Carlton Supporters Club

That’s all true … but hard to put into practice when a lot of first choice players are out injured.

Geelong has enjoyed an almost injury free season and they can happily rest or freshen up players as necessary.

The point is, why do we play players until we break them.
Yes, some are more fragile then others.
Some are taller than others.
Some are faster than others.
Some are stronger than others.

Find out the attributes of the player and play to their advantages and cover their weaknesses.
If a weakness is their longevity, or durability, cover for it. Rest them when you need too.

Both Martin and Marchbank are very good players when they are fit....we just don't see it enough. So rather than keep doing the same thing and expecting different results, change the way we approach them......and everyone.

Doesn't have to be limited to them. Many on here were suggesting we rest cripps a couple years ago when he was clearly injured. But the club kept insisting everything was fine, and we got a half-fit cripps for the whole year, rather than being without him for 2-3.....7 weeks or whatever it needed to be to get him back to a 'fit' level where he could perform.

I've heard Marc Murphy talk about this, and its something he didn't realise until later in his career.
Players would have surgery as a 1st call to 'fix' something if it meant they could play a week earlier than had they simply sat out and rested. These surgeries can lead to further issues down the track and potentially do more harm than good in some instances.
We are obsessed with getting back and playing THIS WEEK at the expense of next week, next month or next year. Why?

As mentioned, Geelong are leading the pack in this regard. Resting Danger, Hawkins, Cameron, Selwood......hard to find some bigger names in the comp than them, but they find a way to rest them and do ok......most likely because they rest them is why they do ok. So why do we think we know better than them?

Be smarter with how we deal with our players, our seasons depend on it!

I am not sure where you find Marchbank and Martin are being rested they have being rested for 5-6 years.

You are comparing players that will be lucky to get 10 games out of them per season to 200+ game players over the age of 30

If he's declared ready to play, he'll be fit enough. The days of needing matches in the 2s are over for players like Martin. Get him straight in.

Why 20 years? Because 23 years hurt your argument?
Triple premiership player Clark Keating played 20, 12 and 12 games in premiership years. The last of which he didn't play his 1st game until R15. THe next year when they were runner ups he only played 11 as well.

Geelong has made resting players a fine art with an ageing list. Danger, Selwood, Hawkins, Cameron.....whoever, they all get an extra rest of 2 throughout the year. Works for them.

I did write a lot of mistakes.

Not sure which grand final team past 20 years had key players missing for half a season...Saady injury is part of the footy gods the other two their bodies are not up to AFL football - I guess it comes down to how much we pay them if we pay them for half a year worth of input then okay if not then not okay.

Walsh's mistake cost us the game but he was still =2nd BOG.