WEST Coast coach John Worsfold says he’s unconcerned about playing in the extreme heat predicted for Perth this weekend, because he’s sure the AFL will apply common sense.

The AFL has an extreme heat policy which allows for an extended bench, longer breaks between quarters, the players to go off the ground at all breaks, shorter terms, and, tellingly, encourages coaches to use the interchange bench more frequently.

With the NAB Cup trial rules limiting teams to 16 interchanges per term, including those changes made at the breaks, and with 38 degrees the forecast maximum for Sunday’s match between West Coast and Fremantle, the potential for these policies to come into conflict clearly exists, but Worsfold says the AFL’s track record shows it will be sensible.

“The AFL has got an extreme heat policy, and if the conditions fall under that, I would expect that we would go with that policy,” he said.

“The eight players [on the bench] is already done, longer breaks between quarters is part of that which they’ve always done before, and the other recommendation they make in that policy is that you rotate your players a lot more frequently, so really we’ve got to wait and see if they determine that it is a game that will fall under that extreme heat policy, and if it does, we would assume that would override a lot of the current rules.”

 Worsfold said the AFL’s current policy on playing in extreme conditions had a history of working well, and while the experimental law regarding interchanges conflicted with the policy, Worsfold said it wasn’t anything new.

“The extreme heat policy has worked every other year – we haven’t had any major issues with playing in the heat of Perth or in the humidity of Darwin, because that policy has been in place, and it’s worked really well.

“It would appear that there is [a conflict], yes, but the rules for the NAB Cup up until this year were six on the interchange bench – two extra players – and the heat policy said another two, so the extreme heat policy was overriding the NAB Cup rules to make sure it was safe for players.

“One of the guidelines is ‘rotate your players more often’, and you can’t stick to that guideline in that policy with only 16 interchanges.”

Fremantle coach Mark Harvey said he was also waiting to hear about the playing conditions for the match.

“The coaches had a meeting with the AFL (late last year), and every one of those coaches in that meeting wasn’t in favour of limiting the rotations off the bench. Every coach,” he said.

“The modification we’re looking for is either an extension on the bench or unlimited rotations.”