AFL Caps Contact Training to Reduce Concussion Risk
The AFL will limit how much full-contact training players can do, starting with the men's pre-season and rolling into the 2027 season for both the men's and women's competitions. All 18 clubs must audit their contact sessions and hand over training vision to the league on request. (ABC News)
The limits are set by week. Early in the pre-season, clubs can run a maximum of 120 minutes of contact training per week, including 60 minutes of high-intensity contact — the tackling, bumping and contested work that most closely mirrors match conditions. By week five, the cap rises to 160 minutes total and 120 minutes of high-intensity contact per week. No club can schedule high-intensity contact on back-to-back days. (AFL.com.au)
A separate consultation process begins this month to tailor similar limits for AFLW players, with adjustments to reflect the women's competition's structure. In-season training limits for the men's competition will follow.
The rules apply only to AFL-level clubs, not community football. The league says it is preparing the next release of its local-footy concussion guidelines separately. (ABC News)
The move follows the 2023 recommendations from the Victorian coroner's investigation into the death of former Richmond player Shane Tuck. Tuck died by suicide in July 2020 and was later diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease linked to repeated head impacts. The coroner's findings pressed the AFL to cut avoidable head knocks at training, not just in games. (ABC News)
Concussion has forced multiple AFL players out of the game in recent years. Angus Brayshaw, Jeremy McGovern and Nathan Murphy all retired because of repeated concussions. Their departures sharpened the focus on how much head trauma a player should absorb, even at training, before the risk outweighs the benefit. (ABC News)
The legal pressure is building too. A multi-million-dollar class action led by former Geelong defender Max Rooke is headed to trial next year in the Supreme Court of Victoria, with former players alleging the AFL failed to protect them from brain injury. Just last month, the AFL fined Geelong $140,000 after it emerged the club struck a secret deal in 2024 with player Jake Kolodjashnij, where he took on legal responsibility for any future brain trauma — effectively shielding the club and its medical staff from court action. (ABC News)
Back in April, the AFL had already quietly told at-risk clubs to reduce contact training before formal limits kicked in. Concussion researcher Alan Pearce had publicly urged the league to cut training hours, arguing that repeated sub-concussive hits — the kind a player might not even notice — accumulate and cause harm. (The Australian)
For fans, the practical question is whether fewer training collisions dull the contest come game day. The AFL's position is that maintaining appropriate training loads and reducing avoidable head impacts are not mutually exclusive. (AFL.com.au) Coaches will now have to find the line between ready and protected, and the league will be watching to make sure they walk it.
