Chief executive of the AFLPA Brendon Gale said issues surrounding player welfare were important to the Association and the concept of injury substitution should be considered.
“Any changes to rules or interpretations of rules that have a health and safety aspect we have a strong interest in getting feedback from players,” Gale said.
“It’s been a topical issue for a couple of years but we’ll certainly get some feedback and I think it probably warrants some consideration and further investigation by the rules of the game committee,” he said.
Gale is also one of eight members of the Laws of the Game Committee, and it is this advisory group that can recommend rule changes to the AFL Commission, who has the final say in approving any alterations.
Calls for the introduction of an injury substitution rule have become louder in the last week, after injuries to North Melbourne players last Saturday forced the side to play a man short for five minutes in the last quarter.
North Melbourne coach Dean Laidley weighed in on the issue during his post-match press conference when he pointed out that two of his men continued playing despite being injured.
“It’s not only the welfare of the players that get injured and also the ones that are on the ground that you’d like to have off, but then the other guys who are carrying the extra work and you can’t give them a rest,” Laidley said.
Earlier this year, the AFL trialled a substitute rule during the NAB Cup, with each side allowed two substitute players in addition to a six-man bench.
