PORT Adelaide has emerged as the team with the most rotations under the new interchange cap as clubs find different ways to adjust to this season's restrictions.
The Power, once revered as the fittest team in the competition, have used almost two rotations a game more than any other club and six more a game than Geelong, which uses the fewest.
Clubs began scaling back their rotations under the cap of 120 in 2014 and 2015, with the competition average sitting at 107.9 in each of the past two seasons.
And despite the chorus of concern before the cap was further reduced to 90, clubs have made the adjustment seamlessly this year and are averaging 85.3 across the league.
There have been differences in how clubs have used their allocation in the first nine rounds, with Port Adelaide (88.8 rotations), Melbourne (87.0) and Carlton (87.0) flying closest to the limit.
The Power have used their full allocation in five games, with a season low of 86 a fortnight ago against Carlton.
Geelong, meanwhile, is proving there is no correlation between success and heavy rotations, using the interchange just 82.7 times a game.
The Cats are yet to reach their full allocation, with some notable lows of 72 against Greater Western Sydney, 76 against Essendon and 65 when they lost Lincoln McCarthy in the first quarter against West Coast three weeks ago.
Geelong has also developed an interesting strategy of dropping its rotations significantly in the third quarter, with an average of 18.2 before lifting again to 21.8 in the final term.
A common thread across the competition is to rotate most heavily from the 10- to 20-minute mark of quarters.
Clubs average 9.2 rotations in this period of games, compared to 5.6 in the opening 10 minutes of quarters and 6.5 during time-on.
Gold Coast has rotated the least in second halves (37.7), most likely due to its reduced availability on the bench as it deals with an injury crisis.
Fremantle's rotations have also dropped away in the second half of matches from 43.6 across the first two quarters to 39.3 after half-time.
| Rank | Club | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Port Adelaide | 22.6 | 21.8 | 22.0 | 22.4 | 88.8 |
| 2 | Melbourne | 21.9 | 23.6 | 20.0 | 21.6 | 87.0 |
| 3 | Carlton | 22.1 | 20.0 | 21.0 | 23.9 | 87.0 |
| 4 | Western Bulldogs | 19.9 | 22.0 | 22.3 | 22.2 | 86.4 |
| 5 | Brisbane Lions | 20.8 | 22.3 | 21.7 | 21.7 | 86.4 |
| 6 | Hawthorn | 20.8 | 21.4 | 22.4 | 21.6 | 86.2 |
| 7 | Collingwood | 21.1 | 21.7 | 20.9 | 22.3 | 86.0 |
| 8 | Adelaide | 20.9 | 21.9 | 22.4 | 20.8 | 86.0 |
| 9 | St Kilda | 23.6 | 20.9 | 20.6 | 20.9 | 85.9 |
| 10 | North Melbourne | 20.7 | 20.4 | 22.7 | 21.6 | 85.3 |
| 11 | GWS | 21.4 | 21.7 | 20.3 | 21.9 | 85.3 |
| 12 | West Coast | 23.2 | 20.4 | 20.8 | 20.1 | 84.6 |
| 13 | Richmond | 20.1 | 21.4 | 22.1 | 20.7 | 84.3 |
| 14 | Sydney Swans | 21.0 | 21.0 | 21.7 | 19.9 | 83.6 |
| 15 | Essendon | 20.2 | 21.9 | 19.6 | 21.8 | 83.4 |
| 16 | Gold Coast | 22.4 | 23.0 | 18.9 | 18.8 | 83.1 |
| 17 | Fremantle | 22.3 | 21.3 | 19.4 | 19.9 | 83.0 |
| 18 | Geelong | 21.2 | 21.4 | 18.2 | 21.8 | 82.7 |
| Match Average | 21.5 | 21.6 | 20.9 | 21.3 | 85.3 |
