Bartel lashes Etihad artificial turf

Geelong veteran Jimmy Bartel has told SEN the fake turf around the edge of Etihad Stadium must be fixed.

The artificial grass which runs on the outskirts of the ground has been the talk of the town this week, after Geelong's Daniel Menzel injured his ankle on the turf on Saturday night.

Bartel said that he has spoken the AFL Players Association about the issue.

"We spoke about it last night (at the AFLPA) and we formed the opinion that you shouldn't just accept it as it is and you just have injuries...we don't want that to be the case, just waiting for someone to get hurt to fix the problem," Bartel told SEN Radio on Thursday morning.

"I don't think players should have to put up with it. I think in today's age we can find a better alternative that has a little bit more give in it than that style of astroturf.

"It's like concrete and people saw how Dan Menzel hurt his ankle, he just slid over the top of it like you're running with footy boots on concrete.

"I think we can find a better alternative that makes it safer and is very usable for all the machinery."

Bartel pointed to similar uses of astroturf in other codes around the world as examples of possible better alternatives.

"The NFL teams have indoor facilities with special AstroTurf," he said.

"We're not asking for a whole field, just a small amount to replace the pretty hard stuff around the edges of Etihad and other stadiums in Australia."