The AFL has announced new concussion protocols to be implemented at every level of football below the AFL and AFLW, bringing them in line with the Australian Institute of Sport’s Concussion and Brain Health Position Statement 2024.
Under new rules, players will be forced to refrain from playing for 21 days after suffering a concussion, essentially missing three matches.
In a statement on the league’s website, AFL general counsel Stephen Meade said the League’s concussion guidelines were the most stringent concussion protocols in Australian sport and they reflected the AFL’s commitment to player safety at all levels.
“The updated community guidelines represent a significant step in the AFL’s existing record of ongoing improvements to its concussion management strategy that reflect medical research and other learnings over time,” he said.
“We play a contact sport and there is always going to be risk, however over recent years we have continued to take action to strengthen match-day protocols and amend the Laws of the Game to discourage high contact, and we will continue to do so.”
AFL and AFLW players will still only have to miss 12 days of action with the AFL stating that the ‘advanced care settings’ and increased medical oversight for concussed AFL and AFLW players would allow them to continue with the three-stage, 11-step return to play protocols that have been in effect since 2021. This will still apply even if an AFL or AFLW-listed player is concussed while playing at a state-league level such as the VFL, WAFL or SANFL.
Mr Meade said they continue to listen and learn from the medical and scientific professionals and take action to deal with the important topic of concussion and player safety.
“While there are risks of injury in our sport, we will continue to act to reduce and manage those risks, and there are also many very significant physical and mental health benefits of playing our great game.”
The changes come into effect in the wake of further severe concussion news in the AFL, with Melbourne Demons star Angus Brayshaw forced into a medical retirement last month due to the impact of multiple concussions while a landmark seven-week suspension was handed out to St Kilda defender Jimmy Webster for an ‘extremely careless’, ‘very high’ impact and ‘high contact’ bump on North Melbourne co-captain Jye Simpkin in a Community Series practice match, as found by the AFL Tribunal.
The Eastern Football Netball League and Outer East Football Netball League were contacted for comment.
