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THE AFL has responded cautiously to many of the issues raised about concussion in sport that were aired on ABC-TV's Four Corners report Hard Knocks on Monday night.

On the program suggestions were made that school age players seriously concussed three times should be prevented from playing again and that any player who is concussed in a game should be forced to miss the following three weeks.

Professor Jeffrey Rosenfeld, the director of Neurosurgery at the Alfred Hospital, said that he is so concerned about what he is seeing in relation to school children he has a clear rule: "I personally would say three significant concussions, three strikes you're out."

Asked by AFL.com.au whether such a three strikes rule could apply to AFL players in the future, AFL medical officer Dr Peter Harcourt said the idea was worth looking at.

"You would have to work out the science of it but it is certainly worth exploring. When someone like (Jeffrey) Rosenfield makes the suggestion then you look at it and pass it on to the concussion experts and see what they think about it and probably fund some research that addresses the question," Harcourt said.

Concussion in sport has become a controversial issue in America with former NFL players taking legal action against the competition and claims that degenerative brain injury have been linked to knocks received playing American football.

In relation to the question of whether players should be forced to miss three weeks after being concussed, Harcourt said the AFL would keep all options open.

"Our approach is to aggressively try to address the issue of a mild head injury like concussion and work out what is the right way to approach it and we will keep working on that," Harcourt said.

The AFL has also taken a proactive approach to deal with the issue, making rule changes to protect a player's head and funding research into the issue through the AFL Research Board.

It also established a concussion working group in 2010 to assist the AFL research board in determining research priorities and ensuring the AFL remains at the forefront of developments in the area.

It remains confident in the process established to ensure questions or suggestions such as those raised in the Four Corners report will be addressed by those in the working group who are acknowledged experts in concussion.

"We'll probably be ahead of other groups in answering some of the long term consequences of concussion but there is a lot of other little things like three strikes and how long should you be out that we will be able to address with time as well," Harcourt said.

AFL research has already established that about six or seven AFL players per team per year are concussed.

Concussion guidelines released last year made it compulsory for a player to be subbed off the ground if they were diagnosed with concussion during a game.

The threat of legal action is constantly raised as an issue but AFL general manager of football operations Adrian Anderson said the AFL administration was taking a pragmatic approach.

"It is an area where we have been extremely proactive and we will continue to be proactive," Anderson said.

"I think that is all you can do in that situation so if legal action comes we can put our hand on our hearts and say we are doing everything we possibly can to make this game as safe as possible within the confines of a body contact sport."