CHRIS Scott may well be mistaken for an Australian cricket coach in the next month. 

Geelong will be one of a host of clubs forced to adopt a rotation policy – made famous by our cricketers of the previous decade – as they prepare for a fixture crunch of five games in 19 days. 

ROUNDS 8-12 Check out the full fixture

As part of the latest fixture release announced on Tuesday night that will include 20 straight days of footy, the Cats will travel from WA to Queensland after their matches with Fremantle and West Coast.

After an 11-day break into the Dockers game and five days pre-Eagles, the Cats will have consecutive four, five and four-day breaks into games against North Melbourne, St Kilda and Port Adelaide at the Gabba. 

Already with a lengthy injury list headlined by skipper Joel Selwood, the Cats will need to plot rests for its cohort of older stars that include Patrick Dangerfield, Tom Hawkins, Harry Taylor and Zach Tuohy.

THE FULL INJURY LIST Who is racing the clock?

Collingwood has it equally as tough, a flight east after its round nine date with Fremantle in Perth, the Dockers' clash the first of four games in 14 days.

The Pies' block will also include a Tuesday flight to Adelaide Oval to play the Crows on August 11. 

Scott Pendlebury, Chris Mayne, Jordan Roughead – a trio of players over or turning 30 this year who have played all seven games this year – will be among the first names considered for a rest. 

Like Charlie Constable, Lachie Fogarty, Nathan Kreuger, James Parsons and Nakia Cockatoo at Geelong, Pies youngsters Flynn Appleby, Brayden Sier, Jay Rantall, Trent Bianco, Mark Keane will be front of the queue for a game, with the latter three probing for a debut. 

The Cats will have the added layer of factoring in when Gary Ablett can board a plane to Queensland where he will need to isolate for 14 days before re-joining his teammates.  

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If he's not on a flight out of Victoria until after August 1, then he would have missed five games by the time the Cats' round 12 match (August 14) comes around.

Adelaide and Port Adelaide will each play four games in 16 days in the next block, both with a pair of matches at Adelaide Oval and two flights to Queensland. 

Richmond and the Western Bulldogs, who meet to kickstart round nine on Wednesday night, will play four games in 20 and 19 days respectively. 

North Melbourne has its allotment of games in 15 days with flights only to and from Tasmania for two games, while St Kilda and Gold Coast won't need to leave Queensland for four games each in the space of 16 days, nor will Essendon for its line-up in 17 days. 

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Brisbane has to fly to Tasmania once among its four games in 16 days, however Melbourne has separate trips to the Apple Isle and Adelaide in its four games in 17 days. 

Fremantle, West Coast, Hawthorn, Carlton, Sydney and Greater Western Sydney will be afforded byes in the window. 

Essendon and Melbourne's postponed fixture from earlier in the year will act as their rest, with the remaining 10 clubs to enjoy a break later in the year. 

The next window doesn't include any games in New South Wales as the threat of COVID-19 rises in that state, with the Swans and Giants to fly west for a Sydney Derby on neutral territory in round 12. 

THE LADDER Where is your team sitting?

The Bombers are the big winners on the broadcast front with three of their four games on free-to-air. 

Adelaide, Hawthorn, Sydney, North Melbourne and Collingwood – which had six of its first seven games free-to-air – won't feature on free-to-air in the next block.

*Has a bye in next block