The opening round of the 2011 season has seen coaches unsure of just who they should nominate as a substitute with most clubs electing to go with running players such as Richmond's Daniel Connors.
Interestingly, both the Sydney Swans and Melbourne went in the opposite direction with the Swans opting to name ruckman Mark Seaby as their inaugural substitute while Melbourne decided on forward Petterd.
The Sydney Swans dominated inside 50s in the third term with 20 entries to Melbourne's 10 and the Demons appeared to be breaking down across half-forward with few options in attack.
This prompted Bailey to bring on Petterd in the final quarter for Addam Maric who had little impact on the scoreboard with just the two behinds.
Petterd had an immediate impact at centre half-forward, earning a free kick in the first minute in which he delivered to teammate Lynden Dunn who goaled, cutting the Sydney Swans lead back to eight-points.
A minute later Petterd marked just on the 50 mark and had a shot a goal, just missing to the left. He ended up with six touches for his one quarter effort with four marks and two score assists.
"I decided that Addam Maric had just showed glimpses and we thought Ricky's a little bit more trouble up forward," Bailey said.
"I thought he impacted the game. Ricky kept looking at me for the whole game sitting down on the bench but he kept looking over at me glaring at me waiting to get out on the ground but his impact when he came on was good.
"There's always that risks if injury comes, when does it come? If you've already subbed in a close game and there is an injury and you use it as a tactical aspect then you do leave yourself open a little bit.
"That was always going to be the challenge for us but if we needed something different up in the forward line we knew we had Ricky up our sleeve, so we got away with it today but didn't get the result in the end."
But using Petterd as a strategic move nearly got Bailey into trouble.
12 minutes into the final term, captain Brad Green (dislocated finger) went down the race and Melbourne was down to just two on the interchange bench but fortunately Green returned to the field, letting Bailey off the hook.
Swans coach John Longmire also used his substitute tactically, bringing on ruckman Mark Seaby at the 11-minute mark of the final quarter and subbing off young forward Sam Reid.
This left the Swans with three big men on the ground in Seaby, Shane Mumford and Jesse White.
Seaby played mostly up forward and pinch hit in the ruck at times but the Swans appeared fatigued in the final term and it looked as though they may have needed fresh legs in the midfield with the Demons threatening to overrun them.
Longmire admitted he wasn't sure what type of player was the ideal substitute.
"I think it depends on week to week," Longmire said.
"I don’t think anyone has the answer. It depends on who you’re playing, who’s in your 21, that’s really important and that decides who the sub player will be.
"We knew he (Petterd) would be the sub. But it’s pretty hard to coach for the opposition sub, you’ve got to coach for your own sub.
"But ‘Mummy’ worked his heart out then Seabs came on and did a pretty good job as well around the stoppages."
