The Travel Factor

[P-man 13,366]

Perhaps it is semantics but excess travel and short prep time can cause fatigue. They are bundled together.

The difference between the last two games and the Saints game was stark. The only other game they have truly been reminiscent of was the Port game. The consistent thread being the short turnaround.

It’s not an excuse. We are also an average side with an inflexible and often times predictable game style, a poor bottom 6 players, a void in onfield leadership etc. But these additional variables undoubtedly hurt, and they hurt an underperforming club like ours more than they would others.

[old dee 23,741]

22 minutes ago, P-man said:

Perhaps it is semantics but excess travel and short prep time can cause fatigue. They are bundled together.

The difference between the last two games and the Saints game was stark. The only other game they have truly been reminiscent of was the Port game. The consistent thread being the short turnaround.

It’s not an excuse. We are also an average side with an inflexible and often times predictable game style, a poor bottom 6 players, a void in onfield leadership etc. But these additional variables undoubtedly hurt, and they hurt an underperforming club like ours more than they would others.

Fairly accurate there p-man. We are an average side 8- 10 marks our ability and results. 

[Skuit 10,028]

2 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

I'm not sure that fatigue is a factor in any of our losses except, maybe, the Port loss.

I'm someone who has raised the fixture issue though. I think there is more likely than not to be an impact to our overall performance from the constant moving from venue to venue on a weekly basis.

I have no idea. It's all maybes, as we'll never know. Although we do know that Geelong had a similarly difficult fixture and had seemingly no issues with any of this.

But I think the fixture we've had this year provides more issues to consider than simply fatigue.

I agree that physical fatigue outside of Port and Freo doesn't seem to be a problem in our losses - but the mental fatigue would be building. It's easy to see why Geelong would have handled this season better than most though and unfortunately it comes back to maturity and seasoned bodies.

They have 12 blokes on their list with 150+ games (and six with 200+). Ditto West Coast. Port have 11 and five and Richmond have ten and five. We have six - including Jones (our only 200+ player), TMac, Jetta and Melksham. The Lions are outliers with six (and three) but have played eleven of their matches in QLD.