What is the Best Concussion Protection for AFL and Aussie Rules Football?
AFL and Australian Rules Football are high-speed collision sports in which players are regularly exposed to head impacts during tackles, collisions, marking contests and falls. Those impacts transmit rotational force to the brain in both concussive and sub-concussive events [1, 2, 3].
Most conventional headgear is designed to reduce cuts, abrasions and surface injuries. Brain injury in sport is different. It is driven primarily by the rotational forces transmitted to the brain during head impact, which is closely linked to shear strain in brain tissue [2, 3, 4].
That is why the best brain protection for AFL players is not simply the product with the most padding or a product that is purely focused on concussion. It is instead protection specifically designed to reduce rotational force transmission to the brain in concussive and the more frequent small-force sub-concussive impacts [1, 2, 4].
Why Head protection in AFL is about more than padding
Australian Rules Football exposes players to head impacts in multiple ways: contested marking, head-to-head contact, shoulder contact, elbows, knees, falls and ground impact. Brain injury risk in AFL is not limited to one knockout or concussion event. It sits across repeated collisions and repeated concussive and sub-concussive brain damage accumulation over time [4, 5].
Traditional sports headgear has usually been designed to protect the scalp. That can help with cuts and abrasions, but it is not the same as reducing the biomechanical forces associated with brain injury. A player can avoid a visible scalp injury and still sustain meaningful brain injury in the same incident [1, 2].
Put simply, head protection and brain protection are not the same thing. Head protection is generally designed to protect the surface of the head. Brain protection is designed to reduce injury risk to the brain itself [1].
Head Protection vs Brain Protection
Understanding the difference between head protection and brain protection is critical.
| Head Protection | Brain Protection |
|---|---|
| Designed to reduce cuts, abrasions and surface injuries | Designed to reduce brain injury risk |
| Typically focuses on reducing linear impact forces | Reduces linear forces and, more importantly, rotational forces, the primary driver of brain injury |
| Typically uses foam padding | Uses advanced protective technology engineered for brain safety |
| Protects the surface of the head | Designed specifically to protect the brain |
| Traditional all-head coverage sports headgear | Modern brain protection technology |
Many products in sport are still designed only to cushion contact with the outside of the head. That is not the same as being designed to reduce rotational force transmission to the brain, which is a central driver of brain injury in sport. Concussion biomechanics research shows that both linear and rotational acceleration matter, but rotational loading is closely associated with strain responses in brain tissue [1, 3, 6].
Why rotational force matters in Australian Rules Football
The brain is a soft organ suspended inside the skull. When the head is struck or rapidly accelerated, the skull can move and rotate while the brain lags behind because of inertia. That relative motion creates shear strain in brain tissue and is closely linked to microscopic injury to neurons and blood vessels [3, 6].
This is why brain injury cannot be understood as a simple padding problem. An impact that makes the head rotate will damage the brain very differently from one that only drives it straight backward. Modern concussion and sub-concussion biomechanics therefore looks at both linear and rotational acceleration, rather than treating head impact as a single-metric event [3, 6].
This is also why small force, asymptomatic sub-concussive impacts matter. Not every head impact event produces a diagnosed concussion, but damage accumulates from repeated lower-level impacts across training and matches. This accumulated damage is increasingly linked to measurable changes in brain health over time [4, 7].
What should AFL and Aussie Rules players look for in brain protection?
Once the difference between head protection and brain protection is clear, the next question is simple: is the product designed around brain injury reduction, or is it still conventional head protection?
| Protective Capability | Rezon Halos® | GameGear | N-Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brain protection designed to reduce injury risk | Yes | No | No |
| Qualified rotational force reduction | Yes (up to 61%) [11] | No | Yes (~34%) |
| CE / UKCA Category II PPE certified | Yes | No | Yes |
| Virginia Tech Helmet Lab Rating | ★★★★★ | Not publicly declared | Not publicly declared |
| Product Weight | 70g | 350g | 190g |
| Product Thickness | 9.5mm | Unknown | 13mm |
Conventional AFL headgear is designed to reduce the risk of surface injury, cuts and scrapes. Rezon Halos® is designed specifically to reduce rotational force transmission to the brain [1, 8, 9].
What matters here is not just that the products are different. It is that they are built around different protective ideas. If the goal is reducing brain injury risk, the most relevant question is whether the product is designed to reduce rotational force transmission, sub-concussion and concussion risk, not simply whether it offers external padding or impact attenuation [1, 8].
