A SPATE of leg injuries and players reporting Optus Stadium is the AFL's hardest surface means action needs to be taken to soften the ground, long-serving West Coast CEO Trevor Nisbett says.
The Eagles and Fremantle are set to meet at what Dockers coach Ross Lyon labelled a "summit" to discuss the surface, with both clubs worried by significant lower-leg issues suffered by players.
Fremantle recently lost star defender Alex Pearce (ankle) and, more than likely, Rory Lobb (foot) for the rest of 2019, with spearhead Matt Taberner (foot) already ruled out for the season.
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West Coast could have full-back Tom Barrass (foot) resume for the first time in two months in the WAFL this Saturday, while Willie Rioli (foot), Elliot Yeo (toe) and Jamie Cripps (toe) have battled problems over the past 12 months.
The Eagles have previously met with Optus Stadium operator VenuesLive and arena manager Tony Hemming to air their concerns about player welfare, despite testing indicating the surface falls within the AFL's acceptable hardness range.
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"This wouldn't be the first time it's happened with a new surface, but we need it to be softer so we can look after our players' welfare and that might be something that everyone needs to understand – this is about player welfare," Nisbett told the Coast to Coast podcast.
"The surface all looks fine, but when the players continually come off and report that it's the hardest in the competition and also that we've had so many ankle and stress fractures over the last 18 months, we need to look at every venue, but certainly this one is reported by the players as the hardest, so we're attacking that."
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Fremantle has indefinitely stopped training at the stadium after losing three key talls and the Eagles have scaled back their sessions, although their main training was held at the venue on Monday night.
"We're trying to manage the amount of times we're on the surface, but we would just like some consideration from Tony Hemming, the staff and everyone else at Optus to acknowledge that, yes, we will try to soften this surface up for AFL football," Nisbett said.
"I know it's a multi-purpose stadium, but we've been talking for long enough and now Fremantle have had some injuries and we've got other codes a little concerned about the surface.
"There's enough feedback that this needs to be fixed."
In a wide-ranging interview, Nisbett also discussed:
- West Coast's move to new "world-class" headquarters at Mineral Resources Park
- The fan behaviour furore
- How he felt watching the "confronting" Adam Goodes documentary The Final Quarter
- His future at West Coast after 20 years as CEO
