Matt Primus’ first full year as senior coach will undoubtedly see rotations take on greater importance in 2011, with the AFL introducing a new rule that will see three interchange players and one substitute available on the bench.

The rule, originally trialled in the NAB Cup in both 2009 and 2010, will allow the substitute to enter the game at any time, but the player who is replaced cannot return to the field.

"Interchange numbers per club have doubled from an average of 58 per game in 2007 to 117 per game in 2010," AFL football operations manager and chairman of the laws of the game committee Adrian Anderson told AFL.com.au.

"The use of interchange has created more congestion, more stoppages, more defensive pressure and has contributed to a drop in disposal efficiency," Anderson said.

"The laws committee was also concerned about the increasing effect of the interchange on match fairness.

"The interchange was originally designed to help teams when they had an injury, but was increasingly a disadvantage to a team with an injury, because it was unable to rotate their players as much as the opposition.

"The medical advice was also telling us that a restriction should be applied to try to arrest the current injury trend."

For the full story on the changes, head to the news story on AFL.com.au.