Why many products are still head protection, not brain protection
A product can be thick, padded and marketed around impact reduction while still not being designed, tested and certified as brain protection. In practice, many products still lead with language around blunt impact, impact force, linear head acceleration, force absorption, shock absorption or direct impact management. Those claims may describe external impact performance, but they do not answer the more important question: what happens to the brain during the concussive and sub-concussive impact [1]?
That is the real divide in this category. Standard headgear is protecting the outside of the head. Brain protection is designed around protecting the brain from rotational forces in concussive and sub-concussive impacts, the primary driver of brain injury in sport [1, 2].
What makes concussion and brain protection different from standard headgear?
The best concussion protection for AFL should do more than add padding to the head. It should be designed around the mechanics of brain injury and be backed by biomechanical testing evidence. In practical terms, that means protection designed to reduce brain injury risk, not just protect the scalp or soft tissue of the head [1, 3].
It should also address rotational force reduction directly. Concussion biomechanics are not captured by linear impact thinking alone, which is why the best protection should be judged by whether it reduces the forces most associated with brain injury [3, 6].
Rezon Halos® combines a low-profile 70g design with up to 61% reduction in rotational force transmission, 74% reduced concussion risk, a Virginia Tech 5-Star safety rating, and CE / UKCA Category II PPE certification [8].
Who should consider additional brain protection in AFL?
Brain protection is relevant to all players, those with previous concussion, junior players, community players and parents of players thinking carefully about long-term brain health. Developing brains are more vulnerable, and repeated head impacts can matter even when they do not produce a diagnosed concussion [4, 7].
Female athletes should also be part of this conversation. Systematic reviews report that female athletes are more susceptible to concussion, may experience more severe or prolonged symptoms, and may show different recovery patterns from male athletes. That makes brain protection an important consideration in women’s sport as well as men’s sport [10].
But the most important point is broader than that: this is about every player. Every AFL and Aussie Rules player is exposed to collisions, falls and repeated head-loading events across training and matches. Brain protection should not be treated as a niche issue. It is relevant from junior to amateur to elite, and from training to first match to final season [4, 8].
Does headgear prevent concussion in AFL?
No product can prevent concussion in AFL or any other sport. That remains an essential starting point [1, 2].
But that does not mean all protection should be treated as equivalent. Some products are designed primarily as head protection. Others are designed as brain protection. The meaningful question is not whether a product can promise zero concussion risk, but whether it is designed and tested to reduce the rotational forces associated with brain injury from concussive and sub-concussive impacts [1, 3].
Watch: AFL player, Mike Sanders, reviewing Rezon Halos® after training.
The best concussion protection for AFL and Aussie Rules Football
The best concussion protection for AFL is not simply standard padded headgear. It is protection designed specifically around brain injury risk, especially the rotational forces associated with concussion and sub-concussive exposure [3, 6, 7].
That is why Rezon Halos® sits in a different category from conventional headgear. Its design is not based on scalp cushioning or generic impact padding, but on brain protection in sport: up to 61% reduction in rotational force transmission, 74% reduced concussion risk using Virginia Tech methodology, a 5-Star safety rating, and CE / UKCA Category II PPE certification [1, 8].
For AFL and Aussie Rules Football, that is the clearest answer to the question. The best concussion protection should be evaluated as brain protection, not simply head protection [1, 2].
Frequently Asked Questions About Brain Protection In Australian Rules Football
- What is brain protection in sport? Further Reading. Rezon.
- Does Soccer Headgear Prevent Concussion? What the science actually shows. Further Reading. Rezon.
- Biomechanics of Concussion. Meaney DF, Smith DH. Clin Sports Med. 2011.
- What are Sub-Concussions and How Do They Impact Long-Term Brain Function? Further Reading. Rezon.
- Biomechanical investigation of head impacts in football. C Withnall, N Shewchenko, R Gittens, J Dvorak. British Journal of Sports Medicine.
- Role of Translational and Rotational Accelerations on Brain Strain in Lateral Head Impact. Zhang J, Yoganandan N, Pintar FA, Gennarelli TA. Biomed Sci Instrum. 2006.
- Repeated Sub-Concussive Impacts and the Negative Effects of Contact Sports on Cognition and Brain Integrity. Ntikas M, et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022.
- What Is the Best Concussion Protection for Footballers? Further Reading. Rezon
- New Generation of Headgear for Rugby: Impact Reduction of Linear and Rotational Forces from Scrummaging. Ganly M, et al. Sports Engineering. 2018.
- Sport-Related Concussion in Female Athletes: A Systematic Review. McGroarty NK, Brown SM, Mulcahey MK. Orthop J Sports Med. 2020.
- Rezon Product Testing.
Author: Alex Reily
