In a season of unwanted firsts the AFL is set to charter yet more virgin territory when it crams 33 matches across 20 consecutive days, starting on Wednesday night when Western Bulldogs face Richmond at Metricon Stadium. For some, it is Christmas in July. For the AFL, it will go down as either a masterstroke of fixturing or a haphazard experiment that might bring the integrity of the competition into question.
There is common sense behind the radical move. With teams safely ensconced in hubs – and importantly for Victorian teams, away from Victoria – there is a groundswell in clubland to get on with it. In normal times, players have lives outside of football. Within the straitjacketed confines of Covid-19, however, players by necessity have been redefined by their day jobs. So they might as well play. The deal has been sweetened by the AFL allowing them to begin contract negotiations for 2021 and beyond, despite the fiscal uncertainties wrought by the pandemic.
The AFL, too, is toey to lock away as much action as it can. The ruling body has already moved heaven and earth in response to Victoria’s coronavirus situation and is acutely aware of the challenges a similar outbreak in New South Wales would present. “We’re banking games while we can, while everything is going well and we’ve got the opportunity to get games away,” AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said last week.
And get games away they will. Rounds nine through 12 are as kaleidoscopic as they are chaotic. Five-day breaks will be considered a luxury. Players and staff, some more than others, will go dizzy on a merry-go-round of eat, sleep, play, fly and precious little else. More fixture compression is coming, too. The make-up of rounds 13-16 is yet to be decided, but the plan is for more of the same. Each club – barring Essendon and Melbourne – will play eight games in a six-week period and be afforded a bye in that time, creating more wiggle room should the AFL need it. The Bombers and Demons, whose round three clash was postponed due to Connor McKenna’s positive Covid-19 test, will push on with nine games over six weeks. It is, by any definition, a festival of footy.
But fans drooling over the schedule like a dog on heat might be careful what they wish for. While the AFL is wont to spin the coming weeks as brightly as it can – “It’s a unique opportunity to create a new product for our supporters and members,” McLachlan said of 20 straight days of competition – there is no getting away from the pitfalls that lie in wait.
For many players, whose bodies are accustomed to breaks between games of anywhere between six and 10 days, backing up after four- and five-day intervals will provide significant concerns. The shorter games will undoubtedly help, but all clubs will be on high alert for a spike in injuries and fatigue. “It’s definitely something we need to be mindful of,” Steve Hocking, the AFL’s football operations manager, said on SEN. “Most clubs have got 45-plus players available to them. We’ll just see clubs going deeper into their lists during this period. This phase belongs to them and they will need to address that accordingly. Whatever strategy, I think that’s the thing we’re all looking forward to.”
By force or by design, the compressed fixture opens the door for clubs to rest players en masse – it is a strategy the AFL has been exposed to in the past and something it would prefer not to confront again. It is never, ever a good look for the game. “No I don’t,” Hocking said when asked if he held any concerns about the competition’s integrity being jeopardised by list management. “Clubs will need to design how best to keep their group healthy.”
The fixture, unavoidably, is less kind on some clubs than others. Five clubs – Brisbane, Collingwood, Geelong, Melbourne and North Melbourne – will endure two four-day breaks in the coming three weeks. The Magpies, already stretched to the limit by injuries to key personnel, will play four matches in 14 days in three different states; three of their opponents will have enjoyed a longer break between games. Some other Victorian teams, by virtue of their relocation, have it almost as bad. The intention is to make good in rounds to come for those adversely treated, but by then the horse might have already bolted. Expect little sympathy outside of Victoria for these clubs; the challenges of excessive travel are well known to the AFL’s so-called interstate teams.
The AFL has thought on its feet, is flying by the seat of its pants. In the current climate there is no other way. It might work. It might not. Either way, it is going to be one hell of a ride.