AFL Players Association proposes key changes amidst growing injury crisis within the league

In response to the surge in recent player injuries, the AFL Players Association (AFLPA) is reportedly working towards setting up an allowance of two bye-weeks and shortened quarters per season. The current injury crisis has taken a 1236-player toll on the league, which is only second to the COVID-19 pandemic’s casualties in the last five seasons, and about 50 players more than last season’s.

Richmond with 15 players injured has been hit the hardest, followed by Collingwood with 14, Carton with 13, West Coast with 11, Fremantle and Hawthorn with 10 each. The Collingwood Magpies coach Craig McRae wonders if shortening quarters might be a viable solution. He said on SEN this week:

“The game is giving us feedback — 150 odd injuries is a lot of injures and it’s more than we’ve seen in our time.”

Herald Sun journalist Jon Ralph speaking on Fox Footy’s Midweek Tackle, disclosed that the AFL has considered the effects that shortening goal reviews and removing the 6-6-6 warning might have on toning down these numbers. But he did not seem convinced that the move was equal to the gravity of the matter at hand.

Reporting on the AFLPA’s decided approach, Ralph said that the association is adopting a similar approach to the one utilized during the COVID-affected campaign in 2020— shortened quarters and clubs having two byes in hopes of reducing injury rates. Concluding, he said:

“So is the AFL’s issue now about health and safety? Or is it about monetising a March 8 start to the season, Gather Round, extra rounds, 30 weekends of football? I think we’re about to find out because we’re at a critical time right now."

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“It’s just speed, speed, speed” – Herald Sun chief reporter on the state of the game and injury rates

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Mark Robinson, chief Herald Sun reporter, believes that the injury toll must be a major issue for the league because of how heightened the game’s speed has been in recent years. He said on Fox Footy’s ‘AFL 360’:

“This is as real as any (topic) we’ve had this year, The game is too fast and we’re just speeding up the game. It’s just speed, speed, speed. A lot of people like that, but (players aren’t) robots. As much as they get fitter and fitter, there’s got to be a breaking point and it looks like it’s a breaking point this year.

"The AFL were considering having an extra game next year. I thought: ‘God, stop killing these players.’ The discussion is widespread and I don’t think it’s an emergency, but it’s fairly urgent. I think it’s extremely real and I don’t know whether speeding up the game has been advantageous.”

Perhaps the issue of “speed” would be looked into at a latter date, but currently, the AFL Players Association is working towards setting up an allowance of two bye-weeks and shortened quarters for each season.