BRISBANE Lions coach Leigh Matthews admits that with the frenetic pace of modern day football’s interchanges it would be almost impossible for a player to regularly identify his direct opponent.

Speaking after Friday night’s two-point win over Collingwood at the Gabba, during which the Magpies topped the 100-interchange mark, Matthews said keeping track of who was playing on who was becoming extremely difficult.

“Accountability is an interesting question. A Collingwood player gets ball and half the time you think, ‘Who’s his opponent?’” Matthews said.

“I wouldn’t have thought (players could identify direct opponents). They couldn’t. One of the by-products is we try to designate 18 positions so the players at least are not confused about what they’re trying to do.

“If you multiply our 80 (interchanges) by their 110, there would be many times that, if you stopped the game and asked everyone to nominate his direct opponent, there would be a lot of uncertainty.”

That said, Matthews doesn’t necessarily believe limiting the amount of interchanges would be a good thing.

“I’ve got mixed thoughts,” he said.

“I like the free-flowing vibrant game it has created. But, in saying that, there are less one-on-contests and less of a gladiatorial aspect.

“The only real individual contests you have now are between your big forwards and your big defenders. Individual contests in the midfield virtually don’t exist any more.”