'Reduce the risks': Canberra sport and teams adopt 21-day concussion protocol

Netball Australia announced its new concussion protocols on Friday, with all associations agreeing to the plan to protect community players from the dangers of head knocks and returning too early.

Professional players for the Diamonds or Super Netball franchises will continue to have a 12-day minimum return-to-play protocol, all other competitions will require players to be out for 21 days and have at least 14 days of being symptom free.

Netball ACT clubs have been kept in the loop ahead of the changes and were notified of the official plan on Friday.

There have been minimal concussion incidents in Canberra competitions in recent years, but Netball ACT chief executive Sally Clark said the new protocols - which align with the Australian Sports Commission's guidelines - were still an important step in the right direction to making sport as safe as possible.

"We really appreciate the work the AIS and Sports Medicine Australia have done in this space. Protecting our kids in sport is really important," Clark said.

"This will be done at the club or association level, but if it happens in State League we will have more oversight.

"It's a difficult thing to police at that community level, everyone has a good understanding. It is a change with the 21 days meaning someone will miss three games, potentially.

"But there's also an element of if that's what the guidelines and the research are saying, then what's what we do."

The move comes on the eve of the opening round of the Super Netball competition, and a month after the AFL implemented a protocol of the same time-frame for its local leagues.

Under the new community netball guidelines, the earliest a player can return after sustaining a concussion will be 21 days after their injury, provided they get medical clearances.

The guidelines apply to netball competitions at all ages, including Netball Australia pathway programs, adult and open competitions, and all junior competitions.

Netball Australia chief medical officer Laura Lallenec says the new protocols have been developed to protect players at all levels.

"The revised community guidelines mark a significant advance in Netball Australia's commitment to the health and wellbeing of all players who participate in netball, from grassroots through to the elite level," Dr Lallenec said.

"Our protocols are consistent with the impact and collision codes, and are developed in line with up-to-date medical and scientific evidence.

"Our priority is ensuring concussion is managed according to best practice and to reduce the risks of concussion in netball."

Independent match-day doctors will be present at all Super Netball matches, in addition to the home team's doctors, and will be given access to tablets with match footage for video review of head impacts.

Players will be required to undergo a minimum 10-minute period for the doctor to complete a full clinical assessment of a suspected concussion.

There were three instances of concussion in the 2023 season.

Netball Australia developed the new protocol in alignment with the AIS and with contributions from Super Netball teams and the Australian Netball Players Association.