Definitely some things in there worth taking note of.Saints drop Ball … or did they?
By Shane Crawford
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/afl/ ... _did_they/
THIS time last year Geelong had seven players who had played every game.
By season’s end, six of them had represented the club in all of its 25 games.
Fast forward a year, and only two Cats—Corey Enright and Joel Selwood—have yet to miss a game.
It’s a big difference and I suggest it represents a change in philosophy as Geelong seeks to make up for the disappointment of Grand Final day last year.
In contrast, the AFL’s other current power side, St Kilda, seems to be doing things a little differently—at least on face value.
The unbeaten Saints have had 11 players play in all 15 games to date. Luke Ball would have been the 12th, but the club dropped him for today’s game against Adelaide.
While St Kilda was adamant Ball was dropped for form reasons and was not rested, the break won’t do him any harm.
Football is all about preparation, and clubs now realise they need to be spot on to ensure they are in the best condition to win the flag.
So, it is very interesting to see if St Kilda’s attitude changes in the coming weeks.
Coach Ross Lyon insisted this week that his club would not be resting players in the rundown to September. You have to take him at his word, too. But if there are any little niggles or ailments hampering his players, I’m sure you will find the club opts on the side of caution.
Geelong did that last week, when they made eight changes to their team to play Brisbane Lions at the Gabba.
It was the right call. A win is always important but, if you can afford it, a win in September is much more important than one in Round 15.
How many of those players who missed last week, including Gary Ablett, Darren Milburn, Matthew Scarlett, James Kelly and Andrew Mackie, would have missed if it had been the first qualifying final? Without knowing for sure, I would hazard a guess—five of the eight.
In any given club at this time of the year, I would suggest that anywhere between 10-15 players would be carrying injuries into matches.
For clubs such as the Western Bulldogs, currently sitting third but could still slip out of the top four, they do not have the luxury of resting too many players.
They have 12 players who have run out in every game.
But if Rodney Eade’s team locks in the double chance, I am sure they would be happy to give the likes of Jason Akermanis or Brad Johnson a physical and mental refresher before the finals.
Geelong and St Kilda do have that luxury, having already secured top two status.
We did that at Hawthorn late last season and I am sure it played a significant part in seeing us win the premiership.
We had started the season so well and had all but assured ourselves of finishing in the top four (even the top two) a long way out from finals.
So we worked out a system of aiming all our focus on getting players as prepared as they could for the finals, rather than the last bracket of home-and-away games.
In doing that, we had some players go in for surgery in the middle of the year, when they would have otherwise tried to play through the pain.
And a few players got the chance for a rest later in the year, with some niggles.
I missed our Round 22 game against Carlton. I really wanted to play because I wanted to be out there when Buddy Franklin kicked his 100th goal, but I knew the prize at the end of the season was potentially much more important.
And so it proved on the last Saturday in September.
We don't have to drop 22 players at once, but just getting a week off into players like Riewoldt, Montagna, Hayes, S Fisher and one or two others would be ideal in my book.
Fantastic physically, and that's obvious. But a great thing mentally as well.
