Bevo calls on AFL to reinstate runners before round one

[mjp]

Nah - I'm 1000000% with the AFL on this one.

It's a game for players, not a game for coaches. Teach 'em during the week, coach 'em during the breaks...or chat to them on the phone when they rotate (which is every 4.6 seconds).

Get the runners, water carriers, physios and every other person who isn't a player OFF the ground.

[GVGjr]

Nah - I'm 1000000% with the AFL on this one.

It's a game for players, not a game for coaches. Teach 'em during the week, coach 'em during the breaks...or chat to them on the phone when they rotate (which is every 4.6 seconds).

Get the runners, water carriers, physios and every other person who isn't a player OFF the ground.

While I tend to agree that we have had too many extra's on the field surely the runners do help get the message to the players?

I guess when players like Duryea and Crozier return to the field they can help re-organise the backline

[mjp]

While I tend to agree that we have had too many extra's on the field surely the runners do help get the message to the players?

I guess when players like Duryea and Crozier return to the field they can help re-organise the backline

100%. The players are at the club 30 hours per week...teach them then.

The continuous use of runners for 'instructions' is a blight on the game...get them OFF the field...

[bornadog]

100%. The players are at the club 30 hours per week...teach them then.

The continuous use of runners for 'instructions' is a blight on the game...get them OFF the field...

why is it a blight? Runners have been part of the game for as long as i can remember and I can’t understand why it is an issue and we have to change things.

[GVGjr]

why is it a blight? Runners have been part of the game for as long as i can remember and I can’t understand why it is an issue and we have to change things.

I went to some Footscray games last season and there were runner on the field for 3 and 4 minutes stretches and I think it's gone beyond getting a water bottle or an instruction to a player or two. There is a chance it's become more than that and while it might be something we have done for a long time before I think the coaches are using it for vastly more than what it was designed for.
If it needs to be managed better then why not clear the field more?

[bornadog]

I went to some Footscray games last season and there were runner on the field for 3 and 4 minutes stretches and I think it's gone beyond getting a water bottle or an instruction to a player or two. There is a chance it's become more than that and while it might be something we have done for a long time before I think the coaches are using it for vastly more than what it was designed for.
If it needs to be managed better then why not clear the field more?

There are rules in place now and they should be enforced. Why change it drastically?

[mjp]

There are rules in place now and they should be enforced. Why change it drastically?

Because there is no one to enforce them.

You could argue (and some did) that games were influenced last year by the continuous on-ground presence of one runner in particular. What can anyone actually DO about it? Tell the umpires to...well, do WHAT exactly? Tell them to leave the field of play? Well, that's what happens...then they come straight back on and do it again.

Players are not idiots...TEACH them...or get them off and COACH them.

In the talent pathway, we have 2x runners on the field at a time (which of course = FOUR) and I am really (really, really) unsure how all this extra instruction helps the game.

The game should be about PLAYERS doing what players do...not coaches turning everything into some kind of stoppages chess game.