The substitute will be removed and the interchange cap reduced from 120 to 90 rotations per game in 2016 under changes announced to clubs on Thursday.
The game will return to four interchange players with clubs allowed to also make changes at quarter breaks.
Forced changes such as the blood rule, concussion assessment and stretcher changes will not be counted as part of the rotations.
The game has not had average rotations of around 90 since 2009 when the average rotations per team per game was 91.9 while in 2008 it was 80.3.
The substitute was introduced for the first time in 2011 as the AFL attempted to curb the number of interchange rotations per game, which had jumped to 117.4 rotations per team per game in 2010.
However the introduction of the interchange cap at 120 rotations per match across three players and a substitute in 2014 saw the substitute less important to ensure fairness if a team lost a player during the game due to injury.
The concussion substitute has also been an important benefit of the substitute but the AFL Medical Officers are comfortable the examination of players suspected of suffering concussion will still continue as required with coaches aware of the importance of that process.
The AFL's statement is published below.
The AFL Football Operations Department today wrote to all clubs to advise the AFL Commission had approved a reduction in the cap on interchange rotations for the 2016 Toyota AFL Premiership Season.
AFL General Manager Football Operations Mark Evans said the Commission had accepted a recommendation at its meeting in Hobart last week that the use of the substitute player be removed, returning to four interchange players, while the cap would be lowered to 90 rotations per match. Clubs will also be allowed any changes made at quarter breaks (up to 12 across the three breaks), while forced blood rule, concussion assessment and stretcher changes would not count as part of the rotations.
The interchange cap had been introduced for the 2014 season for an initial two-year trial, set at 120 rotations per match across three interchange players, with one player being used as a substitute in case of injury.
Mr Evans said the cap would continue not to have any quarter by quarter restrictions, with the use of the 90 interchange rotations per match to be managed as each club saw fit across the entirety of a game.
“Throughout the 2014 and 2015 seasons, the AFL undertook considerable analysis in areas including rotation trends and use of the substitute, game style, injury rates and industry feedback,” Mr Evans said.
“The interchange cap of 120 over the past two years allowed clubs to transition back to 2010 levels of interchange numbers.
“The reduced spread of rotations appears to have lowered the impact of rotation rate on success in winning a game,” he said.
Mr Evans said in coming to this decision, the reduction in the rotation numbers from 120 down to 90, coupled with the return of a fourth interchange player, would see an average reduction in game time of five minutes per player per game.
The lower cap lessens the requirement for a substitute player in case of injury. With a return to four interchange players, clubs believe they will be able to effectively manage the rotation of players to cover injury during a match, he said.
