By Daniel Cherny
Players and clubs rejoiced on Thursday, with the red vest given to the substitute, after the AFL decided the controversial rule would not be in place in 2016.
The interchange cap will be reduced from 120 rotations to 90, but teams will have four interchange players - as was the case prior to 2010.
The sub rule has been handed the red vest.Credit: Getty Images
Medical rotations such as concussion testing, the blood rule and stretcher changes will fall outside the cap, which will bring interchanges back to levels not seen since 2009. Changes between quarters will also be excluded from the cap.
The AFL released a statement on Thursday afternoon, outlining the decision.
"Throughout the 2014 and 2015 seasons, the AFL undertook considerable analysis in areas including rotation trends and use of the substitute, game style, injury rates and industry feedback," the league's football operations manager Mark Evans said in the statement.
"The interchange cap of 120 over the past two years allowed clubs to transition back to 2010 levels of interchange numbers."
"The reduced spread of rotations appears to have lowered the impact of rotation rate on success in winning a game."
The sub rule was introduced ahead of the 2011 season to enhance the chance that teams which suffered an injury would not be disadvantaged, and to reduce spiralling interchange numbers which had increased the speed of the game, and which the AFL believed was responsible for more collision injuries.
"There's a risk of more severe collision-type injuries if we don't act to stop the interchange taking player speed to a new level," then AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said late in 2010 as the league considered its options prior to the rule's implementation.
However as on-field congestion remained an issue and rotations continued to climb, the league was forced to take steps to slow players down in order to improve the game's aesthetics.
By late 2013, the AFL had decided to limit teams' interchanges, with 120 per side the ceiling over the past two years.
The decision will be a popular one in the club scene. Coaches including North Melbourne's Brad Scott, the Western Bulldogs' Luke Beveridge, Melbourne's Paul Roos and the late former Adelaide coach Phil Walsh all urged the league to make a change.
AFL players took to Twitter as news of the rule's scrapping broke, wih joy the prevailing emotion.
The rule drew a lukewarm response, with its early critics including then Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse.
Inaugural inductees into the "@AFL Sub Rule Hall of Fame" @AaronYoung40 (AFL record 21 green vests) @XaviEllis18 (AFL record 11 red vests)