NEW RULE FORCES KEY PIES OUT
BY MARK OPOLION
COLLINGWOOD coach Mick Malthouse says the 16 interchanges a quarter cap for this year’s NAB Cup will ruin the home-and-away season preparation of many key AFL players.
Malthouse says several Magpies, including Anthony Rocca, Harry O’Brien and Tyson Goldsack, are set to miss the NAB Cup match against Adelaide in Dubai on February 9.
“The (NAB Cup) rules (with a restriction of 16 interchanges per quarter) have just killed us in regard to blokes like Rocca, O’Brien and Goldsack,” Malthouse told the Herald Sun.
“When you start to look at this ridiculous rule that limits you to 16 changes, with some of those even being over the quarter-time, halftime or three-quarter time break, I cannot possibly contemplate playing those guys.
“They give you two players (extra on the interchange) yet they take from you the opportunity to play those two players.”
