Pre-finals bye must remain: AFL great Voss

AFL great Michael Voss is emphatic: keep the pre-finals bye.

And Adelaide winger David Mackay says players love to keep playing, but won’t be fazed by having the weekend off.

All clubs in the finals will have a bye following this weekend’s ultimate home-and-away round.

Last year, the bye proved telling for the Western Bulldogs’ fairytale finals series, coming from outside the top four to win the premiership.

“It’s fantastic, it should stay,” Voss, an assistant coach at Port Adelaide, told reporters on Monday.

“I know people talk about top four, and if they win that first week (of finals) what does that mean for that particular team.

“But I think it’s a really great opportunity to celebrate football. Everyone take a breath, come in fit and healthy.

“And a great way to be able to display other things about our game, some of the award ceremonies … it seems to be pretty favourable to do it in that week.

“So I think there’s a lot more advantages to it.”

Adelaide’s Mackay said players preferred to keep playing.

“From a player’s perspective, we like to play,” he told reporters on Monday.

“The coaching staff and the medical staff will sit down and work out what is the best path forward.

“But it’s really important as a player to keep that continuity and keep playing, particularly at this time of year.

“To maintain that match fitness, that match hardness, is crucial.”

But Mackay said the bye wouldn’t present undue problems for players.

“It doesnt really faze me too much, it works in some cases, it doesn’t in others,” he said.

“It’s a matter of planning your training around that, and if you get that right then it shouldn’t be too much of an issue.”

The ladder-leading Crows are in the midst of a nine-day break ahead of Sunday’s away game against West Coast.

They’ll then likely host a final on September 7 or 8, before the prospect of another week off entering a preliminary final.

“If you plan out your training accordingly then you can make it work for you,” Mackay said.

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