This season is the first year of a formal alignment agreement between the Western Australian AFL clubs and WAFL clubs Peel Thunder and East Perth.
In previous seasons AFL listed players were scattered amongst the nine WAFL clubs, however in 2014 all Fremantle listed players will play solely at Peel Thunder whilst West Coast players will play exclusively for East Perth.
However, Peel's bye this weekend means that Dockers players cannot get any match practice. Last year, if an AFL squad member's WAFL club had a bye he could play for another team's reserves side, however under the new arrangement that is no longer the case.
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"We'll have to train them," Lyon said.
"There's no other WAFL team with a bye. It's not ideal but the WAFL have done the best they can. Our later byes are matched up but unfortunately this one doesn't quite work out but that's ok. We've got the wherewithal to train them in an intense manner and keep them fit."
It means the senior Dockers who played for Peel last Saturday, such as Zac Clarke, Garrick Ibbotson, Clancee Pearce, Anthony Morabito, and Colin Sylvia, won't get the opportunity to play a match this week if they are not selected for the Dockers.
Lyon is unperturbed by the fact that he can't send his players to other WAFL clubs to get some game time.
"You don’t want to destroy the fabric, loading up, you want to try and be fair to all parties so I think that’s fair," Lyon said.
"We’ve got to try to be mature enough and professional enough to work around it, which I think we are."
Lyon says the Dockers are very happy with how the alignment arrangement with Peel Thunder has worked so far.
"It was really good for us, it unloads our resources a little bit, we don’t have to go around to eight clubs," Lyon said.
"At the end of the day if you train for six, seven months of the year together you’d like to be able to play together. For me it’s as simple as that, really.
"It’s been a really good alignment thus far. Both parties are really enthusiastic, a lot of mutual respect and we understand we’ve got a lot of building to do.
"There are a lot of challenges with the dynamic and all those things but it’s going quite well. If both parties keep working hard at it, it can be a really good thing for both parties and the WAFL."
"We'll have to train them," Lyon said.
"There's no other WAFL team with a bye. It's not ideal but the WAFL have done the best they can. Our later byes are matched up but unfortunately this one doesn't quite work out but that's ok. We've got the wherewithal to train them in an intense manner and keep them fit."
It means the senior Dockers who played for Peel last Saturday, such as Zac Clarke, Garrick Ibbotson, Clancee Pearce, Anthony Morabito, and Colin Sylvia, won't get the opportunity to play a match this week if they are not selected for the Dockers.
Lyon is unperturbed by the fact that he can't send his players to other WAFL clubs to get some game time.
"You don’t want to destroy the fabric, loading up, you want to try and be fair to all parties so I think that’s fair," Lyon said.
"We’ve got to try to be mature enough and professional enough to work around it, which I think we are."
Lyon says the Dockers are very happy with how the alignment arrangement with Peel Thunder has worked so far.
"It was really good for us, it unloads our resources a little bit, we don’t have to go around to eight clubs," Lyon said.
"At the end of the day if you train for six, seven months of the year together you’d like to be able to play together. For me it’s as simple as that, really.
"It’s been a really good alignment thus far. Both parties are really enthusiastic, a lot of mutual respect and we understand we’ve got a lot of building to do.
"There are a lot of challenges with the dynamic and all those things but it’s going quite well. If both parties keep working hard at it, it can be a really good thing for both parties and the WAFL."
