Essendon midfielderย Brendon Goddard has called on the AFL to change the pre-season tournament to make it fairer for every side involved.
The veteran says the JLT Community Series was too long this year, as the Bombers played three games over five weeks ahead ofย the opening round.
โIt was a difficult prep for us coming into Round 1,โ Goddard told RSN927.
โWe had that bye (JLT Week 3) which essentially (meant) we play, play, bye, play, bye heading into Round 1.
โItโs probably not the best or ideal preparation.
โI know discussions (between AFL and AFLPA) around the pre-season competition in general but โฆ I donโt think the JLT Series is fair in terms of preparation for every team because itโs different for every team.
โIโd like to play two games leading into Round 1, to get a bit of continuity and more so the contact and match practice.โ
Goddard believes a better solution would be for each club to play two games over three weeks as well as organising there own practice matches to suit their preparation.
โTeams can just choose their team, and who plays those games, and essentially give it their best preparation โ leading into Round 1,โ Goddard said.
