Geelong coach Mark Thompson believes softer grounds would slow AFL games and reduce injuries.

Thompson said in Skilled Stadium, Geelong possessed the softest playing surface in the league, which had cushioned the Cats against the sort of serious leg injuries other clubs encountered.

In contrast, Geelong played at the Gabba last Saturday night and Thompson and the Cats' football manager Neil Balme agreed the Brisbane venue was too hard for AFL games.

The Gabba does not have its cricket pitches removed during the winter.

Despite that, Thompson said the Cats had pulled up well after beating the Brisbane Lions, although he felt grounds with hard centre squares "probably shouldn't" be used for football games.

"I read in the papers about the ground was pretty hard and it was hard, but that can't be used in any way (as an excuse before Friday night's game against Collingwood)," he said on Tuesday.

"But they've pulled up pretty well generally."

The AFL is exploring ways to reduce injuries in games, particularly serious hamstring injuries suffered by the likes of St Kilda's Nick Riewoldt and West Coast's Daniel Kerr, and is considering capping the number of interchanges.

But Thompson had a different suggestion, and said softer surfaces would slow games and curb the number of injuries.

"We've got the softest ground in the competition by far because we have control over how much water goes on and what we do to the ground," he said.

"Our boys all play pretty regularly and play at a high standard, so I'm all for it.

"I think we should soften the grounds up and slow the game down and I think there would be less injuries."

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said there was no evidence to claim the Gabba surface was too hard, and insisted the league would not put players at risk if it thought a ground was unsuitable.

"We take these comments really seriously," Demetriou said.

"First of all, the AFL would never ever put at risk players, their welfare and risk any of our occupational health and safety measures, given that we are a very serious code and that we've got practices in place to make sure we go about our business in a professional manner.

"We test every surface for hardness, we test other things to do with surfaces, particularly sliding and traction."

Demetriou said there was "absolutely no evidence whatsoever" of a correlation between injury rates and ground surfaces, and that if there was, the AFL would act.

"But the fact is there's nothing, there's nothing in any of the data that shows that the surfaces are linking to injuries, or that the Gabba's too hard or Etihad Stadium is too hard," he said.

"So I disagree and I refute those comments because they're not supported by any data.

"I do like making my judgments on information before me which has got some fact, not hearsay."

The surface of Melbourne's Etihad Stadium has had its share of critics over the years, but Demetriou said any suggestion the ground contributed to injuries was "complete baloney".

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