Just five of the winning round one teams notched more interchange rotations than their opposition, as coaches continued adapting cautiously to the new 120 cap in the second weekend of matches.
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Essendon, St Kilda, Greater Western Sydney, Fremantle and Port Adelaide were the only winners to out-rotate the losing teams, with the Bombers making 26 more changes than the Kangaroos during their win on Friday night.
Champion Data records show the Roos (94) were one of four teams to rotate fewer than 100 times, along with Carlton (91), Gold Coast (83) and Melbourne (81).
Melbourne's numbers, under new coach Paul Roos, dropped dramatically from last year. In round one of 2013 the Demons made 134 changes, but that figure fell by 53 during Saturday night's three-goal loss to the Saints.
The Demons estimated they lost 20 minutes' worth of rotations, with Jack Fitzpatrick subbed out early with concussion and Tom McDonald spending the last 10 minutes of the match on the bench having earlier needed another long break to have his leg injury assessed.
Gold Coast's rotations also fell, from 126 in round one last year, with the Suns losing Charlie Dixon and Jack Martin to injury before the half-time break, while Carlton rotated 37 fewer times than they did in 2013's opening game.
Overall, teams rotated an average of 110 times, well down on last year's round one average of 124, and even further down on the 2013 season average of 133.7 per team.
While Port Adelaide's rotations dropped by 33, from 134 in round one of last season, the Power rotated 10 more times than the Blues in their match last week.
Essendon (down five rotations), West Coast (four) and Brisbane Lions (six) were closest to matching their figures from round one last year.
Paul Roos, discussing whether Jack Viney had done enough work to come back into the Demons' side this week, said teams had seemed better physically prepared to start the season than they had been in years past.
"I think what we're seeing now is teams are a lot better prepared going into the season. Even in our game, whilst our guys were pretty tired and the St Kilda guys were pretty tired, you're certainly not seeing anywhere near the cramping you were seeing in round one last year," Roos said.
"Watching the Eagles play – what was it, 34 degrees? It was hot over there. You just can't play guys that are underdone."
