The AFL Players’ Association has issued the following statement attributed to AFLPA Acting CEO, Regan Bunny:

The AFLPA shares the concerns raised by the AFL Doctors’ Association in relation to the difficulties in assessing players for potential head injuries on the field.

As such, the AFLPA supports the principle of removing players from the field to assess significant head injuries that occur during play. It’s critical that medical intervention, assessment and potential treatment occurs in an environment that allows doctors to effectively evaluate the people under their care.

If this means temporarily stopping the match by officials or umpires to safely remove players in this situation, we are open to exploring this with the AFL and the AFLDA to understand the practicalities of doing so.

Concussion is the biggest issue in the game so it’s vital we continually progress medical standards and processes to minimise risk and improve the identification of head knocks as much as possible.

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