Sydney midfielder Jude Bolton has used Swans legend Michael O’Loughlin as a prime example of someone who would have struggled under the AFL’s contentious interchange experiment.
All three coaches questioned the two interchange/two substitute system being trialled during the pre-season after Geelong, St Kilda and the Swans had a win apiece on Friday night in their opening games at Etihad Stadium.
The weather did not help, with the temperature staying above 30 degrees for the three mini-games.
Bolton said O’Loughlin, who retired three years ago with the club record of 303 matches, usually needed a carefully-manipulated buildup to the start of the home and away season.
On Friday, Collingwood ruckman Darren Jolly called the trial system “bloody stupid”, amid speculation the AFL might try to introduce “two and two” for all games next year.
“It’s just that ability to manage your players and that’s all pre-season matches are about,” Bolton said.
“The prime example is Michael O’Loughlin, who never did a pre-season, he comes in and we want him right for round one.
“(We were) able to manipulate his minutes, give him a bit of a taste and he’s right for round one.
“We wouldn’t be able to play him in that format because he’s a chance to injure himself and miss the start of the season.”
Bolton is an AFL Players’ Association club delegate and he said two and two was certainly a topic of discussion within the body.
Last season, the league changed the interchange bench from four players to three plus one substitute.
Bolton would prefer four on the bench plus a substitute, with an even bigger bench for pre-season games.
“It just stands to reason – it should go back to six and two or whatever, just to get our practice matches going,” he said.
“From a long-term perspective … I don’t want to see the quality of the football diminish as well as the longevity of players.”
St Kilda coach Scott Watters said two and two had made it tougher to manipulate the game time of key position players such as Justin Koschitzke, who came off in their first mini-game on Friday night with calf soreness.
A Saints spokesperson said on Saturday that they would monitor Koschitzke over the next day or so.
“It’s probably one of the things, that rotation system put a fair amount of pressure on our key forwards, who spent more time on the ground, and probably our key backs,” Watters said.
Watters, Swans coach John Longmire and Cats counterpart Chris Scott said two and two, plus the heat and the fact it was the start of pre-season games all combined to make it an extremely tough night for the players.
Longmire said post-match he thought Bolton was going to cry when told he would sit out Sydney’s second game.
But that comment might well have been Longmire’s deadpan humour.
“I think I’d hit the showers before he’d tapped me on the shoulder,” Bolton said with a grin.
“It was pretty warm.”