Duff and Quarters: The AFL should pause to get their s*** together and avoid overcorrection

Victoria’s second wave sent the AFL into a tailspin this week with fixtures reshuffled and players uprooted in an effort to maintain safety for everyone involved in the competition.

AFL boss Gil McLachlan on Monday guaranteed “flexibility” and “agility” to ensure the season proceeds but with circumstances changing daily, the AFL may benefit long-term from another break in the competition.

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Speaking on this week’s episode of the Duff and Quarters podcast, The West Australian’s chief footy writer Mark Duffield suggested the AFL ‘pause’ to avoid overcorrection for the current fixture reshuffle and allow more flexibility to coomplete the 2020 season.

“What if the AFL just paused season, had a week off and got itself right,” Duffield said.

“So make the priority getting the players out of Melbourne, work out where we’re going to set them up and then pause the season for a week and start playing again.

“Don’t narrow the options for the end of the year as to who can play who, this is the problem every time Travis Auld (AFL fixture boss) has to make this up on the run, it narrows their options and makes it tougher for the AFL at the end of the season.”

Each fixture change makes Auld’s task of guaranteeing a fair competition even tougher.

Travel logistics for teams between states are a puzzle in their own right and The Sunday Times sports editor Glen Quartermain suggested fans may need to accept a season where some sides don’t match-up at all.

“If a side has to play another twice we’re probably going to have to live with it,” he said.

“It already has an asterisk but this is about getting the games on, satisfying broadcasters, keeping some money in the game and giving people some football.”