Their concerns come as AFL Victoria boss Brad Scott calls for football leagues to take "whatever measures they think are necessary" to protect players for injuries.

While stopping short of suggesting country leagues immediately introduce a medical substitute like the AFL, he revealed more support would come in guidelines soon to be released by AFL Victoria, particularly around players suffering from concussion.

North Ballarat coach Brendan McCartney is concerned that; "There will be some soft tissue stuff in the early rounds".

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The new Roosters coach said some of his players had already suffered injuries in pre-season though he wasn't overly worried.

"The school of thought we've followed is to prepare our players for playing footy at an intense level," he said.

"The approach we've taken is to get as much contact, and change of direction and match play into the players because that's the thing that does tend to break you down.

"We've had our fair share of collision injuries and soft tissue injuries at training.

"I'm never too concerned with that because it's generally part of the learning process of how to use your body and position yourself and keep your head out of the way."

Ballarat coach Joe Carmody said he decided to ease players back into football.

"We've put a lot of time and effort into injury prevention," he said.

The AFL's medical substitute rule stipulates a pre-designated player can only replace a teammate after club doctors have determined an injured or concussed player is "medically unfit" to continue in the match.

"(The community concussion guidelines) have been a really big piece of work the AFL has undertaken as the keeper of the code," Scott said.

"We take our responsibility very seriously, not just at the elite level but at the community level.

"In a lot of ways, it's almost even more important there are really clear guidelines at the community level because in a lot of cases there aren't full-time doctors at games, whereas AFL games are fortunate to have two full-time doctors at games.

"So we need to make sure there are really clear guidelines to support the community around that."

Scott became the head of AFL Victoria in mid 2020 as part of a restructure that saw 20 per cent of roles in the governing body directly affected.

The former North Melbourne coach said AFL Victoria would urge community leagues to take strong measures to ensure player safety.

Ballarat Football Netball League general manager Shane Anwyl said the league was working through structures to promote and guarantee player safety, with a special focus on treating concussions.

"We'll be working with clubs early in the season as we transition back into the competition because there has been such a long time away from the game," he said. "We're looking at some processes to help local club trainers identify and manage concussion on game day in real-time.

"We'll ensure there are follow up processes for the player to get the best healthcare they can when they may have been concussed or suffered another serious injury."

The Ballarat Football Netball League and Central Highlands Football League seasons start on April 17.

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