Players who suffer a concussion will – barring a bye – miss at least one match under strict new concussion protocols introduced by the AFL ahead of the new season.
The new protocols – unveiled today and applying to both the AFL and AFLW – stipulate that a player who suffers a concussion will be sidelined for at least 12 days – potentially more depending on clinical evaluations. In 2020, the timeline was six days.
This means a player who is concussed will miss at least one match, potentially two, unless their team as a bye upcoming. During this time, they will participate in reduced individual training.
Additionally, only the AFL’s Chief Medical Officer is allowed to let a player initially withdrawn from a game on suspicion of concussion to return to the field.
In a statement released by the AFL, the league claimed their concussion guidelines are reviewed annually, with Chief Medical Officer Peter Harcourt and Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Makdissi working together to create the updated guidelines today.
The full statement by AFL general counsel Andrew Dillon is as follows.
“The updated concussion 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.
“The reality is 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. We also have used the technology that is embedded in the AFL ARC to provide another opportunity to identify potential concussive incidents that would not have otherwise been detected.
“The updated guidelines are the most stringent concussion protocols in Australian sport and we are committed to continuing to take action to protect the safety of players at all levels of the game.
Mr Dillon said the AFL was in the final stages of interviewing for a Concussion Lead at the League and expected the successful candidate to be appointed in the coming weeks.
“We continue to listen and learn and take action and the new role will specifically focus on the work that we are doing as an industry – both at the elite and community level – to deal with the important topic of concussion.”
The AFL was rocked last week following a post-mortem on former Richmond player Shane Tuck, who passed away aged just 38, revealed a shockingly serious case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) – an irreversible brain disease caused by repeated blows to the head. Neuropathologist Michael Buckland declared it the “worst case [he’d] seen”.
Post-mortems on Graham Farmer and Danny Frawley also revealed the presence of the disease.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
You are right, CTE does soften the brain.
Naughty's Headband
Roar Rookie
Rugby man?
Smee
Guest
Barry Hall shouldnt have played, but neither should have Travis Gasper.
RT
Roar Rookie
Cotchin's bump was just a matter of getting in the better position to win the ball. I doubt he was trying to "take him out", if by that you mean deliberately knock him out. Why would you risk missing a Grand Final with a deliberate act like that? The suspension rules that year were a bit over the top and we have seen a slight relaxing of the suspensions for incidental but damaging knocks like Cotchin's. That's probably not a good thing though. The one that was most over the top was 3 fines and an automatic suspension. Martin went into the finals on 2 fines from one game.
Lukey Miller
Guest
The AFL is slowly learning about concussion and the long term consequences for players. They were "rocked" by the recent revelations about the brain injuries to past players due to concussion. How can anybody buy that from the AFL? For a great many years we all have been aware of the brain injuries being suffered by American NFL players and the massive law suits by ex players against the NFL. The AFL has failed dismally to deal with head high contact and concussion issues - their tribunal has been woefully weak and inconsistent for years. Over the last 10 years the speed of the game has been fueled by the almost continuous interchange of players, allowing streams of fresh players to come on when needed. At the same time, the game has been allowed to become chronically congested, which means much more frequent heavy contact between players. Game speed and severe congestion (without any off-side rule) is a recipe for an increased amount of severe concussion incidents. We don't want an off-side rule, but we can markedly reduce interchanges for starters (their last reduction to 75 interchanges was pathetic). Expanding the 6x6x6 rule to every stoppage would also help to reduce congestion. Oh, and put smart people on the tribunal to deal with high contact issue properly and consistently. Demetrio and Gil should have sorted this out years ago, but Gil needs to pull his finger out now - right now.
Dean F
Guest
20 years ago it was still a hard man's game. Now the softest contact sport in the world. But even 20 years ago the Rugby codes, Gridiron, much more brutal, tougher contact sports.
Paul D
Roar Rookie
Cotchin's bump on Shiel was one of the best disguised deliberate takeouts I've seen. He eyeballs Shiel, sees he's going for the ball, and throws himself into the collision while ensuring his head is down looking at the ground and leads with his shoulder. Cotchin never had any intention of going for the ball in the initial lunge, you see it from the way he takes the hit, braced for the collision, goes to ground and then looks for the ball behind him. Then gets tackled and throws it out between his legs and somehow avoids getting pinged for incorrect disposal. Anyways, agreed it was minor, but given the policy at the time of a suspension matching the outcome, he should have got a week. Shiel missed the rest of the game. But hey, it was a grand final, and the AFL didn't have the guts to do to Cotchin in 2017 what the NRL happily did to Cameron Smith in 2008.
RT
Roar Rookie
At least the old "wouldn't want to see someone miss a Grand Final for that" applies to Cotchin. I don't remember the Hall incident but pretty sure it wasn't incidental contact.
Lukey Miller
Guest
2006 GF was much better and fairer.
Lukey Miller
Guest
The AFL has been very slow to properly deal with this issue. Chronic overcrowding combined with the ever increasing pace of the game has contributed greatly to concussion and head injuries in the game. A weak and inconsistent response from the AFL Tribunal in recent years has not helped. The AFL will be badly exposed in future litigation by people suffering from the affects of in-game concussion. The AFL have dithered on implementing measures to reduce the problem. Reducing interchanges to 40 per game should significantly reduce the pace of the game. Extending the 6x6x6 rule to all stoppages would eliminate most of the congestion the games currently suffers. AFL will struggle to exist in the near future unless the AFL start to get serious about head trauma and concussion.
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
Probably... by a margin. Hmm. The CTE diagnoses would suggest otherwise. Or at least suggest that "softest" is still not soft.
Dean F
Guest
AFL is probably the softest contact sport in the world. By a margin.
XI
Roar Guru
I think Hunter for the Eagles was also under a bit of a cloud for that game. Was overshadowed by Hall but definitely some behind the scenes funny business that week
Cracka
Roar Rookie
"Leo Barry you star!" Great game of footy, great result for the AFL, but yes Big Bad Barry should’ve been suspended, not that I can remember the details of the tribunal, but I bet the threat to take it to court was on the table from the Swans.
WCE
Roar Rookie
Or the 2005 Barry Hall rule. Even he admits he shouldn't have been allowed to play in the Grand Final. But the AFL wanted big bad Barry in that GF so never a doubt he was always going to get off any other week nope. And I dare say had he been wearing Eagles colors he wouldn't have played either.
Paul D
Roar Rookie
Commendable, but let's see if they've got the guts to enforce it when it happens to someone in a preliminary final. Call it the Cotchin rule. Every man and his dog knows he shouldn't have played the 2017 GF for what he did to Shiel in the prelim but the AFL squibbed it. I daresay it won't be the last time either.
Naughty's Headband
Roar Rookie
Good. Even longer would be better. We've seen how devastating the effects can be, recent examples being Travis Tuck and Danny Frawley. If you look further back, and even more devastating, have a read of Chris Benoit's story.
Cracka
Roar Rookie
hmmm I wonder if it will stop at 1 week and not get pushed out even further with continuing medical research.