AFL caps weekly contact training from the 2027 preseason

The Australian Football League will put a clock on contact training from the 2027 preseason. Both the men's and women's competitions are covered. The first phase, which runs until Christmas and through the first two weeks after it, allows 120 minutes of contact work a week. Only 60 of those minutes may be high-density drills, graded at levels 3 to 5 on a five-point scale the league spent two years building from hundreds of club exercises. High-density sessions may not be scheduled on consecutive days. Any injured player, not only a concussed one, must return through low-density work before full contact. The first week back from the off-season should not go above level 2.

Clubs will have to audit their sessions and supply video to the AFL on request. That clause is the enforcement tool. A limit that exists only on a memo is a suggestion. A limit that can be checked against film is a rule. The league has told chief executives the days of bringing a mouthguard to every training night end with this season. Tom Morris reported that line when the framework was first confirmed to clubs in June. Monday's detail filled in the minutes.

Concussion has been the public driver. Australian rules is a collision sport. Training is where most of the extra hits live, because matches are already counted and broadcast. By cutting the weekly stock of those hits, the AFL is betting that match-day brains will arrive less damaged. The evidence base is the same one rugby, American football and ice hockey have been arguing over for a decade: cumulative load matters, and practice is a large share of that load.

The phases tighten and loosen as the preseason matures. Weeks 3 and 4 after Christmas step the cap up. In-season limits will follow the same grading. The consultation group that designed the scale will keep collecting data through 2027 so the 2027-28 preseason can be rewritten if the first year shows clubs gaming the definitions. That is why the video clause matters. A drill labelled level 2 on a spreadsheet can look like level 4 on film.

Players will notice the change in December, when preseason actually starts. Coaches will notice it the first time they want a second hard session in 36 hours and the schedule will not allow it. Medical staff will notice it when an ankle sprain, not a head knock, still forces a player down the low-density ladder. The rule is written that way on purpose. The league does not want a concussion-only pathway that coaches can route around by calling a hit something else.

Whether 120 minutes is the right number is an empirical question the 2027 season is meant to answer. What Monday settled is the direction. Contact at training is no longer an unlimited club choice. It is a rationed resource, graded, filmed and capped. For a league that has spent two years sorting drills into five bins, that is the policy. The oval will show if it cuts head knocks or only moves them into Saturday afternoon.