With the current financial crisis sweeping the AFL, calls have been made to consider reducing list sizes as a way of saving money.
This comes as teams do whatever they can to survive the COVID-19 lockdown period.
However, Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge believes it would be a serious disservice to the game to make that call.
“I have a pretty firm view on that, and it probably ties into the draft age as well, my thoughts always go to incentivising the game,” Beveridge told SEN’s Whateley.
“Ensuring there’s more and more opportunities for young boys and now young girls to play at the elite level. If we bring list sizes down, it disincentivises the game.”
Hawthorn midfielder Jaeger O’Meara is in favour of the reduction, suggesting it will help the lower leagues.
"To be honest, I don't mind the idea of cutting list sizes – and that was actually before any of this stuff happened," O'Meara told AFL Media.
"There are so many players across the competition and maybe the talent gets a little bit diluted at the backend of lists.
"I think decreasing list sizes could potentially make the feeder competitions a lot better, and then the guys who maybe needed another two or three years at a lower level come in and they're a lot better equipped for the rigours of AFL footy.
Beveridge does not agree with that argument, however.
“I don’t buy into any thought that it will strengthen the state leagues and the feeder competitions because the players who miss out on the final reduced lists will make those competitions better – they’re already playing in those competitions,” he said.
“The argument doesn’t actually hold any weight at all and the other thing is too we play an 18 versus 18 game and when you consider your pre-season and your training stimulus, you need to be able to train against each other.
“If you bring the lists down too far, you haven’t actually got enough numbers to make sure that your training program remains sophisticated enough.
“You’ll continually want to draw on players from other levels and bring them into your program to act as participants so you can have match practice and make sure you progress your game style and your plans.
“It just doesn’t make sense to me and for the young boy or girl who’s got to make a decision on what code they play with, whether it’s Australian rules or basketball or soccer or whatever it may be, we play a domestic game and there’s not a lot of opportunity there’s only 18 clubs so the more players on a list, the more opportunity.”