AFL football operations general manager Adrian Anderson has defended the playing surfaces used in the NAB Challenge after three players suffered season-ending injuries at the weekend.

West Coast’s Mitch Brown and Collingwood’s Brad Dick both ruptured their anterior-cruciate ligaments (ACLs) in the clash at Albany last weekend.

Sydney’s Kristin Thornton suffered a similar fate in his side’s win over Port Adelaide at ANZ Stadium, while teammate Nick Malceski and Fremantle veteran Paul Hasleby also suffered season-ending knee injuries in round one of the NAB Cup.

Anderson said the AFL was happy with the conditions at Albany.

“We are 100 per cent satisfied that where we stage these games there's intensive process we follow to make sure these grounds are at an AFL standard,” Anderson said.

“Speaking to the Eagles after the game, they thought it was one of the best surfaces at Albany.

“We have independent turf experts assess the ground and assist in their preparation at every one of these venues.”

Anderson said preventing injury was a high priority for the league but could not be eliminated in such a high-paced contact sport.

“We’re always concerned when players are injured and it’s an issue we take seriously. We are the only sport that, for 15 years now, has had an ongoing injury survey that is published annually,” he said.

“Fortunately those sorts of injuries have been on the decline in the long term but we continually monitor and are concerned when any of our players are injured.

“What we’ve done with a lot of success over recent years is try to avoid, as best we can, injuries such as the introduction of the ruck rule which has virtually eliminated [posterior-cruciate ligament] injuries at centre-bounce ruck contests.”