The AFL has today announced clubs will be able to replace injured players following the reintroduction of the medical substitution rule less than 48 hours ahead of the season-opener on Thursday night.
Season 2021 will see all clubs take to game day with a squad of 23 players instead of the regular 22, which had been the standard since 2016.
The 23rd player this time around will be listed under the medical substitution rule and will only take to the field if the club doctor declares that a player from the top 22 is medically unfit to continue the match.
For a substitute player to be eligible to take to the field, the club doctor must decide that the player being swapped will be unavailable to play a game in the next 12 days.
The AFL had also announced earlier that players who suffer a concussion this season must sit out a mandatory 12-day recovery period following new safety protocols.
The substitution rule will still be fresh in the minds of many AFL fans after it was famously used between 2011-2015, but with a squad of 22 players.
Clubs found to be breaking the medical substitution rule or taking advantage of it, will be sanctioned "for conduct unbecoming, or prejudicial to the interests or reputation of the AFL, or to bring the game of football into disrepute".
Even if the player listed as the medical substitute doesn't take to the field, they will still earn a tally on their list of total games played.
"The health and safety of each player in the game remains the priority and the introduction of a medical substitute ensures that player safety remains paramount in our game," said AFL's general manager of football operations, Steve Hocking.
"Over recent years we have continued to take action to strengthen match-day protocols and amend the Laws of the Game to improve safety.
"We continue to listen and learn and where we can reasonably make our game safer at any stage of the season, we will."
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