Good to see, they should mandate it at all levels of footy. Very hard to police in a lot of instances down from the AFL but you'd rather be cautious than do nothing.

I think it is a bloody good thing. Players need to be protected, even if, just from themselves. Long term effects can be scary. They need time to recover. Having said that now watch Petracca suffer from a concussion in the final few minutes of the 2021 Prelim

2 minutes ago, FarNorthernD said:

I think it is a bloody good thing. Players need to be protected, even if, just from themselves. Long term effects can be scary. They need time to recover. Having said that now watch Petracca suffer from a concussion in the final few minutes of the 2021 Prelim

I think the AFL need to switch the bye week in finals from first week to after Prelim's to avoid this.  Bit like NFL do, even put in the State of Origin match in the bye week.

This is the start, I'm hearing that Juniors will remove all contact until U12s and are looking at AFL grids for U8/9/10 age groups to minimise contact.  Some leagues have already introduced this.

Player welfare is number one priority at all levels, the big concern is we look at changing rules at younger age groups, players don't learn to protect their head, you go from a game that no one can touch you to full contact, you need to learn to put you [censored] in harms way not your head.

The grounds are way to hard, be interested to see a stat of concussions that have been caused due to impact on the ground compared to player to player contact.  The grounds are harder than ever.  To me this is a big factor in concussions and also the increase in feet issues with players.   

Any player causing a concussion (sling tackle, stray elbow) going to be suspended for mandatory 12 days also?  

1 hour ago, drdrake said:

I think the AFL need to switch the bye week in finals from first week to after Prelim's to avoid this.  Bit like NFL do, even put in the State of Origin match in the bye week.

This is the start, I'm hearing that Juniors will remove all contact until U12s and are looking at AFL grids for U8/9/10 age groups to minimise contact.  Some leagues have already introduced this.

Player welfare is number one priority at all levels, the big concern is we look at changing rules at younger age groups, players don't learn to protect their head, you go from a game that no one can touch you to full contact, you need to learn to put you [censored] in harms way not your head.

The grounds are way to hard, be interested to see a stat of concussions that have been caused due to impact on the ground compared to player to player contact.  The grounds are harder than ever.  To me this is a big factor in concussions and also the increase in feet issues with players.   

I like the mandatory 12 day break as players shouldn't be concussed often enough for this to present an impost on the team. The idea of the bye between the prelim and grand final also makes alot of sense in minimising the impact of a concussion before the most important game.

I'm in no way an expert and have now experience whatsoever with concussion or injury at junior level, but would think it extremely unlikely for an under 12 to suffer concussion and the benefit of them learning correct technique and to protect themselves from a young age to be a net benefit. To lift the age is a bit like arguing kids shouldn't learn to swim at a young age due to the risk of drowning.

Yet the AFL have gone soft on suspending players for head-high contact over the past five or so years.

7 minutes ago, Clint Bizkit said:

Yet the AFL have gone soft on suspending players for head-high contact over the past five or so years.

not if a demon is the culprit...

Agree with all of the above. 12 days minimum may see players miss two games esp. around Anzac day/eve games. It's such a hard injury to quantify that I'm not sure you can police it any other way. 

I agree with having a break the week after prelim on this basis, it would be soul destroying to have one or more of our best players miss a grand final because of this imposed break. 

Wait until Danger or Dusty gets concussed in a prelim and will miss the Granny.

I think the players who get concussed during matches should not play for at least 3 weeks and during the game a substitute player should be added to the team so that he can play and that way no coach can be tempted to play a player even with a very mild case. 

One of the biggest challenges (outside of COVID) facing the AFL. Good start with this move on the new protocols. Would expect there is more follow up to be done on protecting the ball carrier.  

On 1/28/2021 at 4:37 PM, drdrake said:

I think the AFL need to switch the bye week in finals from first week to after Prelim's to avoid this. 

Interesting idea @drdrake. How would you feel if you were the winner of the First Semi Final - is a 2-week break a negative or a positive?

 

2 hours ago, Demonland said:

 

~400 players take the field each week. A bit of perspective please.

The danger is in repeated concussions thoughout a career.

Edited April 26, 20214 yr by Chook

11 minutes ago, Chook said:

~400 players take the field each week. A bit of perspective please.

