Richmond coach Damien Hardwick has flagged a transformation of the way AFL clubs handle their rookie lists.

With injuries taking their toll at several league clubs as the season has worn on, Hardwick believes a manipulation of the rookie list could help alleviate the drain on player resources.

“You’ve only got a certain amount of players you can call upon and when they get injured, there’s no other recourse.  You just hang on and hope to God the other guys come back,” Hardwick said on SEN.

“It’s a brutal game and, something we really need to look at, moving forward, is the ability to bring players in and out at stages, so we can actually fix your side.

“At stages as a coach, you just sit on your hands and hope for the best.

“I think what’ll happen is sides will get a bit smarter with the way they use their rookie lists.  It becomes more of an injury reserve-type list, more than young players.

“It probably caught us a bit off-guard this year with the injuries we have.  We just didn’t quite have the players available to put in straight away.  They’re just not ready to go at AFL level.

“So, it’s something we’ll address . . .”