Cornes tipping rule changes to create “all-time injury carnage”

Will the AFL’s rule changes come back to haunt them later this year?

SEN’s Kane Cornes is worried that tweaks which have been made to speed up the game, like the stand rule and last touch out of bounds, could come back to hurt the players on the injury front.

Cornes had the thought during the first quarter of Thursday’s clash between Hawthorn and Sydney at the MCG, when 11 goals were kicked in an up-and-back game which was described as ‘basketball-style’.

He asked his SEN Breakfast co-host David King whether the speed of the game was sustainable, tipping that there will be ‘all-time carnage’ on the injury front if this continues.

Cornes: “Can we talk about the first quarter? I don't know if I've seen a game like that in the first quarter.”

King: “Free flowing?”

Cornes: “This isn't sustainable, is it?” 

King: “What do you mean?”

Cornes: “Well, I think the physical demands that the rule changes are placing on the players are going to become a problem a little bit later on down the line.

“Dean Cox, as you know, is very open with the media… but he was sort of saying that Isaac Heeney’s hamstring off a nine-day break at the time was interesting to them. They reckon the high-speed running is absolutely through the roof, so players are running less distance, but the speeds that they're running at is through the roof (putting them at risk of injury).

“Then you see what we saw in the first quarter, the speed of ball movement, which is great with 11 goals… Hawthorn had eight entries for eight scores at one point.

“Now is that sustainable? Or are we going to see all-time carnage in the second half of the year when it comes to injury and the demands of the players?”

King: “Well, that's the challenge with the marathon season, each and every year. This is why there's a lot of luck involved in winning premierships, because you need to find a way to manage your list, and this is what I think Geelong do better than any other team every year. 

“Six of the of the 16 scores in the first quarter were from centre bounce. I don't think that's a high tax, effort-based, gut-running score.”

Cornes: “But how many marks? There was something like 16 marks in the first quarter for both teams, and I think there wasn't a throw-in for the first probably 25 minutes of the first quarter. 

“The ball is in motion, basketball-style, the whole time. 

“I really enjoyed watching it. But I don't know if it's sustainable, and I don't know if the league is helping the clubs and the players by putting them at this risk.

“We’ll see, but I suspect there's going to be all-time carnage when it comes to injuries.”