“Position’s been taken, we’ve got no choice but to follow through on what standard’s been set,” Voss said.
However, Richmond coach Damien Hardwick revealed he and his panel had had a serious discussion about lending players to the Eagles.
“What I will say is the way that club went about it was first class on the weekend. I thought they did a wonderful job. It’s funny, we had a bit of a discussion about would we, to make it competitive, would we think about offering some of our younger players if they wanted to pick them to play to come over,” Hardwick said on Fox Footy.
“We had a discussion amongst our coaches because it would be great to see young players get experience at the top level if they are not playing but then you become incredibly competitive with your own boys, I suppose.”
Voss said though Hardwick’s loan model had merit, he had not given it much thought.
“Potentially, but I tend to not worry about something that might turn up in 2023. I’m worried about what we do this week. They’re all great thoughts but it’s not going to happen this year,” Voss said.
The AFL, which has a “play on” mantra this season, said on Tuesday the replacement policy agreed to by clubs was clear, with clubs having registered up to 20 players outside of their primary and rookie lists. These players have been derived from their aligned state league/second-tier competitions or players from designated standalone state-league teams, and 19-year-old next generation academy or northern academy players currently in the clubs’ programs.
There would be contractual issues to address, such as payment and any ramifications of potential injury, were Hardwick’s suggestion to be taken up.
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin said he was unsure if the league had adopted the right approach this season in how it handled the impacts of the pandemic.
“I feel for [Eagles coach] Adam Simpson right now. For any coach to be sitting there in his position where you have lost 14 players in a week is a very tough situation,” he said.
“It was clearly put on the agenda by the AFL at the start of the season that this would be what the situation looks like for clubs but, I think when it happens to you, I think it is really hard to imagine how you deal with it and what is best for the game.
“Whether we’ve got it right as an industry, I’m not sure, but we know what is in front of us. I think every club at some stage is going to have to deal with it on some level, it is just the level that it goes to. So the ball is back in the club’s courts to mitigate risk as much as possible.”
The Eagles’ 14 changes marked an VFL-AFL record for the most number of team changes from one round to the next.
Voss questions AFL ‘top-up’ policy as Hardwick raises player loan plan
Source: Philippines Alive
