The word ‘rotation’ has gradually become part of our everyday language when discussing all things AFL.

Back in the day, there were no such things as ‘rotations’.

Players would generally only come to the bench if they were injured, or if the coach wanted to give them a spray.

If a team was winning, it wasn’t that uncommon for the starting bench players to end up spending the entire game there.

But while getting ‘dragged’ used to be one of the great insults, it is now an essential part of the modern game.

It has become so prevalent that the AFL only recently introduced a cap on rotations to ensure the process wasn’t being exploited by coaches.

To better understand rotations, lions.com.au has taken a closer look at how the interchange has been used at the Club this season.

MOST INTERCHANGES (CLUB)
The Brisbane Lions rank 14th in the AFL in terms of ‘normal’ interchanges (not including forced interchanges due to injury), with 1,703 from their 15 matches so far.

Only St Kilda (1,697), Gold Coast (1,685), North Melbourne (1,645), and Melbourne (1,629) have had less.

Fremantle have used the most interchanges of any club, with a total of 1,811, closely followed by Adelaide (1,799).

MOST INTERCHANGES (PLAYER)
Tom Rockliff is the Lions’ most interchanged player, having come to the bench 110 times in his 13 matches – which is roughly eight time per match.

James Aish is next with 101 interchanges from 14 matches, while Ash McGrath is still yet to be interchanged after spending his first two matches of the season as the substitute.

As far as averages go, Jonathan Brown was one of the least interchanged players in his 11 games this season – being afforded less than two breathers per game. 

TIME ON BENCH
Rockliff might get interchanged more than any other Lion, but he doesn’t spend too much time sitting on the pine.

In fact, on average Rockliff will spend just 2:21 on the bench before he comes on again.

At one time, the 2011 Club Champion spent a total of two seconds on the bench before coming back on again.  

The only players who average less time on the bench this season are Ash McGrath (0:0), Luke McGuane (1:52), and Zac O’Brien (2:14).

Matthew Leuenberger (3:31), Michael Close (3:30), and Andrew Raines (3:29) average the longest stints on the bench at the Lions.

MOST MINUTES
No player has spent more time on the field for the Lions this season than defender Justin Clarke.

Clarke is one of only five players to have played in all 15 of the Lions senior games, but his 1,670 minutes edges him past Jed Adcock (1,634 minutes) for the most minutes played.

Such is Joel Patfull’s durability, that the two-time Club Champion ranks third in total minutes with 1,585 – which is more than both Marco Paparone and Lewy Taylor who have played one more game than him.