ESSENDON great Matthew Lloyd said on Saturday night during the Bombers' loss to Richmond that being a substitute player was one of the hardest challenges in football.

Yet the number of first gamers being used in the role is growing by the week.

A total of 10 teams have used a first gamer this season as that 22nd member of the side, with 14 players making their debut wearing the green vest.

Melbourne will become the 11th on Friday night after it was revealed 20-year-old rookie Daniel Nicholson will play his first game against Carlton as the sub. 

Adelaide's Brodie Smith and Matthew Wright, the Brisbane Lions' Broc McCauley, Fremantle's Tendai Mzungu, Geelong's Allen Christensen, Gold Coast's Josh Toy and Liam Patrick, Hawthorn's Luke Breust, St Kilda's Jamie Cripps, the Sydney Swans' Luke Parker, West Coast's Andrew Gaff and Gerrick Weedon and the Western Bulldogs' Mitch Wallis and Zeph Skinner are the 14 to have made their debut as the sub since the rule was introduced this year. 

Seven of them have been released into the game in the third quarter, four of them in the fourth, two in the first and one in the second.

Despite Lloyd's protestations the sub player had "the toughest gig in football", evidence suggests Geelong coach Chris Scott is right in his belief the rule presents a great way for a player to be introduced to the big league when the speed of the game has reduced.

Across the board, the debutants have averaged nearly eight possessions in those games, despite their limited time on the ground.

Of the better performers, Smith and Gaff had 14 each while Breust booted two goals on his way to 13. Cripps also kicked two goals in his round six introduction. 

Geelong 20-year-old Christensen was the third player to debut as a sub in round two against Fremantle.

Afterwards, he backed the Cats' decision to throw him into the action in the third quarter when most of the other players had begun to tire.

"It was hot during the early part of the game, and there was a lot of running and a lot of contests, so it was all right coming on late," Christensen later told gfc.com.au.

"The pace of the game had gone out of it a bit, so I was happy to get on there and provide a bit of run for the boys.

"Obviously I was fresher than most people out there. I tried to use my leg-speed and I didn't find it too daunting or anything."

Scott said he felt it was a good way for the young midfielder to be initiated into the game. It was a move that paid off for the Cats, with Christensen having eight possessions and three marks and the impact Scott believed should come from a substituted player.

However, the move hasn't always worked. West Coast forward Weedon only had three touches in his round seven debut against Essendon, and the Bulldogs have been burned both times they've thrown the sub vest at a first gamer.

It first happened with Mitch Wallis in round five versus Fremantle, and then with Zeph Skinner two rounds later against the Sydney Swans.

Wallis was introduced into the game at three-quarter time and sent straight to the centre square. His opponent, David Mundy, snuck away as the umpire bounced the ball, Fremantle won the clearance and Mundy streaked away to kick a goal within the opening 15 seconds of the final quarter. 

Wallis finished the game with three handballs to his name.

For Skinner, it was a tougher initiation. He came on for Ben Hudson late in the third quarter of his first game and went right to full forward.

His first touch was an uncontested mark in attack but he nervously sent his set shot sailing left. It was one of the two touches he had for the afternoon.

The Bulldogs lost both those games, and while it had nothing to do with the fact the debutants were injected into the contest late, they weren't able to benefit from a fair contribution from either player given the tight nature of each game. 

The Bulldogs said Wallis and Skinner weren't named as the substitute player because it was their first game, and would not necessarily go down that path again if they added to the four debutants they have already played in 2011.

"It hasn't been orchestrated from a point of view that they're young players and they need to be gradually bring them in. We've really made those decisions based on the balance of the side and in respect to perhaps how much game time some of those guys have had," general manager of football James Fantasia told afl.com.au.

"Equally, we didn't want to rule players out because it was their first game and say, 'Let's not pick them because we're going to pick them as a sub'.

"It's just been the way it's gone for those two, basically. From a philosophical point of view, the preference probably is to play them."

Lloyd's view, which he expressed during Channel 10's telecast of Saturday night's Richmond-Essendon clash, came after the Bombers launched Alwyn Davey into the game midway through the third quarter and the little speedster gave away two free kicks within minutes of each other.

Fellow commentator Robert Walls said Davey was "wound up" after he first encroached on the mark of Trent Cotchin, which gave away a 50m penalty, and then slammed Dustin Martin into the turf and was penalised for tackling without the ball.

Lloyd said Davey's exuberance was caused by two and a half quarters of sitting on the bench, waiting to be injected into the game, only to get his chance when the pace was at a premium and the difference two points. 

"It's the toughest gig in the business, coming on in a hot game like this when you've just sat there for an hour, hour and a half," he said.

Perhaps experienced players, like Davey, feel more pressure to make a difference in close contests while first gamers play with free abandon.

Perhaps players like Davey, who have played nearly 60 AFL games, find it harder to get used to the new rule while this season's debutants don't know any better at the elite level.

Or perhaps Scott's view, expressed in early April after the Cats' 11-point victory over Fremantle, is gaining currency by the week as more players seem to benefit from spending the opening portion of their first game clothed in green.

The views in this article are that of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs