Is the sub role something that is rehearsed at training by the team, either in the off-season or in-season?
No, it just happens. It’s a role. If you get given it, you play it. You come on and hope to make an impact.
When do you find out that you are going to be the sub?
Normally I find out at the ground or in the team meeting the day before the game. The day you get told varies.
Does your routine the day before and the morning of a game change if you know you are the sub?
Not at all. It’s always the same routine. I get up, have breakfast and hydrate the same as I normally would if I was playing a full game. It’s definitely the same routine every time.
What about the pre-game warm-up, do you have to do anything differently if you’re the sub?
I don’t do anything differently in the warm-up. Just before the game starts, I’ll calm myself down a little bit because you can get caught up in the moment in the heat of the early battle, when you’re not actually going to be involved. It’s always good to stay calm, and when you get your opportunity, you go as hard as you can.
What do you do while the game is on?
I’ll just go for a run every five minutes and have a little stretch and be in and out of the game, focussing. You have to take your mind off the action a little bit just to make sure you don’t get too into it.
How long before you enter the game do you find out you’ll be coming on?
It happens pretty quickly. Our sports science manager Jason Weber will tell me to warm up or he’ll give me a nod that it’s about to happen. I’ll go for a quick jog, get back, and it’s pretty much all sorted for you to run on by the time you get back. It can happen at any time and it’s usually pretty swift.
Some players have said the hardest thing about being the sub is that you’re expected to make an impact when you go on. Do you agree with this?
I guess you should, because you are the fresh player out on the field. You want to make an impact, so you obviously run very hard. You’re fresher than the other players out on the field, so you’re expected to have some sort of impact.
When you are the sub, does it affect the load you will do at training during the week?
Throughout the week it can change, depending on what running load I end up doing during the match. If I play, say, a half, and clock up eight kilometres, then I won’t have to do extra running during the week, but if I do less, then I’ll have to do extra on the Tuesday training session.
The sub is often seen running out on the stadium long after the final siren has gone. Can you explain why this is?
If I haven’t been on very long and I’ve only run a certain amount of kilometres, the conditioning staff likes to give us a top-up run after the game. You go into the final team meeting, and then you go back out onto the ground and run laps or run 150m effort sprints.
You’ve impacted games on a couple of occasions this season, such as the two score involvements to help the side get over Adelaide in round 10, and the big goal you kicked against West Coast in the second Carlton Mid Derby. Do you feel you’ve made a solid impact in your role as a sub?
I’ve just happened to be in the right spot at the right time, but I suppose having a good running capacity helps when you come on as the sub, especially late in quarters and in the final quarter, that’s when you can really have an impact.
What are your thoughts on the concussion sub rule?
I’ve been on a couple of times under the concussion sub rule, the 20-minute window where you either come off or stay on, but I’ve stayed on every time it’s happened, so I haven’t really experienced the effect of coming on and off, and then on again. If it did happen, where you had to put the green vest back on, you’d have to calm yourself down and get back into that routine you had before of being in and out of the game, knowing what’s going on and having your head in it.
Fremantle’s subs in season 2013
Round 1 West Coast -
Sub: Sutcliffe replaced Ballantyne
Round 2 Western Bulldogs –
Sub: Sutcliffe replaced Pearce
Round 3 Essendon –
Sub: Sutcliffe replaced McPharlin
Round 4 Hawthorn –
Sub: Neale replaced Suban
Round 5 Richmond –
Sub: Suban replaced Bradley
Round 6 Gold Coast –
Sub: Sutcliffe replaced Silvagni
Round 7 Collingwood –
Sub: Crozier replaced Griffin
Round 8 Sydney –
Sub: Mzungu replaced Silvagni
Round 9 Melbourne –
Sub: Suban replaced McPharlin
Round 10 Adelaide –
Sub: Sutcliffe replaced Hannath
Round 12 Brisbane –
Sub: Crozier replaced Silvagni
Round 13 North Melbourne –
Sub: Crozier replaced Hannath
Round 14 Geelong –
Sub: Michie replaced Duffield
Round 15 St Kilda –
Sub: Sheridan replaced Sandilands
Round 16 West Coast –
Sub: Sutcliffe replaced C Pearce
Round 17 Richmond –
Sub: Sutcliffe replaced A Silvagni
