‘Damned if you do, damned if you don’t’: How teams are handling the new tactical sub rule

Forced changes, dragging an underperformer, or a way to give game time to underdone but quality players: after four rounds, we are starting to get a clearer picture of how teams are using the tactical substitute in 2023.

AFL coaches say they have embraced the “valuable” new rule and its strategic foibles, and it’s clear that it has given teams injury and/or concussion cover, with an average of six forced replacements per round.

The Bombers were able to pull a tactical manoeuvre with Dyson Heppell before listing him as the substitute against the Giants on Sunday.Credit: Getty Images

However, a super sub has yet to emerge – analysis of the opening rounds shows Carlton have come closest to having a specialist sub, with the hard-running Lochie O’Brien used through the first three weeks. But he was moved into the starting line-up against North Melbourne on Good Friday. West Coast have twice had midfielder Elijah Hewett come on, as have Brisbane with young midfielder Deven Robertson.

We’ve had a look at how the substitutes were used in each game, and what the coaches have said about the new rule.

Forced substitutions

In round one, a third of the activations were required, with Carlton, Collingwood, Geelong, Western Bulldogs, Greater Western Sydney and North Melbourne dealing with injury.

In round two, there were seven forced changes, coming from Adelaide, Collingwood, Geelong, Greater Western Sydney, North Melbourne, Melbourne and Richmond, the latter having to take Dustin Martin (hamstring soreness) from the field.

In round three, there were six injuries, with Adelaide, Carlton, Collingwood, Geelong, Gold Coast and the West Coast Eagles requiring a fresh body off the bench. Over the Easter round, the Blues, Tigers, Western Bulldogs, Demons, Bombers, Cats and Swans were forced into changes.

An off-season rule change to what had been the medical sub meant clubs no longer had to rely on an injury – or a so-called injury – to activate their 23rd man. However, between 2011 and 2015, there were three men on the bench plus a substitute – the latter able to be activated at any point for any reason in the game.

‘The perfect scenario’

Blues coach Michael Voss said coaches were still tinkering with how they used the 23rd man.

“Teams will change the way that they use it. It’s hard to speculate what another team would do. We are still trying to work out what that looks like and how we want to manage it, but if you have got availability, that changes the whole different approach to how you want to tackle the season because it’s 23 rounds long,” Voss said.

“It could be a process of managing people through it as well, if they need to take a turn. But that’s all on availability. That would be the perfect scenario but, as we know, it doesn’t always work out as the perfect scenario.”

North Melbourne veteran Ben Cunnington wasn’t overly happy when substituted off against Carlton on Good Friday.Credit: Getty Images

That “managing”, Voss said, allows teams to give quality – but underdone – players restricted minutes, so at least they can contribute at the elite level. That was the case for the Power when Travis Boak, who has had injury issues this season, started as the sub in round one. The Tigers had also embraced that theory for Marlion Pickett, while the Hawks eased Chad Wingard back on Easter Monday.

Balancing this is the need to keep a potential regular sub match fit, meaning the player may need to also have a run in a second-tier competition on the same weekend, as was the case with O’Brien in round three.

Port Adelaide’s Orazio Fantasia and Essendon veteran Dyson Heppell are the only players to have experienced both sides of the spectrum. Fantasia was removed (in round one) and subbed in (in round three), while Heppell was removed in round two and injected against the Giants on Sunday after the Bombers manipulated selection to their advantage. No team has not activated the sub.

The typical substitute

What is clear is that teams have plumped for hard-running midfielders, medium-sized forwards or hybrid defenders to fill the role, with off-season speculation teams may opt for a tall or a ruckman yet to eventuate.

But, in round one, the option to go with speed could have cost the Kangaroos. Coach Alastair Clarkson rolled the dice by fielding only one specialist ruckman – having overlooked veteran Todd Goldstein in favour of Tristan Xerri – and almost paid the price when Xerri was subbed off at quarter-time with an ankle injury.

“Sometimes you make it on a whim and just hope for the best”

This led forward Charlie Comben and Hugh Greenwood to fill in, but it did not matter, as the Kangaroos still dominated the clearances against West Coast.

Substitutes can also give a team an emotional lift. When Essendon inserted Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti 6 ½ minutes into the final quarter to replace Harrison Jones against Hawthorn in round one, the Bombers faithful erupted. It was his first senior game for 588 days. McDonald-Tipungwuti had an immediate impact, booting a goal. Unfortunately for McDonald-Tipungwuti, he has not played since because of injury.

