Plenty of questions will be asked of Richmond in the coming days as it deals with the fallout of subbing off Ben Miller in the final quarter of Friday night’s draw with Fremantle.
The 198cm key defender was subbed off for reasons that remain unclear. Reports after the game suggested a groin problem, while Damien Hardwick said Miller had suffered a calf cramp in the last term.
Fellow defender Nathan Broad added post-game he thought Miller had suffered a “full body cramp”.
Maurice Rioli Jnr came on as his replacement and recorded two disposals and two tackles.
Debating the topic on SEN’s Crunch Time, chief reporter Sam Edmund lamented the lack of clarity.
“We’ve got the continuation of what might be the most farcical rule of the year. Forget the high tackle, it’s the medical sub rule,” he said.
“We were told there would be strict medical governance that would protect the integrity of it, now after six rounds we had something like a dozen players who were subbed off and played the very next week.
“So it had hair on it right from the start, but it’s like Chewbacca now, it’s gone beyond a joke.
“The rule was brought in not to anticipate when a player might get injured, it was brought in when a player does get injured, and I think that’s where we’ve got into the grey area here.”
However, former GWS coach Leon Cameron defended Hardwick and the Tigers.
He suggested the club made a reasonable call given how hard it is to determine the extent of Miller’s injury, but acknowledged there would be plenty of speculation.
“You think coaches are ruining the sub rule,” he laughed.
“I think the main discussion was when you’re trying to determine cramp over injury, clearly you get a bit agitated (when the game is close) and you’ve got a fresh player sitting there and someone can’t do their duty.
“I understand the speculation on it… but it’s one of those things (that you don’t know if they’ll be fit next week).
“In all my time, we only had one player at the Giants with the sub rule who played the next week, all of them didn’t play for a week or two.
“So when something like this happens in such a significant game when it’s so tight, no wonder it’s going to be a talking point.”
Miller was reliable for the Tigers throughout the clash at Marvel Stadium in his sixth game of the season, spending plenty of time on Griffin Logue and gathering four intercepts.
Friday night’s draw sees both Fremantle and Richmond vulnerable insight the top four and top eight respectively.