HIGH performance managers are preparing to meet during Gather Round amid a growing conversation about the speed of football in 2026 and how players can be better prepared to avoid injuries during ballistic early-season games.

Rule changes and their contribution to player fatigue and injuries have been an ongoing topic for high performance staff over the first three weeks of the season, and particularly after a surge of eight hamstring injuries in round two.

Gather Round presents an opportunity for the group to come together in Adelaide and discuss issues like the structure and timing of the pre-season and how they can best work with the AFL to prepare players if the unabating nature of the game continues.

Strength and conditioning, sports science and fitness staff are all represented by the AFL High Performance Association (AFLHPA), which launched in 2024 and maintains open communication with the League and the AFL Players Association to share its expert views and solutions.

There are mixed views among the cohort about whether players can handle the current speed of the game with their pre-season structure, with some believing the season will settle into a more manageable rhythm within a few weeks and the discussion will die down.

"A lot of people are saying the speed of the game is greater. The speed of the ball is, but the players aren't necessarily moving quicker. They're just fatigued more," one high performance manager told AFL.com.au.

"They're being asked to get from contest to contest more often, and that fatigue is creeping in, which obviously has a level of risk in regard to injuries.

"Usually for the first four rounds, you get these injuries and then the players adapt to game stress, and they know what it is week to week. They get the rhythm of the season."

While high speed running is marginally up within games, high performance staff have noted the increase in acceleration data, which relates to a players' first five steps as they respond to turnovers and the ball being in motion more.

Former Hawthorn and Carlton high performance director Andrew Russell believes the change to boundary throw ins and ruck contests, giving players less time to settle before the ball is back in motion, has played the biggest role in fatigue and speed of ball movement.

Now a high performance and leadership consultant with Russell Performance Co, the strength and fitness expert said the injury issues right now were the result of a perfect storm that has formed during the most precarious period of the season.

"There's three really high-risk periods [for injuries]. One is when the players get back after pre-season, the second is when they get back after Christmas, and the third and highest risk period is when they start playing games," Russell told AFL.com.au.

"We know that historically it's the highest risk time, and it's coincided with the new rules, it's coincided with less time with the players, and it's coincided with coaches and coaching groups putting speed on the ball.

"So you've got all those factors combining together.

"Every high performance director is always looking at what's happening around the competition and seeing where you are relative to everyone else, and I think they're feeling particularly vulnerable right now."

Russell said the current concerns around player injuries and game style were real, and there was a chance that the early-season danger period for some players could extend beyond the typical first four weeks before it settles down.

While it would be challenging for clubs to adjust their in-season training programs to meet the demands of high-speed football, he said players that could rotate regularly between roles to preserve their power could flourish.

"Some of big stoppage players in the competition, their impact is down because they're being forced to run more and they don't have their power," Russell said.

"The only place for them to go is forward, and you just hope they can have some impact there.

"So a midfielder who can go forward and impact, or players who can play multiple roles well, those guys are more powerful than ever."

When it comes to the pre-season programs that clubs have just completed, high speed running and sprint loads have been prioritised by most, with some clubs lifting them by more than 30 per cent.

The change in the game was forecast, but multiple high performance managers said there were limitations in what they could do to prepare the players over a disjointed summer.

For players at clubs that do not participate in finals, the end of season break can stretch as long as 12 weeks before a three-week break over Christmas, and then a four-day break between returning in the new year and the start of pre-season games.

It should be noted that many players form large training groups in the off-season to work on their conditioning and skills away from their clubs, but high performance staff have felt limited by the constant breaks over the pre-season and the inability to build loads continually.

"From a high performance point of view, the biggest issue is obviously the shortened pre-season," another performance boss told AFL.com.au.

"The game's faster, the game's harder, the season starts earlier, and you've got less pre-season. That's a big issue.

"The hard part is you can't come to a consensus. If you're at a developing club you want more time with the players, whereas a club whose list is a bit more mature is actually happy to have a bit more flexibility."

It is no coincidence that West Coast coach Andrew McQualter and Richmond coach Adem Yze were two club bosses who put access to players on the agenda during the pre-season given the long breaks their young lists had at a time when they are trying to build fitness, fundamentals and game plan knowledge.

While most high performance managers and coaches want more time with the players, a counterpoint from one fitness boss was that a shorter pre-season could still be impactful if it wasn't interrupted by multiple breaks.

The solution, he said, could be to move all player education, off-field training, school clinics and community camps to the pre-Christmas period and give clubs an uninterrupted runway from the start of January.

"Players and staff need the time off, but we just need to reorganise it so that we can prepare them in the right way," he said.

Russell called for the League and the AFLPA to consult more heavily with the game's high performance experts to make sure the right balance was found with pre-season training, giving players every opportunity to handle early season demands.

He said clubs would also need to assess the balance of pure conditioning work they were doing with players during the pre-season versus football work after a shift towards the latter.

Less access to players has meant clubs were trying to get a lot of their conditioning done within football drills, but it was a risky strategy that could easily go wrong.

"They're trying to do skill execution, decision-making, and build physical qualities all at the same time," Russell said.

"Some teams have done it and then gone away from it because they realise it's very hard to do, and you don't train physical qualities to the extreme when you do that.

"It makes sense to try and condition players using drills alone, but in reality, it's extremely hard to do.

"So there's a decision to be made now with a lot of clubs, because I think some clubs potentially have got the balance a bit wrong."