Essendon CEO Xavier Campbell believes a form of skinfold testing is necessary at AFL level, following reports the AFL will stop teams from using the body-fat measurement on draftees out of body shaming fears.
Channel Seven reported over the weekend that the ban was put in place earlier in the year ahead of the upcoming National Draft.
The decision has been met with widespread criticism, with premiership Eagle Will Schofield among those suggesting elite athletes are signing up for such testing.
Campbell agreed with that notion, believing it was simply a part of the requirements to be an AFL player.
“I could sort of understand it at a grassroots level, I think there’s some merit there, but we are a performance based industry,” the Bombers CEO told SEN Breakfast.
“A big part of that is the physical aspect of that.
“I’m not sure we’ve got any skinfold metrics that are included in contracts these days, but it still is a big part of the testing that the high performance does on the players.
“There are different ways to go about it, body mass index and everything else like that, so it’s not my area, but I’d say there’s still got to be some sort of form of assessment that needs to be included in that part of the game.”
The 2021 National Draft will be held across November 24 and 25 later this month.
Essendon will enter the draft at pick 11 while also holding picks 51, 56 and 87.