KANGAROO Flat coach Darryl Wilson has called on the Bendigo Bank Bendigo Football League to extend the interchange bench in an urgent plea to protect player welfare.
Wilson made the comments in the wake of the senior team’s uninspiring round one showing against Golden Square.
Two Kangaroo Flat players were injured in the clash, restricting Wilson to a one-man bench.
The majority of BFL coaches cautiously supported the four-man interchange proposal when contacted by The Advertiser yesterday, stating that the increase in the speed of the game and the condition of grounds ensured it was a matter worth Central Victorian Football consideration.
‘‘I was really quite shocked that a lot of the leagues around here have got it, but we haven’t,’’ Wilson said yesterday.
‘‘We stick to the old three, where as Heathcote (District Football) League and I’m sure the Loddon Valley (Football) League and all major leagues around here have got that set up.
‘‘I certainly think it raises some issues around playing players that are injured and the risk associated with them continuing to play.’’
Wilson has harboured concerns about the interchange bench since the pre-season, but admitted that an extra player would have done little to change the outcome of the 144-point loss on Saturday.
‘‘I just think we’ve got an obligation to the players, I don’t like playing blokes that are not right, whether it’s a crook calf or a corkie or a head injury or whatever,’’ he said.
‘‘We didn’t run out of players on the bench, but I just would have thought it gives coaches the opportunity to rotate players and look after them.
‘‘It wouldn’t have made any difference in the result at all, but I’ve been an advocate of this for the past three months and have been talking about it at club level, but it’s not really until you start playing that it starts hitting home that three is not enough.’’
CVF chief executive officer Steven Oliver said despite the positive response from seven of the nine BFL coaches, the proposal received little support at a gathering of club presidents little more than a fortnight ago.
‘‘It was raised at the presidents meeting a couple of weeks ago and the presidents basically don’t want to see it introduced at this point in time and that’s where the league sits.
‘‘It’s in the leagues constitution to have three and unless the clubs are really pushing for it at this stage that’s where it will stay,’’ Oliver said.
‘‘It’s a delegate based system and majority rules, but obviously as with most things, if the league thinks it’s something that should be introduced then they could.
‘‘At this stage, and talking to the club presidents on April 2, it was mentioned in that agenda and there wasn’t a whole lot of support for it.’’
Oliver said the recent shortening of quarters from 25 minutes plus time-on to 20 minutes plus time-on had ensured the impact of faster matches had been reduced and said a marked push from BFL clubs would have to occur should CVF consider such a proposal.
He also revealed that several clubs believe a dearth of players at reserve level to be of far greater concern and said that should an extended bench become reality it would be at the detriment of the second-tier competition.
‘‘A lot of the clubs are saying it’s hard enough rotating three blokes through, let alone four, so that’s where it’s at the moment,’’ Oliver said.
‘‘Certainly if coaches suggested to their presidents that three was having a major impact on their competitiveness or on the players conditioning and stuff like that that really warranted a fourth player then absolutely we’d certainly look at it.
‘‘At this stage I think a lot of the clubs have said at administration level that they feel it’s a tough battle getting numbers for starters and all of a sudden if you’re adding another number in there that’s really of no benefit than that’s something we wouldn’t look at.
‘‘It’s a little bit like the AFL: where do you stop once you start it? There would have to be compelling arguments as to why we would change it, and you would certainly want majority support from the clubs to do so.’’