AFL Dream Team: How to fix the dual position rule

So Gary Ablett isn't playing this week because of "hamstring soreness". Great.

Oh well, at least there's that new "dual position rule" they've brought in this year ... oh wait, that's right. We decided not to use that rule when we were putting our team together, didn't we?

We thought to ourselves, why would you have a forward in the midfield? Or a defender even? There are too many good midfielders for that!

In fact, why would you have a defender anywhere on the field other than in defence? Recipe for disaster, that is!

And as for ruckmen, there's no need to trade around there. How hard is it to pick two blokes that'll give you a full season of serviceable scores, like Mitch Clark and Kurt Tipett? (Surely I'm not the only one who fell for that option?)

Stuff the dual position rule, we thought.

What's the point?

Fast forward to round 6 and well, for mine at least, right now a little bit of flexibility would be pretty freakin' handy.

Ablett's out. Trent Cotchin's out. Dustin Martin's out. Mitch Banner has been on the bench collecting donuts. And I can't swap any of them for another player anywhere else on the field.

(Not that it really matters, of course. My scores have been absolutely s***house. But, as I say every year, next year I'm gonna be right up there. I'd hate to see a couple of petty little "hamstring soreness" injuries get in the way of me and my future Toyota now, would I?)

The problem is, the dual position rule sounds pretty good in theory - but it's, well, absolutely s***house in practice.

There isn't all that much to be gained by having a team littered with dual position players. But there's a heck of a lot to lose.

Having a Luke Hodge or Brendan Goddard in the middle, for example, might save you during a week like this. But without their scores down back, you'd struggle to get big numbers out of your defenders.

Similarly, having both a forward and a defender - or even a ruck - in your midfield restricts the number of actual midfielders you can have. And midfielders represent some of the best value out there and have the highest scoring potential. You could easily argue that's where DT is won and lost.

The flow-on effect of going after dual position players kills the temptation.

So things need to change. Especially with the advent of a bye next season.

The first step is to open up the swapping of players so that it's not restricted to two players with the same characteristics.

At the moment, to swap players, you must have two players who play in the same two positions (ie, you must swap a DEF/MID with another DEF/MID, etc.)

What you should be able to orchestrate is a three-way swap - or even a four-way swap - using different types of players. For example, you could move a DEF/MID from your backline to your midfield, then a MID/FWD from your midfield to your forward line, then a FWD/DEF from your forward line to your backline, taking the place of the first player involved in the swap.

It's not the most drastic change, but it opens up a few more options when it comes to dual position players.

And it also means you don't need to worry about having a dual position player for every possible scenario (and having all sorts of different players in your midfield).

The second step is to be less strict in defining what position(s) a player plays in. Those who decide positions seem to be too quick to ensure the majority of players are only one-position players. (And I suspect they were even stricter this year to coincide with the rule change.)

One example is Paddy Ryder at Essendon. He plays one season in the ruck - in a season where David Hille was missing with injury and in need of a replacement - and all of the sudden, he's listed as a ruck and nothing else.

Another example is Tom Lonergan, who moved between being a forward and a defender last year, and has done so quite a bit throughout his career, but is listed solely as a forward. Curiously, this year's he's become a fully-fledged defender for the Cats.

There are also players that change roles at different stages of games. Some of you out there may even put forward Ablett as a candidate for dual position status. He regularly spends time up forward.

That might be the place to draw the line, mind you. I don't have the stats of what time he spends at what part of the ground.

But it's all about finding the right balance. Surely a little more leniency can be afforded.

It might be the key to making that good idea in theory start to work in practice.

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