ok so how about we say, in part you are all correct in some way, but clubs do things that suit them, decisions made by coaches and their inner sanctum are not made public for various reasons.
Sometime the players don't know exactly what these decisions are.
In the end, these are made for the betterment of their club to either go further in their main comp, manage their way through a few injury problems by playing lower grade players (this happens during the comp also), playing lower grade players against a lesser side (this also happens during the season)or maybe they just place one comp higher on a priority list.
We can jump up and down all you like, but in the end, what's done is done, and unless they change the structure of the early rounds, this will continue to happen.
Cheers
back to the real reason this thread is here, ZL1 this weekend.