Essendon coach James Hird will be looking to keep his charges fresh during the NAB Cup. Picture: Getty Source: Getty Images
AS IF they didn't have enough to worry about, the Bombers today start a pre-season competition that gives the team an incentive to dodge the NAB Cup final.
Essendon starts its preparation for a home-and-away season that it has no guarantee of completing - but is not helped by a quirk of the schedule, which also affects Adelaide, West Coast and Fremantle.
The Dons will be forced to play the NAB Cup final, if they qualify for the pre-season play-off, despite taking on Adelaide in the season opener a week later.
The Bombers have been pitted against Adelaide in an unusual start to the AFL season on March 22, which means for them there is no longer a weekend between the Cup final and the AFL season opener.
There is considerable incentive for them to avoid the NAB Cup final in order to freshen players with a week's break before Round 1 - especially as underdone players could play VFL on the weekend of that final.
Essendon and Adelaide kick off Round 1 on March 22. Fremantle and West Coast play the next day, with the remaining seven games of Round 1 being played the following weekend.
Those four teams have been told if they do not qualify for the NAB Cup final, they will not have to play a regional challenge match like the other teams who miss the final. Essendon has consulted the AFL about the fixture quirk but has given assurances that it will give its best effort.
The AFL has not yet released a fixture of regional challenge games for the weekend of the NAB Cup, but will do so for clubs that want a game against an AFL rival on that weekend.
AFL spokesman Patrick Keane yesterday said Essendon would still have plenty of rest during the NAB Cup and early weeks of the competition. "(Those four clubs) will get a week off the following week (after their Round 1 game)," Keane said.
"Depending on the sides who don't play until the second week of Round 1 and what they are wanting to do (if they miss the NAB Cup final), we will work out (games) for them through the course of the NAB Cup."
Sides are accustomed to a four-week NAB Cup campaign, a fortnight's rest for players to recover, then the start of the season proper.
The NAB Cup final is scheduled for Friday, March 15 or Saturday 16, though, presumably, if Essendon or Adelaide qualified it would be on Friday to give them a seven-day break.
As the AFL grapples with Melbourne's tanking probe and integrity issues, it would be far from ideal for any of those four sides to play a half-strength grand final side to keep players fresh for Round 1.
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