Year on year, injuries on AFL lists went up by more than 20 per cent in 2018, according to SEN’s Sam McClure.
On his show Time On, McClure went through the numbers that would have the AFL worried from last season.
“The AFL have crunched the numbers on the injury rate of the 2018 season, it is up on average, per club by more than 20 per cent, that is year-on-year,” McClure told SEN’s Time On.
“What that means, is of all the clubs on average in 2018, clubs had 120 games missed per club on average.
“If you compare that to season 2017, they missed less than 100. You’ve gone up as a minimum from less than 100 in 2017 to over 120 in 2018.
“The rate of injury is going up and it’s going up significantly.”
Former Collingwood sport science director David Buttifant believes the continued push of athletes to improve could be a factor in this.
“I think what we do see is the ceiling is always raised, athletes become more effective in their training and are always trying to enhance performance,” he told SEN’s Time On.
“That comes with a price as well. There’s a fine line where you can get injured. They’re competitive animals, they’re pushing that threshold all the time.”
Buttifant believes working out the root of this problem is an incredibly difficult process.
“I think you need to look at the cause and effect. Is it the speed of the game, is it rotation, is it the rules, there’s a lot of things that can influence injuries,” he said.
“It’s looking into trends over time and seeing if there’s one specific interaction. It’s very hard.”