THE AFL will begin conducting risk assessments at its 11 other playing venues after signing off on new player safety measures at ANZ Stadium.The review comes as a result of Sydney`s Barry Hall badly breaking his right wrist in the controversial West Coast game in round four when he crashed through a flimsy and poorly placed advertising sign and collided with the stadium`s steel fence.
Hall had to undergo surgery to insert a pin and several screws in his scaphoid bone, putting the power forward on the sidelines for eight to 10 weeks, harsher than the seven-match ban handed down by the tribunal for his king-hit on Eagle Brent Staker in the opening quarter of the game.
AFL ground operations manager Jill Lindsay said she was confident special protective padding covering all steel railing at ANZ Stadium would significantly reduce the chances of another player being injured.
The new padding will be in place for the Sydney-Essendon match. The AFL will also ensure all advertising signage, made out of plastic and similar to corrugated cardboard, will not exceed the height of the fence-line.
Although the AFL has to sign off on all ground safety issues, Lindsay could not explain who was responsible for the situation that led to Hall`s injury.
"Look, there`s no doubt I guess between the Swans, ourselves, the stadium (operators) should`ve noticed that the height of that signage was above the temporary fence line," Lindsay said.
"I`m not just sure how that ever crept in, but it`s just one of those issues that`s obviously now been addressed and I`m very happy with what will be here on Sunday."
Risk assessments at the other 11 venues used by the AFL to ensure there are now other player safety concerns that have been overlooked by the league will commence shortly.
"Each and every one of those venues now will be assessed and a report provided by our risk assessor of any issues (or) potential issues that may occur as a result of impact from a player," Lindsay said.
"This is the starting point. We`ve now done ANZ Stadium and the other 11 venues will be done over the next month or so."
However, Lindsay could not say for certain there would not be another Hall-type injury despite the new safety measures at ANZ Stadium.
"I wouldn`t say that you are confident it wouldn`t happen (again). I think the nature of game says injuries occur week in, week out," Lindsay said.
"But I think what obviously we have implemented here for the next round of football obviously eliminates some of those concerns our risk assessor had, that`s for sure.
"I think probably the major issue, to be honest, was the temporary fence-line signage height.
"I think when Barry ran into the fence his expectation would be that the fence would support him because of the height of the signage. It just folded as soon as Barry put his hand on it and as a consequence of that his body went forward and he broke his wrist on the railing of the fence."
