The AFL has confirmed that any player from both the men's and women's leagues will miss a minimum of 12 days after sustaining a concussion, guaranteeing players will miss at least one match following on from the injury, per AFL.com.au.
The new ruling means the league has doubled it's past protocols, coming up from just the six days following on from concussion for players to be able to take to the field.
AFL general counsel Andrew Dillon said the new return to play guidelines will be the strictest in Australian sports history.
"The updated concussion guidelines represent a significant step in the AFL's existing record of ongoing improvements to its concussion management strategy that reflect medical research and other learnings over time," he said in a statement.
"The reality is we play a contact sport and there is always going to be risk, however over recent years we have continued to take action to strengthen match-day protocols and amend the Laws of the Game to discourage high contact."
The league is set to appoint a "concussion lead" in the coming weeks to aid the transition and future processes of incidents at both the elite and community levels.