The problems are physical, not mental

IMO the problems are mental not physical. And DB's theory holds up on that basis. It's not that they need a refresh physically always, often they need a mental break, a release, a chance to regain the hunger to play senior footy.

Can we exclude Juddy from the rotation? hehe

The problems are physical, not mental
This is not an under 12's rotation system so that everyone can participate
Do you rest them after x games if theyve just had a blinder?
What if the like for like player in the Ants doesn't deserve a promotion?
Stick with form, fitness (the fitness staff can decide if they need a break) and team balance. Let's not introduce another artifcially created variable
Pure and simple....we were not switched on last night, just like the Ess game and Coll game. We are a 6th -8th side this year

and if we are a 6th to 8th - I'd say 6th - 10th - then should we develop a deeper list and if so then we play kids and kids tire (and I'd say its a mental/physical thing, not something to isolate as one or the other - we are always both) so rotate them - Kruiser is a kid yet some here are questioning him - he's 21 and been rucking now for just over 2 years, he is not a seasoned veteran. Why not rest him and play Hammer or Warnock and rest Jacobs at a later point. It happens anyway so why not control it instead if it controlling us - which is what I think is happening to this club at the moment.

as for the old set - form, pushing for selection, etc - they hark back to days when you developed in the reserves and played later in years or came in as a kid with lots of old bodies around you - and even then in your first couple of years you went back and forth to the reserves - developing, not necessarily dropped on form. We now have much younger lists, I mean compared to Nth's list last night our was about what a year older and about 20 or so more games of experience. We were the old side!

We have 2 years before our core really are veterans, until then we need to develop these kids and part of that (I think) is controlling their loads rather than have their loads control us.

The fact that everytime we have a bad loss, Ratts always says in his pressers one way or another "We weren't switched on". This ain't a physical problem, this is in the head. This is a bunch of guys coming up against easy opposition and thinking they're in for an easy week. To me its an early symptom of FIGJAM-itis and we need to put a stop to it.

not advocating pre-determined, more that the match committee or more proactive in their team selection rather than just going with the flow with certain players without considering fatigue and trying to pre-empt it. Not even sure if it would work but I think we need to control the list better than we are at the moment.

Its about not dropping players when they run into form loss due to fatigue, but bringing players in and out in a much more fluid manner.

Geelong does it right, they spell players during the season. Player management makes sense and if it accelerates list development and promotes depth it may even make more sense for a younger side like the Blues.

This could be massaged to match the opposition, intended game style, weather conditions, travel etc..