AFLPA president Patrick Dangerfield says conversations should be had about the possibility of playing more matches in a season.
Due to COVID-19, the AFL opted to reduce the current season to 17 games with shortened quarters, but Dangerfield believes there should be a discussion take place about how more games can be played in future seasons.
“The problem with playing everyone twice is ground availability and just how taxing that would be,” Dangerfield said on SEN’s Whateley.
“I definitely think the conversation should be had around playing more than 22 games a season and especially when you have the ability to pivot and be fluid about how the fixture is run. You might lock in a fixture for the first eight weeks and then having a floating fixture for (the next period of the matches).
“I think we’ve all got to be open to all potential changes and if that’s an increase in games … it might be (as many as) 27 games in a season with a slightly shorter game length, I think that’s something we should consider.
“The other thing to confront is COVID-19 isn’t going away fast and this is something we’re going to have to live with yet, so I don’t think the year is just going to end and automatically we’re just going to return to the status quo next season.”
Clubs have also been forced to back up after just four or five day breaks due to the current fixture compression and Dangerfield believes shorter breaks between matches could continue next season to help make the fixture fairer.
“What this has shown is there’s definitely a potential to have less breaks that might help equalise the fixture,” Dangerfield said.
“That’s one of the big compromises when you’re trying to give teams a bigger rest between games during a normal season. If you did have the ability to add more five-day breaks, you could make it more even but what makes those five day breaks easier are the shortened games.
“Because the games are less taxing, you do have the ability to back up quicker than you usually would.”
The AFL in the coming days will reveal the next block of fixtures, with more compression expected as the League looks to complete the season by the middle of October.
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