Fatigue setting in.

[Sunny_]

I'm sure some others have noticed it now. Over the past couple of weeks, especially over the last half, it seems the boys are getting very very tired. With still several rounds of footy left, some of them being up against the strongest teams in the league, I wonder... how bad is it going to get?

Hunt in his column noticed the hints of fatigue getting to the boys during training last week. They had a bit of an ordinary last training session last week, apparently. The minature bye will certainly help them, I think. An extra day to recover. But surely the club cannot do this sort of thing every week?

So, what's the answer? I believe we have 4 superstars already on display, each of which has played nearly every game. Lynch, Swallow, McKenzie & Smith. Do we give these young guys rests later on in the season, perhaps sacrificing winnable games in the future? (IE: Brisbane, Adelaide). Or do we press on with them, hoping that they will hold out? Continue the experiment?

Without looking anything up, these are the guys I would think would be set to play for the rest of the season. Due to weeks off they've had recently, or what week they made their debut.

Dixon
Matera
Bennell
Wilkinson
R. Thompson
Hutchins
Tape
May
Harris
Nichols

The list doesn't actually look too bad, looking at it. Hutchins having a few weeks off came at a great time. Matera's injury could almost be seen as a blessing in disguise given the rest he had, as was Bennell's suspension. On top of discovering some good talent in Wilko and Thompson, I think the back-line should hold up well. The rotations have served Bluey well in that area.

Those who might just last, I think, are:

Prestia
Russell
Jolly
Weller
Gorringe

Guys who seem to be in and out of the side, or the sub. These guys should be set to run out the season, if a little tired by the end.

Those who may well burn out, are easily the top 4 Sun rookie stars,

Lynch - only had 2 weeks off since round 5?
Smith - Played every game except for one.
Swallow - Ditto.
McKenzie - Same again.

Will we see a huge re-structure in the next several weeks, if they continue to burn out? Bennell taking Swallow's place, Gorringe/Nichols/Thompson into Smith, Harris into McKenzie & Thompson/Dixon into Lynch?

I've noticed Smith in particular seems to be quite tired. He doesn't go up nearly as much as he did anymore, and his shots at goal are a bit off compared to the start of the year.

What would be peoples thoughts? I actually wouldn't mind seeing Swallow, Lynch, Smith, McKenzie etc rested for maybe even two weeks. Then come home strong. Mind you, would be hard for them to win rising star by missing weeks! And they would learn much more from playing the Pies and Geelong than they would against Adelaide and Brisbane.

Plenty of the reserves put up their hand on the weekend. Liddy I wouldn't mind seeing again actually, who played extremely well on the wing.

So yes. Would you rest the four stars? When would you?

 

[supernova_]

Not at once, but perhaps as they have been doing they could be due for another 1 week rest at different intervals sure. But in no way would I be wrapping them in cotton wool. Game time against quality opposition is invaluable and required to be fast tracked into them as quick as possible

 

[GiantForce]

I'd go all in this week. You need your best side out there because this is the last game where you had a big chance (Brizzy will bounce back after the first QClash, they'll be hard to beat. While you have a shot against Adelaide, the clash it very late in the season, as is the Brizzy one, and you guys could be very worn out by then)

 

[WrongUn]

The club should just make a performance based decision on every player for the remainder of the season as they should have been for the whole season. If any player, young or old is tired, not performing, then drop them. Simple as that and give someone else a shot who is fit and ready. Lots of cuts to be made, lots of players fighting for the same spots. They are professional athletes and they will want to play every game they can... no need to cotton ball 4 players... They can rest in the off-season. We just need to put our best performing 22 from the previous weeks games in the seniors/reserves out on the park. We don't want to start tanking in our first season do we?!

 

[Fat Pizza]

Smith does look tired, but is still playing pretty well, even though not at the level he performed at earlier in the season.

I think Gorringe looks more tired. He's not as physically strong & is getting puffed out fairly quickly. I reckon Gorringe needs a rest this week.

Actually most of the team looked tired against the Swans. I think they'll need to keep rotating & not worry too much about who we're playing each week.

 

[goldcoastfc]

It was a big disadvantage to have the two byes so early in the season, but that can't be helped now. From here we just need to keep trying, not a lot of games that we can expect to win in the rest of the season, but its all about development as we know. Swallow is incredible in his consistency, but you can't expect many others to be like him.

 

[1980GFVideo]

It was a big disadvantage to have the two byes so early in the season, but that can't be helped now. From here we just need to keep trying, not a lot of games that we can expect to win in the rest of the season, but its all about development as we know. Swallow is incredible in his consistency, but you can't expect many others to be like him.

Really odd decision by the AFL to give you guys the first bye where it was nothing more than a delay to the season and probably the most detrimental bye you can get. Teams like ourselves had byes where it would appear to be an advantage to have them. Not that we capitalised on that advantage.

If you guys had a bye last week or around this time then Id be a little more concerned about this week.

The Swans really exploited your younger team but if you could get back to that form that took Fremantle on for three quarters in a game where they were desperate to win for Pavlich then that would be a good way to end the season.

 

[supernova_]

Really odd decision by the AFL to give you guys the first bye where it was nothing more than a delay to the season and probably the most detrimental bye you can get. Teams like ourselves had byes where it would appear to be an advantage to have them. Not that we capitalised on that advantage.

If you guys had a bye last week or around this time then Id be a little more concerned about this week.

The Swans really exploited your younger team but if you could get back to that form that took Fremantle on for three quarters in a game where they were desperate to win for Pavlich then that would be a good way to end the season.

I believe the byes were made to be at the start of the year to have less games at the Gabba and give more time for Metricon Stadium to get finished. That's why we had the 2 byes, and a lot of away games in the first 10 or 11 rounds. Now we get a run home of 8 out of 12 or so in our new stadium.

 

[Fat Pizza]

The bye in Round 1 also helped the AFL to hype up the start of the season. The hype for Round 1 took care of itself, then they could hype up Round 2 as the introduction of a brand new club.