Harvey wants bigger playing lists

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Fremantle coach Mark Harvey has called on the AFL to look at extending club playing lists and the number of players on the interchange bench during games in light of the Docker's struggle with injuries and suspensions this season.

Going into this round's clash with the Western Bulldogs on Sunday, the Dockers have 10 players on their injured list, while Josh Carr and Mark Johnson are also unavailable due to suspension.

Harvey believes that the Dockers' injuries can be partly attributed to the rising pace of the game. He also feels the AFL should look at increasing the number of players allowed on club playing lists so that teams have more depth and are not forced to select out-of-form players when the injury toll starts to mount.

"You'll find at the moment that the game has gone up," said Harvey before training at Subiaco Oval on Wednesday.

"I had a meeting with the AFL last week and they said intensity has gone up 10 per cent again, so that's 20 per cent in two years, so it's taking it's toll on lists."

"Perhaps we should look at extending lists, adding an extra few couple of players to it."

"I think the way it's going and already after seven rounds, you're seeing some teams, really they don't have too much left in players to select from and I don't think that's happened before in the competition."

"Normally its sort of round 15 or 16 when you run into those sort of troubles. But now it's a lot earlier than we expected, so we have to look at that," he said.

One of the teams Harvey was referring to was his former club, Essendon, which has suffered numerous soft-tissue injuries as a result of its run and attack game plan this season.

Although, the week off for the Hall of Fame Tribute match has helped the Bombers bring back up to seven experienced players for this round's clash with Sydney, Harvey feels the AFL should at the very least, examine increasing the size of rookie lists and the way rookies are promoted and demoted to the actual playing list, in order to ease selection pressures.

He also feels the AFL should consider Richmond coach Terry Wallace's suggestion to increase match day squads by two players up to 24. The two extra players would be emergencies that could replace one of the original 22 should they suffer an injury throughout the course of the game.

If this process occurred, then the injured player would not be entitled to return to the field, with Harvey believing such a proposition would have helped his side after it has experienced several on-field injuries in matches this season.

"We've gone back and had a look at all the games we've played and we've lost players early in the game and it does add consequences for the outcome," he said.

However, Harvey's Perth counterpart, West Coast Eagles coach John Worsfold declared that he hasn't even considered asking for extensions to the playing list, despite the Eagles suffering something of an injury crisis of their own.

"It's going to be tough with the new drafting rules and understanding two more teams are coming in, in the near future to add on to every other list as well," said Worsfold.

"(But) more numbers on your list obviously give you more depth, that's basic," he said.