The danger is in repeated concussions thoughout a career.

Could add country, suburban and junior footy to the perspective. Just as risky if not more as the lack of scrutiny from cameras and multiple umpires to police old school tactics as well as less medical attention at games. There could be hundreds of concussions every week throughout the country and many remain undiagnosed. 

Edited April 26, 20214 yr by John Crow Batty

Landsberger writes, 

"Richmond superstar Dustin Martin was diagnosed with the 31st concussion for the season on Saturday night.

Martin was the fourth player knocked out on the weekend."

Bit hyperbolic. I don't think Martin was "knocked out".

Nevertheless, the meat of the story is interesting and leads to a possible conclusion that AFL clubs have either been not properly recognising concussions for years, or worse, recognising them but covering them up.

The question of a bye before the GF is interesting. Players have been missing GFs for years because of injury. Does this specific injury type warrant such a change which could help many other injured players? I was initially against the bye fearing a loss of momentum in community interest before the GF. But the more I think about it, the more I could be persuaded that it's a good idea as it increases the chances of having the best players available. 

I don't like the extra (or changed bye) but I'm sure the AFL are thinking of it.

My suspicion is that as long as they can maintain media dominance for the 2 week period they'll go for it.

The idea of an extra week of hoopla with a clear week for the Brownlow must be tempting

it won't be this year, but the simple solution is to shift the pre-finals bye to a pre-grand final bye

all state leagues etc. host their grand finals in that new 'gap week'

it removes the relative 'disadvantage' that teams winning straight thru to the prelim have at the moment where they don't play much footy in the last month of the year, thus not allowing for consistent approach

much better to go rd 23 / finals week 1 / 2 / 3 / bye / grand final than rd 23 / bye / 1 / 2 / 3 / grand final if they are THAT concerned about this concussion issue and players inadvertently missing out on a gf because of the arbitrary 12 day protocol

i can completely understand where nick riewoldt is coming from when he said he would take it as far as he could to prove he was recovered within 7 days from finals week 3 to grand final rather than miss out because of the time period

3 hours ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

 

Nevertheless, the meat of the story is interesting and leads to a possible conclusion that AFL clubs have either been not properly recognising concussions for years, or worse, recognising them but covering them up.

To hold administrators accountable, there is a recently launched website that track concussions across several codes: http://nurosafe.com/?page_id=244

Brad Sheppard has retired from WC due to concussion issues.  he is 30 but still in his prime imo (AA last year).

Gun defender and big loss for WC

presser tomorrow

12 minutes ago, DubDee said:

Brad Sheppard has retired from WC due to concussion issues.  he is 30 but still in his prime imo (AA last year).

Gun defender and big loss for WC

presser tomorrow

Imagine your career is over at 30, along with brain injury. How far, in a positive way we have come from the 90s, 00s and even 10s. The Shaun Smith’s of the world would be in a much better place today if they were protected players like today.

I was just reading BBC sports and saw this article, really interesting.
 

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/59555989

On 1/28/2021 at 4:37 PM, drdrake said:

I think the AFL need to switch the bye week in finals from first week to after Prelim's to avoid this.  Bit like NFL do, even put in the State of Origin match in the bye week.

This is the start, I'm hearing that Juniors will remove all contact until U12s and are looking at AFL grids for U8/9/10 age groups to minimise contact.  Some leagues have already introduced this.

Player welfare is number one priority at all levels, the big concern is we look at changing rules at younger age groups, players don't learn to protect their head, you go from a game that no one can touch you to full contact, you need to learn to put you [censored] in harms way not your head.

The grounds are way to hard, be interested to see a stat of concussions that have been caused due to impact on the ground compared to player to player contact.  The grounds are harder than ever.  To me this is a big factor in concussions and also the increase in feet issues with players.   

I had a couple of concussions in my playing days and NEVER as a result of ground hardness. A thuggish elbow and a deliberate fist come to mind. In fact I cant recall a player coming to grief because of hard ground issues

There were murmurings towards the end of the season suggesting that the concussion/injury sub would not exist next year or, at least, would evolve into something else. I fear that will mean a fifth interchange player. Has there been any announcement as to what will happen with the 23rd player in 2022?