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• Presents findings from the eleventh consecutive year of injury surveillance for the AFL, the last six years with 100 % compliance. • Documents a slight decrease in missed playing time through injury for season 2002 compared to season 2001 and shows that historically season 2002 was slightly below average with respect to time missed through injury. In terms of overall numbers of injuries that caused games to be missed, season 2002 had a lower injury incidence than any of the previous 11 years. • Shows a continuing trend for teams to be more conservative in their management of injury, with both an increasing injury severity rate (missed games per injury) and a decreasing recurrence rate. • For the first time, hamstring injuries, which reduced in incidence and prevalence during season 2002, caused less missed playing time than both knee ACL injuries and groin injuries, which both increased in prevalence. Hamstring injuries were still the most frequent injury. • Overall injury rate and some specific lower limb injuries such as knee ACLs an