RICHMOND'S Daniel Jackson has warned the AFL against making changes to the controversial substitute rule, saying the League was in danger of "cooking" its players.
 
A recent meeting between the AFL Players Association and the AFL Laws committee discussed the idea of the League introducing a second substitute next season, but the AFLPA is strongly opposed to the idea.

Delegates from the AFL clubs fronted the laws committee last week, asking that more research be done into the correlation between reduced interchange rotations and lower injury rate before further changes were made.

Jackson, the Richmond delegate, said the players just wanted "due dilligence" when the AFL did its research.

He also suggested the AFL look closer at introducing a second bye instead of a second substitute.

"It didn't seem that they had made a decision but they certainly were discussing [two subs]," Jackson said.

"We made our view clear we think there needs to be more due diligence behind the statistics around injury and fatigue in players before we go and make such a big change like that.

"Something has to give somewhere. You can't keep trying to make the players work harder and harder and longer and longer and faster and faster. In the end something will break and we don't want to see any players out of the game with avoidable injuries just because they've been cooked.

He said teams were not struggling with the 3-1 system but were still adapting.

"It's certainly made our jobs harder and footy these days is a high pressure games and physically and mentally it is exhausting as ever," he said.

"Before we make a drastic change like a 2-2, I think we need to know what the consequences are going to be."

Jackson suggested the laws committee discuss the idea in detail with sports scientists and club fitness departments before changing the interchange rules.

And he added that experimentation in the pre-season competition did not give an accurate representation of what impact an extra substitute would have in the home and away season.

"Trial it in the NAB Cup, that's fine but the NAB Cup is a different type of footy. It's not as long, hard and grueling as an AFL season. We might be fine for the first few games if they brought it in but the real worry would be in the second half especially if we don't have two byes," he said.

Luke Holmesby is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter - @AFL_Luke