AFL introduces medical substitute

[Meg]

Who was the Swans ruckman who was taken off on a stretcher (v Brisbane I seem to remember) only to make a Lazarus-esque recovery and return to the game shortly afterwards?

One of the most hated people on RWO (Barratt) blames the other most hated (Clarko) for the medical sub and believes that the rule will be rorted.

BARRETT: How Clarko's rant sparked AFL rule change

So called Stretchergate. It was Sinclair in the dying minutes of the game when Brisbane came back from a huge deficit and were close to overhauling us, with the ball in their forward line.

Sinclair didn’t come back on but the delay while the stretcher was on the ground did allow our players time to flood the defence line. And run out winners by a very small margin.

Looked as if Sinclair had done his ACL. But instead he did make a Lazarus-type recovery and played the following week. [emoji14]

Brisbane were ropable and the then coach effectively accused Longmire of cheating in the subsequent media conference. I didn’t believe then (or now) that Longmire would do such a thing. Nevertheless I can understand the suspicion.

[Old Yella]

Why is everyone jumping straight to the "someone's gonna rort it" line? 99% of the time it'll work as intended and help ensure teams aren't disadvantaged when they lose a player to a serious injury.

I absolutely agree. How many times do we see one team dangerously hit a player causing a concussion and then the offending team gets the advantage of an extra player when they are taken off the field due to the concussion rule? Sure they might be reported for high contact but during the game you actually get an advantage for the illegal hit. It’s really just using the travelling emergency who was required to be there anyway.


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[sharp9]

That’s why I am massively in favour of a send off rule. And I think that it should be 17 on the field. If it’s good enough for rugby, soccer and ice hockey....

[Rod_]

My minor tweak would be that the rules are enforced for the first 3 quarters only. Then a coach could be able to introduce the sub if needed as a replacement in the last quarter.. No rotations just on and play in the 4th quarter. Or any part there of!

A super sub as they were not needed for the first 3/4 of the match

[Markwebbos]

So called Stretchergate. It was Sinclair in the dying minutes of the game when Brisbane came back from a huge deficit and were close to overhauling us, with the ball in their forward line.

Sinclair didn’t come back on but the delay while the stretcher was on the ground did allow our players time to flood the defence line. And run out winners by a very small margin.

Looked as if Sinclair had done his ACL. But instead he did make a Lazarus-type recovery and played the following week. [emoji14]

Brisbane were ropable and the then coach effectively accused Longmire of cheating in the subsequent media conference. I didn’t believe then (or now) that Longmire would do such a thing. Nevertheless I can understand the suspicion.

Now I remember. Sinkers went down so convincingly that play was stopped and a stretcher called... but then he got up and walked off the ground. If the club wasn’t being sneaky, Callum was.

[dimelb]

That’s why I am massively in favour of a send off rule. And I think that it should be 17 on the field. If it’s good enough for rugby, soccer and ice hockey....

Second that motion!

[sharp9]

Second that motion!

Thanks for the endorsement- I can’t believe that there wasn’t more outcry about Bazza and Gaff nearly killing a couple of blokes but they stayed in the field and the one’s going to the hospital can’t even have a sub!

[barry]

I third the motion.

[stevoswan]

Second half of this article on the ABC news site has some good discussion on the medical sub rule:

"AFL's return to MCG another step towards normality for Melbourne"

I won't provide a link because it will freeze the thread (as it's an ABC link).