This season a lot people have questioned whether the players are fit enough. It is absolute rubbish to argue that they aren’t fit and it is in some way the reason our last quarters have not been what we would have liked. As a group we have one or two players’ whose preparation has been interrupted and they are playing catch up if you like, but all sides have players that are underdone or sore.

Essendon has a blue-collar, hard-bodied midfield and everyone knows that. They play collision football which tires them out and there is a very big difference between that and a lack of fitness.

Essendon has lacked midfield depth at times this season making it difficult to adequately rest those players. We are working on it and making progress as evidenced by our win over the Western Bulldogs. Brent Stanton is improving, Andrew Lovett has given us plenty, Mark Alvey feels more comfortable in the team and we even gave Matthew Lloyd a quick burst in the middle.

But with injuries and form at times during the season, it has tested our midfield depth to the limit. I watched a St Kilda game a few weeks ago and they have Luke Ball, Lenny Hayes and Nick Dal Santo on the bench for the last six minutes of the third quarter. They are pretty handy ""fresh"" legs to have coming on in the final quarter. West Coast has the same luxury – they do it a lot with Chris Judd, Ben Cousins and Chad Fletcher.

At times this season when we rest our key midfielders, we have had kids coming on to the ground. These kids are in the development phase of their careers and are unlikely to be able to maintain the physical pressure. We know and accept that and it is also why we will continue to give these kids games. It takes a long time to develop the match fitness of an AFL midfielder – not everyone is a Chris Judd or a Luke Ball.

To compensate for our lack of depth, and with winning still in mind, we have tried to squeeze more minutes out of our first-string midfield during the course of games. And it has been successful in that we have been in front or near every side that we have lost to this season at the last change. The downside is that plenty of petrol tickets are spent getting into these positions.

So that is why we have to take off key midfielders during the course of the game – they simply need the rest if they are to match the effectiveness of the opposition. It’s called a midfield rotation. In the old days these midfielders would change on a forward flank or forward pocket. Why not now, I hear you ask?

Basically the answer is that physically it is too tough. The amount of pressure applied in the forward line is one of the keys to victory in modern football. The ability to keep the ball in the forward line requires a huge work-rate. So clubs have been forced to rest their good midfielders on the bench so that forwards can kick goals and maintain defensive pressure.

It’s the changing nature of the game. The uneducated call it lack of fitness - totally incorrect. The game is changed dramatically. Fancy taking your good players off the ground, it is unheard of. Now it is par for the course and hopefully you understand why. On-ballers cannot maintain 120 minutes of physical intensity in the modern game and they can no longer 'rest' in the pocket. All clubs need a second and third midfield and that is where we are hurting a bit at the moment.