The AFL Commission ratified the rule,with the league revealing clubs could be fined if caught breaching it. A substitution can be made at any stage of the game but the decision will rest with the club doctor and have medical accountability to avoid any exploitation by clubs to gain an advantage.
Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson led the charge for the ruling in a video conference of coaches,AFL chief Gillon McLachlan and football operations chief Steve Hocking last week,but Beveridge,amid considerable public debate,is the first to publicly hit back.
“When you have the whole medical establishment not being briefed going into the competition,it has just been rushed through,” Beveridge said on Thursday.
“If we have got to a stage where we are saying that more players will come out of the game through an injury or concussion than ever before and we need to have an extra player on hand,then surely there were some other levers we could pull than just introduce a substitute player. We have been down this track before with the old sub.
“The 75 interchanges are a constraint where I wouldn’t think any of us as coaches would want to use more than four on the interchange bench because it means that players are off the ground for too long. So maybe they could have just added a fifth where both teams have the got the choice of introducing a player whenever they want,no matter whether there is injury.