Valid points, agreed.
But I can understand and accept it for concussion only. Prior to the recent concussion protocols introduced a couple of years back, teams were inclined to leave a concussed player, or send him back on, the field out of desperation to avoid a defeat etc. So concussion only for me, so that the minimum 12-day suspension has complete validity too.
Yes, the scenario you depict is a risk, but it could work just as much in your favour too. So we would have been granted a sub for Vlastuin in last year's GF. We lost him for virtually the whole game instead. But, according to concussion-only rules, then neither us for Houli, nor Geelong for GAblett, would have been allowed a sub, so there's your attrition that can just occur within a match. But I, for one, felt that the loss of Floss could be that premiership gone right then and there, even more so late Q2 before Dusty kicked that goal.
Sure, we were good enough to win that flag with virtually 1.5 players down, but now rotations have been significantly cut too. Could have made a major difference to us winning that cup (although not sure if I have seen anything about Bachar being rotated more often, but we no doubt used these extra rotations to manage the crisis).
It's usually difficult for a sub to come on late in a game and exert a major impact in a hot game; rare - but it has happened. As long as the rule is fair for both teams and strictly applied by independent medical experts, you just have to live with it for the protection of players mental health in the context of a debilitating affliction that can damage their quality of life for the rest of their days.
Long ago, and not the same situation, but we all remember Royce Hart coming on after half-time and kicking four goals to win us a final.
