Richmond Tigers senior coach Adem Yze has expressed his frustrations with the AFL's pre-season structure, believing AFL coaches are not able to access their players well enough ahead of a new season.
Currently, AFL clubs have players return to pre-season training around mid-to-late November, with first to fourth year players typically beginning their build into the new year a week or two before their more senior counterparts.
When quizzed by SEN Breakfast's Kane Cornes on the challenges of the shortened pre-seasons, Yze was quick to highlight the difficulties the significant time off presents, particularly for his young and inexperienced playing list.
"You're reading my mind. There's no doubt, to be brutally honest, that if you're a developing team, three or four weeks before Christmas isn't long enough," Yze said.
"We were quite fortunate that we got the majority of our players back mid-November. The majority of our list is that younger group, so we had 20-odd players training around that time.
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"In saying that, the argument around first to fourth year players [starting earlier] and the five-seasons plus players starting on November 24 [doesn't make sense].
"Some of those five-plus-year players haven't really established themselves yet in the AFL. I don't know if it should be amount of time or should be amount of games that you have played that determines if you get a longer break.
"We're forever trying to access our players - if it was mid-November, then everyone could start based on when the players wanted to. I think it would be a lot easier."
Yze's biggest frustration was his inability to contact his players during their period of leave of "100-something days" with educational information regarding team systems and play style.
Entering his third year at the helm of the Tigers, Yze accepted that the CBA aims to minimise the over-training of players, but stressed that his side would come into the pre-season block at peak fitness regardless, and that is not his primary concern with the limited pre-season schedule.
"Originally, when it came in, it was based around the CBA, which is okay, we've got to look after our players and make sure they're not training too hard," Yze said.
"But we can't have access to them even with education; we can't even send things out to them.
"During their off-season, they train really hard, so they come back fit. They can run, lift weights, but when you've got a young list, you want to be able to educate and fast-track the development of their brains. If we can't do that, and we're not allowed to send out information, our hands are tied until they walk in the building.
"We're a developing club. To educate your players, you need time, so to have just three and a half weeks before Christmas and then another three weeks off over Christmas. I spoke to our players before they went away, and from the first day of their leave to January 8, they were going to have 100-something days off and train for 24."
Yze's solution to the issue is a simple one, but he admitted it would need to be signed off on by multiple parties.
"It's a coaches association and a players association issue," Yze said.
"Whether there's a slight adjustment about when we can send information out and start fast tracking their education around game style, even if that was a variation we could bring in for the younger teams, that would be handy."
Yze's Tigers take on Essendon in a match simulation on February 20 before an official pre-season clash against Melbourne on February 27 at Mars Stadium.