There are also instances when the trigger is pulled and an underperforming player is not only dragged but taken out of the game. Clarkson made the tough call on Good Friday to replace a disappointed Ben Cunnington, the veteran “clearance beast” who had only 10 touches until late in the third term. Clarkson knew his decision would become a story, but the lever had to be pulled to inject Greenwood.

It was a similar situation for Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell in round one, when marking tall Jacob Koschtizke was replaced by Conor Nash midway through the third quarter when he had managed just four touches.

For Brisbane back-up ruckman Darcy Fort, his substitution during the loss to the Bulldogs in round three led to his omission against Collingwood on Easter Thursday.

Unnecessary sub-terfuge

One cause of concern for coaches has been an inability to officially name the 23rd man at selection, meaning a designated sub may publicly have to be listed as omitted, as only 22 can be named. Clarkson, on Friday, led the ball for change, and was backed by great mate and Tigers coach Damien Hardwick, on Saturday. Chris and Brad Scott soon followed.

Clarkson argued that excluding the sub is an “unnecessary omission from the side”. That was the case with North Melbourne’s Greenwood, who was listed as omitted last Thursday and, on a more public scale, with Trent Cotchin. The Tigers on Thursday said the triple-premiership skipper, who hadn’t been in great form, had been rested, sparking media and supporter conjecture about his future. But their plan all along was for him to be the substitute. However, it has been pointed out the Tigers could have volunteered a statement on Friday clarifying the decision.

The Bombers found themselves in a similar position with Heppell on Sunday but were able to protect their former skipper from the conjecture Cotchin and fellow veteran Jack Riewoldt endured. Having clarified their stance with the AFL, Heppell was named in the starting 22, but the Bombers then made a late change, releasing him to be the 23rd man, while bringing ruckman Andrew Phillips into the 22.

‘Damned if you do, damned if you don’t’

The ruling has provided an added tactical edge, but also can leave coaches, including Clarkson, in a quandary over whom to remove.

“Sometimes you make it on a whim and just hope for the best,” Clarkson said.

“It is difficult to work out who your sub is because invariably unless there is an injury early, you are not looking to bring that sub on until halfway through the third quarter – usually you start thinking about it. Then there is the conjecture, as there was [against Carlton], we will bring in a player because he is fresh, but which one of the 22 are we going to take out? When it is someone like a Ben Cunnington, it’s like, well that becomes a story.

“It is difficult, but it is valuable for the game to have the protection, particularly if guys are injured, and in some cases if they are just sore, that you have got the option of being able to take him out and replace him with another player.”

St Kilda’s Ross Lyon, an experienced coach, is still learning, just as his colleagues are.

In round one, Lyon took small forward Dan Butler from the match in the third quarter, activating Ben Paton, only for defender Jimmy Webster to suffer a corked thigh and bleeding from his eardrum in a collision shortly afterwards.

That left the Saints a man down in a rugged final term, with Fremantle injecting Bailey Banfield for Matt Taberner, but the Saints prevailed.

“We’ll probably consider [waiting] a little bit longer [next time, but you are] damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” Lyon said.

Lyon was true to his word against the Western Bulldogs the next week, for he waited until the final term to take Marcus Windhager from the field and replace him with Ryan Byrnes in a stirring win. But, even then, there is no guarantee.

The Saints waited until the final term against the Gold Coast on Saturday to inject Jack Bytel for Rowan Marshall, only for Bytel to be helped off the field minutes later with a serious ankle injury.

The Swans, meanwhile, may have wished for two substitutes when Paddy McCartin suffered yet another sickening concussion in the first term against Port Adelaide on Saturday night, activating Robbie Fox. But when Tom McCartin’s night ended before half-time, also to concussion, the Swans were down a man.

Essendon coach Brad Scott, who had been general manager of football at the AFL while the revamped substitute rule (it had been a medical-only substitute through 2021-22) was being discussed, had supported a pure five-man bench, as had been an option for all clubs to push for.

“If I can tell you that we put out submissions, or requested submissions or club preferences, and my view, my strong view, is that the clubs would come back and say no, we prefer five on the bench, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case,” Scott said.

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