Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan has declared his team suffered a “record number” of cramps and questioned why the AFL scheduled the premiers to play at noon on a hot and humid Sunday.
Fagan declared he’d never seen anything like it in his long history in the game and said as a result his men wouldn’t be doing much training this week.
The Lions have the bye in round 3, but the Eagles had to traverse the country back to Perth for another game next Sunday after falling short of toppling the defending champs.
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“It was hot and humid … I don’t know the reasoning, but I think it’s pretty tough on players,” Fagan said.
“You’d need to ask the AFL about it. I don’t think I’ve been involved in a game that’s started at 12 o’clock, ever.
“That’s 20-odd years, so (it’s) unusual.
“They were pretty cooked, and you could tell just walking out onto the ground after – probably a record number of cramps, I don’t know.
“I haven’t seen that many of our blokes struggle like that.”
Four teams will be in the same boat when the AFL goes to Adelaide for Gather Round, with two games scheduled for 12.05pm starts in South Australia.
Those matches will be played in the second week of April.
No other games have started before 1pm so far this season.
“I’m not sure we’ll be doing too much training this week. We’ll be recovering to get ready for Geelong (on Saturday),” West Coast coach Andrew McQualter said.
He said the conditions were tough but not an excuse for losing.
“A midday game in Brisbane, this time of the year is pretty tough, but ultimately both teams play in the same conditions. We train in hot weather as well, so it is what it is,” he said.
Brownlow medallist and former Brisbane star Jason Akermanis launched into the AFL over the decision.
“This is not the time of year to be playing at this timeslot,” he told ABC radio.
“I have no idea why they thought they could get away with it.”
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