sweat through eight games in 40 days in the most gruelling ask of the AFL’s cram plan.
The Bombers and Demons will miss out on the rolling bye when the AFL crunches Rounds 9-16 into six weeks because they still have to play their Round 3 game that was postponed because of Conor McKenna’s “positive” COVID-19 test.
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The Herald Sun has confirmed they will play through while the other 16 clubs take a breather.
High performance expert David Buttifant said players from all clubs would have to strategically sit out some games to cope with the unprecedented workload.
“There’ll be a residual effect happening on the players over time and then towards the latter part of the season if they’re not managed they’ll become highly predisposed to soft-tissue injuries,” Buttifant said.
“Initially it’ll be OK, but after three or four weeks you’ll need to cycle them through. The more conditioned players will tolerate it.
“But the younger player will find it harder and then the older players who are highly predisposed (to injures) with slower recovery would struggle.”
Buttifant said an injury-prone star such as Joe Daniher would need his load carefully managed, potentially choosing two out of four games to miss.
Buttifant warned that marquee players had to be protected with finals around the corner because “if you lose them you’re going to lose them for 3-4 weeks”.
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin said the Demons had not yet had any confirmation of when their postponed match against Essendon, following Conor McKenna’spositive COVID-19 test, would be played.
“Wherever that lobs, we will take on that challenge. But we’ve got no idea where that lobs at the moment,” Goodwin said.
While the shortened games are being played at a greater intensity the workloads have significantly dropped.
Collingwood star Jeremy Howe averaged 14km per game last year but his GPS numbers were down to about 10km in the games leading up to his knee injury.
Dual Brownlow Medallist Nat Fyfe’s recurrent hamstring injury on Saturday serves as a timely reminder at the dangers of pushing players too hard.
The AFL will not add one or two substitutions to the interchange bench despite broad support from players and coaches.
“(Subs) would reduce the load and the essential priority is the safety and wellbeing of your athletes,” Buttifant said.
While the season will extend to 18 rounds when a rolling bye is introduced next month it will actually finish a week ahead of schedule due to the AFL compressing rounds.
That will allow staff and players to fly home early and save the AFL around $4 million on hub costs.
Round 18 is likely to conclude on September 20. There will be no pre-finals bye this year and finalists could be forced to remain in Queensland for an additional month as they chase a unique premiership.
Victorian clubs have been told they will not have to host the Queensland teams at their home grounds while Brisbane Lions and Gold Coast have been told they will be required to travel interstate for some games.
They will both play in Tasmania with the Lions set to face North Melbourne and the Suns likely to face Hawthorn and possibly the Kangaroos as well.
The AFL Players’ Association said it would not approve the fixture cram unless the contract freeze is released.
The AFLPA does not want uncontracted players suffering injuries before their deals for 2021 can be lodged.
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PENDLEBURY COULD LEAVE HUB MID-SEASON
Collingwood captain Scott Pendlebury says he would consider leaving an interstate hub if it was best for his family.
As many as seven Collingwood players including star midfielder Adam Treloar and defender Jack Crisp have young children and face big calls on how they can play out the season in a Queensland hub.
Pendlebury said he had missed his seven-month old daughter Darcy’s first words while he had been away in Perth and Sydney.
They were not permitted to join him at Joondalup Resort in Perth.
Pendlebury said he would return to Melbourne if his family needed him to.
“There are some big challenges. I have said it before, family comes first,” Pendlebury said on the Jock and Journo podcast.
“I have wrapped my head around the potential of having to leave the hub and head home and the boys continue on without me. That is something that I have thought about.
“I don’t want it to get to that stage but if it has to come to that and I have to go home for a couple of weeks then I will go home.”
Pendlebury made the comments on Tuesday night, before the AFL revealed its decision to continue the season in Queensland on Wednesday morning.
The five-time best and fairest winner said he would prefer a bye to allow the Victorian clubs’ players to come home and reset after the Perth stint.
As the Herald Sun revealed on Sunday, players’ families could be brought up to Queensland to help keep the season afloat.
But Pendlebury said it would be almost impossible to ask a young family to quarantine in a hotel for 14 days by themselves as part of a hard self-isolation period first.
“We are committed and we spoke about this initial three-week hub of getting through that and then obviously the talk around extending or what are we doing,” he said.
“There has been a little bit of talk around potentially a halfway hub for families (in Queensland) but I’m not going to ask my family to go into strict lockdown for 14 days in a hotel with Alex and two kids.
“That is just not going to happen.
“One thing I can see working from my point of view if there was some sort of bye.
“All the teams could all go to their home state, you pick up your family and you go to the next state and then technically another 14 day quarantine period but you’ve got your family.”
Western Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli says the club would fully support any player, coach or staff member who decided to leave their Gold Coast hub to support their own family back in Victoria.
Bontempelli said the playing group was still processing the news on Wednesday night that their initial 32-day stay in Queensland was now set to become 10 weeks, but the focus was on getting through it together.
“I think we were somewhat prepared for things to change to some extent, so it’s really processing the information and at the end of the day trying to support our people – our players and staff and their families and partners as best we can,” he said.
“It’s not just the players, it’s so much bigger, there are staff up here who are sacrificing their own circumstances and being flexible to support the league and players and the game, they’re doing an incredible job, so we want to support them as well.
“Of course (we would understand if some need to go home), they’ve already made decisions and been flexible and adapted to what the new season looks like.
“I think our people are very aware that we will support them in whatever decisions they need to make to support their partners and families. They’ve definitely got our full support from a club perspective to do that.”
A number of Bulldogs players have brought their families into the hub at Carrara including Jackson Trengove, Mitch Wallis, Josh Bruce and Tom Liberatore and Bontempelli said it had boosted the mood.
“It’s great to see Jackson Trengove bring up his three and they’re very playful, and Mitchy Wallis who has just had his a couple of weeks ago, and from my perspective you get to see how these players are interacting with their kids and building those relationships,” he said.
“And it’s great to spend time and get to know each other’s families on another level, and it’s obviously circumstantial being able to have them here, but I think for their own perspective it’s great to have their families close which is super important.”
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