West Coast coach Adam Simpson believes shorter quarters in 2020 will greatly benefit star ruckman Nic Naitanui.
The AFL announced before round one that quarters will be trimmed to 16 minutes plus time on this year as part of the league’s commitment to deliver a 17-round regular season amid the current COVID-19 restrictions.
Simpson said Naitanui would flourish during shorter matches, admitting the 30-year-old currently can only afford to play a maximum 75 minutes.
“It does change a little bit with the new rules and the games being shortened because of Nic’s (Naitanui) ability to have impact on the game,” Simpson told Sportsday.
“It’s tremendous but it’s not sustainable for a full game. He probably plays 65 or 75 minutes and at the moment and the game goes for around 100 minutes which is different to last year.
“120 minutes means you probably need a second ruck so we’re actually working on what we’re going to do with our second ruck position - is it a forward?
“That’s probably taking up a lot of time because Nic is not a 100-minute player. Having him back to full strength…I think he can push up to the 75 or 80 minute mark but keeping in mind he’ll need a spell at some point.”
Simpson confirmed he was weighting up whether to play big man Tom Hickey alongside Naitanui in next Saturday night’s clash against Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium.