AFL 2021: Player union believes injury sub rule should only be used for concussions
The AFL is expected to endorse a new injury sub rule only days out from Round 1 despite legitimate concerns from the Players’ Association.
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The player union says it has told the AFL its imminent sub rule should only be used for concussions as it hit out at the lack of consultation over the league’s new rules.
The league was expected to bring in a medical sub rule on Tuesday but is still working through the finer details of the proposal with less than two days before the season opener.
AFLPA chief executive Paul Marsh told the Herald Sun on Tuesday the player union’s concern was what happened if a team used its sub for another injury, with a player then concussed.
He said the union’s multiple delegates on the AFL’s competition committee had not been consulted on either the man on the mark rule or the limit to 75 interchanges.
He said if it was only used as a “rubber stamp” by the league, it was not worth the time of AFLPA president Patrick Dangerfield and AFLPA official Brett Murphy.
Marsh said the league did not seem to have thought through the “unintended consequences” of the man on the mark rule and 75 interchanges.
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“The AFL asked us for a view over the weekend on the broader injury sub. The players are comfortable with the concussion sub, but there is concern about how the broader injury sub will be gamed. It is impossible to see how it won’t. It would get us back into a position where we were a few years ago with the sub. Concussion is a genuinely serious issue, but the one thing of broader concern with the injury sub is that if someone comes off with an injury and then a player gets concussed, you can’t replace that player.
“Our preference is that if we are going to do it, it should be a strict concussion sub.”
Marsh said he was hopeful the league would return to a broad level of consultation, which appeared to go missing last year.
“The problem with what has happened in the last week is it’s a product of what took place around the competition committee last year. It normally holds good discussions with stakeholders around these issues. Brett Murphy is on it and our president (Dangerfield) and last year the reduction in rotations was put to the committee at the last minute with no real discussion and then introduced. Clubs and coaches were really frustrated by this and players were really frustrated around this. It’s not necessarily the change, it’s more the process that has been gone through.
“A decision is being made this week (on the sub) and it doesn’t look like they have gone through the unintended consequences. The man on the mark change will lead to higher scoring, and that leads to longer quarters, which means (a premium) on rotations. So when someone gets injured it leads to more pressure on the remaining players on the ground.
“All this stuff is foreseeable and should have been worked through.
“If the competition committee talks through these issues they find the right answers but it’s a frustration when the processes are short-circuited to the point where they have got it wrong and have to make a last-minute change.
“If there is proper respect shown for the competition committee it’s worth going on with. If it’s just a box-ticking exercise…. The people who have worked on it say it’s not the case historically and last year was an incredibly difficult year for everyone and first and foremost the AFL. But if that’s the template going forward it becomes a question of whether it is worth being part of.”
AFL DROP INJURY BOMBSHELL ON EVE OF SEASON
The AFL has revealed it could introduce a medical substitute which teams could use to cover serious game-ending injuries this season.
The league was widely expected to bring in a 23rd player as a new concussion substitute but, in an twist, AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan on Monday night said it could be used to cover various medical issues.
Premiership coach Damien Hardwick threw his support behind the concept with a formal announcement expected as early as Tuesday morning only days out from the blockbuster season-opener.
But the detail in the proposal remains unclear and in particular what sort of injuries or medical issues would trigger the use of the medical substitute.
To discourage misuse of the medical substitute, consideration may have to be given to preventing any injured player who is subbed off the ground from playing for a certain number of weeks.
Otherwise a coach could bring on a substitute to add some fresh legs as replacement for another teammate who had simply fatigued as per the previous substitute rules.
McLachlan said football boss Steve Hocking was still working through the initiative with the game’s stakeholders including the players.
“That is why we are still discussing it - that medical aspect rather than just concussion is where this might go,” McLachlan said on Fox Footy’s AFL360.
“I think that is what Steven Hocking is working through.”
In last year’s Grand Final Richmond’s Nick Vlastuin suffered a concussion only moments before Geelong’s Gary Ablett suffered a serious shoulder injury.
Theoretically, a medical substitute could be activated to replace both players if it happened again in the Richmond - Carlton clash on Thursday night at the MCG.
Hardwick said it was a “smart decision” to bring in a medical substitute as a 23rd man.
“I think it would be fair to do that,” Hardwick said.
“To get a concussion sub and then a guy breaks his leg four minutes later; why shouldn’t you be able to use a sub for that reason also?”
Asked who the Tigers would make their substitute, Hardwick said it would likely be the “next best” player in line for a jumper.
Carlton coach David Teague said while he was surprised this has happened so late, the move “shows the AFL are listening”.
The proposal gained serious momentum off the back of a meeting between the AFL coaches last week.
“At our heart is the players’ best interests and making sure that it is as safe an environment as possible,” Teague said.
“That’s where everyone has put their heads together and are considering something that might help the game.”
McLachlan said while the game tired of the previous substitute rule used between 2011-2015, there was a renewed focus on concussion initiatives.
“It is the health and safety possibility that I think makes sense, if the clubs and coaches want to support it,” McLachlan said.
“I think we showed last year we can flexible.
“There is a lot of pressure coming to bear around the 12-day (concussion) stand down and I think this helps the environment.
“It has been around the place for a long period of time.”
“We had a substitute and the industry in the end pushed back on it, and I think they (clubs) are reconsidering it.”
The move to bring in a 23rd player would help alleviate any pressure on a club, medico or coach to continue playing a player in a game after a head knock.
Doctors and coaches have said repeatedly in recent years that players’ welfare is the absolute priority and never compromised when it comes to head knocks.
In most cases, clubs already have one emergency on standby to play in games if any of the players are injured in the warm-up.
That emergency is now expected to become the concussion substitute who would warm-up with the team as if they are playing in the game.
The substitute is part of a raft of wider initiatives and research programs designed to protect players and learn more about concussion in football.
Players must now serve a 12-day break between games before they are cleared to play another game after a concussion.
AFL Players’ Association chief executive officer Paul Marsh on Friday expressed his disappointment that the proposal had come so late.
“It is probably a little frustrating if I’m honest that we’re needing to consider this a week out from the season starting,” Marsh said on Sportsday WA.
“The issue that’s being raised here is not a new issue and it’s probably something that should have been thought through some time before now.”
HOWE: CONCUSSION SUB COULD TURN KIDS INTO BENCHWARMERS
Collingwood vice-captain Jeremy Howe says a concussion sub would be fairer for AFL teams but worries about the kids who will miss VFL game time because they are needed to warm the bench.
The AFL was on Monday considering a proposal which would be put to the AFL Commission ahead of Thursday night’s Richmond-Carlton season opener.
That AFL football department recommendation has to be ratified by the Commission in an unusually late vote only days ahead of the AFL season.
Under the AFL model proposed by Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson only players 21 and under would be used as concussion subs to ensure young kids were blooded.
But it will also rob many debut players of the rite of passage that sees them guaranteed most of a game on their AFL debut.
In the 2011-2015 seasons the AFL had an injury substitute to ensure teams still had a chance when they lost a player to injury early in a game.
The Herald Sun can reveal 140 players made their debuts in that time as the substitute, some of whom only came onto the ground midway through the last quarter.
The league would have to decide if a player used as the concussion sub on debut who did not come onto the ground had even officially played an AFL game.
Howe said yesterday he agreed with the principle behind protecting players brains but believes there are questions that need to be worked through.
“I think in terms of fairness if you lose a bloke within the first 30 seconds you can have someone to replace them, it’s good, but I feel for the sub who sits on the bench and doesn’t play,” he told the Herald Sun.
“I like the idea of having a concussion sub for fairness of the game and trying to get someone in so you are not one (man) down, but it’s hard.
“I feel for the guy if he is on the cusp of playing and he doesn’t play as the sub, so you are losing a week to prove yourself and even just playing footy because that’s why we all do this.
“It’s a tough spot to be in because you would almost have to bank on saving a player a week just to be sitting on the sidelines.
“If you are a sub, does that count as games played? If you were in a sub in the old days you would get on.
“There wasn’t a game when they didn’t get subbed in, but if you are sitting on the bench you are almost like a reserve.
“Imagine if you ticked off your 100th game sitting as the sub. It’s a tricky one. I don’t know how they work that out.”
Howe says he realised why the new 12-day concussion protocol is in the game given the legal and medical implications of players getting repeat or sub-concussions.
But he knows the live execution of that 12-day protocol will be filled with tough decisions.
“As we learn more and more about concussion it gets a bit scarier as we find out more details.
“Even the 12 days blocked out period of not playing (after a concussion) is quite significant, I just instantly think if I got clipped in a prelim final, you are automatically out for the Grand Final. You understand why they take those actions but it would be a tough pill to swallow.”
‘NEARLY UNANIMOUS’: CLARKO SIGNALS SUB SUPPORT
Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson says the league’s 18 senior coaches are “nearly unanimous” in the push for a 23rd player to be introduced ahead of the new season.
The AFL has been considering bringing in a concussion sub in this season, which starts on Thursday night at the MCG.
The 23rd player, wearing the infamous green vest from yesteryear, would be introduced if a player comes off with a head knock.
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“I’m not really sure (whether it will happen for Round 1),” Clarkson said on SEN
“What was significant among coaches who discussed it, it was nearly unanimous among the coaches across the board (and) I don’t think any coach said ‘I don’t think it’s a good idea.’
“What we’ve got at the present time is more significant concussion protocols than we’ve ever had, and this is a welfare decision it’s got nothing to do with performance, we’re just really concerned for the demands on the players.
“In this particular year we’re going to extend the games out to full length of time again at the same time as bringing down rotations, the speed of the game is going to quicken I think with the man on the mark rule.
“There’s a lot of things going on in the game and then the concussion protocols are going to place more significant pressure on doctors I think and I think they’ll probably lean on the side of conservatism with anything to do with concussion.
“It’s not so much about replacing one player who happens to get hit in the head, it’s whether or not other players on your interchange bench are implicated with other sorts of injuries and whether you’re asking players to go back onto the ground heavily fatigued or already injured.”
The four-time premiership coach said he was in favour of the proposal that the concussion sub must be 21 or younger.
“The other part of it too that we’re excited about is more than likely the concussion sub will be a young player,” he said.
“It won’t be allowed to be over 21, which was a suggestion that the coaches put forward so that you can basically just blood a young player.
“Otherwise … as coaches you’re going to try and exploit anything possible and the spirit of it is to protect the players and beyond the spirit of just making sure your players are protected, it also steers itself towards blooding youth for our game.
“Luke Breust played his first 15 games as a sub, so did Brad Hill, it’s just a great way to integrate these young kids into footy where they don’t have to play a full game.
“There’s lot of benefits for it, we’ll just have to wait and see whether the AFL (brings it in), it’s pretty hasty doing it in the 10 days prior to the season.
“I think the AFL welcomed the idea and are going to explore it, it’s just whether it’s too quick to do prior to Round 1.”
A decision by the AFL on whether or not to introduce a concussion substitute this season could come as late as Wednesday, with the league strongly considering a late proposal from the coaches.
The eleventh-hour bid for a concussion substitute, instigated by Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson, could see teams name a 23rd man this season.
However, the move would have to be confirmed by Wednesday afternoon — before Richmond and Carlton name their teams for Thursday night’s season-opener.
The AFL confirmed on Friday it was seriously considering the introduction of a 23rd man after the issue was raised during a coaches’ phone hook-up on Thursday with AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan and football operations boss Steve Hocking.
Hawthorn coach Alistair Clarkson instigated the discussion which gained serious momentum to the point where it’s almost certainly going to be introduced before Richmond and Carlton open the new season.
The AFL had already introduced stricter concussion guidelines for the 2021 season and they are understood to be comfortable with the fact it would be almost impossible to exploit the addition of a substitute.
Any player who is ruled out of a game with concussion is out for at least 12 days which rules out any manipulation.
West Coast coach Adam Simpson is a supporter of the substitute given teams are already being “more cautious than ever” with concussed players.
“The idea of having somebody available, in particular for concussion, I think it’s a positive one,” Simpson said.
“It might have been Clarko (Hawthorn coach Alistair Clarkson) that brought it up and everyone agreed it was a good idea to talk about at least.
“Concussion protocols, with where they are heading at the moment, you lose a player for 20 minutes and rightly so, and we’ll be even more cautious than ever.
“Maybe having someone available for that period, or for a replacement might be an option.
“We all agreed on it as a coaching group and it’s more over to the AFL now to see where they sit.”
It would have meant that Richmond could have replaced Nick Vlastuin in last year’s Grand Final after he was knocked out in the opening minutes.
A substitute rule was used between 2011 and 2015, when teams started with three on the bench but could swap one player out at any stage of the game.
If the new concussion substitute was introduced there would still be four players on the bench with the sub an extra who is named on the team sheet before the game.
The AFL has already made significant changes for the 2021 season with interchange reduced from 90 to 75 and the controversial man-on-the-mark rule having an impact through the pre-season.
Simpson said clubs were more adaptable to change given the condensed pre-season had forced a new mindset.
“The way we normally operate is you reach a certain fitness by February, and then you sort of taper and then reload,” he said.
“There’s no taper; you sort of build and play.
“The rotations will be interesting. I mean, people have been banging on that we should be reducing rotations and will increase scoring and the flow, that sort of stuff.
“But the ripples of what happens, no-one knows. You might flood the backline, you might ship it around might look really ugly. Or it might be really high scoring. So we’ll find out about round six this year.”
New studies may take guesswork out of concussion
– Chris Cavanagh
The AFL has partnered with two major studies that will seek to use cutting-edge technology to better diagnose and understand concussion.
The league wrote to its 18 clubs on Friday urging them to become involved in the two studies, which will not be used to diagnose concussion in 2021 but could become important tools down the track.
One study from Monash University called ‘BioEye’ uses eye tracking technology to provide an objective pre-season data set that can then be used by medical teams on game day to diagnose concussion.
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Current tests are subjective, with former players having voiced concerns that some players have deliberately performed poorly during baseline pre-season to reduce their risk of being diagnosed with concussion during the season.
The AFL also plans to expand research it has undertaken alongside HitIQ in the past two seasons using impact sensors embedded in player mouthguards.
The program will see a phased expansion over the next three years, with the technology being deployed in the men’s competition in 2021 and in the AFLW in 2022.
“The health and safety of our players is of paramount concern to the AFL and we are committed to further research in this area.” AFL General Counsel Andrew Dillon said.
“The two studies will complement our continued action in this space over recent years including strengthening of the match-day protocols and amendments to the Laws of the Game to discourage high contact. We are also using technology that is embedded in the ARC to provide another mechanism to identify potential concussive incidents that would not have otherwise been detected.
“We are encouraging all clubs to be involved in these studies.”
Partnering with the studies comes after the AFL last month updated its 2021 concussion guidelines, which will see players sidelined for a minimum of 12 days after a concussion this year.
Players who suffered a concussion last year only had to sit out a minimum of six days before they could return to the field.
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