Absolutely. You'd think it would have to be a contributing factor for sure. Did the AFL heirachy consider the ramifications of season 2020 and its impact/effect on the players heading into and during the 2021 season I wonder......
Any independant sports science 'experts' comissioned to investigate and report its findings and recommendations.....would be interesting to know
Clearly a lot of players bodies have & are operating at maximum thresholds; red-lining it and then blowing a gasket......feel for em'
Might just be me but this preseason hasn't seemed that out of the ordinary, perhaps hitting a few more fantasy relevant guys than usual but looking at last year...
Gawn, Doedee, Curnow, Betts, Kemp, Marchbank, SPS, McKay, Adams, Langdon, Treloar, Pendles, Daniher, Draper, Heppell, Hooker, Zaharakis, Acres, Aish, Hill, all of Freo's KPD, Wilson, Duncan, Selwood, Cockatoo, Hanley, Harbrow, Powell, Rankine, Witts, Thompson, Taranto, Ward, Williams, Gunston, Mitchell, Impey, Hardwick, Bennell, KK, Salem, LDU, Brown, Turner, Jacobs, Dixon, Lycett, Watts, Wines, Houli, Nankervis, Geary, Franklin, Reid, Melican, Allen, Darling and Liberatore were all guys with listed injuries/preseason issues heading into round one that would otherwise have been in the mix for best 22 (some played, some didn't).
One scary thing doing that list was how many of the names are guys I've considered this year
What probably hasn't helped is the shorter preseason and restrictions on elective surgeries have probably meant there is a lot more players with delayed starts from the normal o***eason surgeries.