Fans are seeing the best XI on the park more frequently and Professional Footballers Australia expects the positive trend to continue in the upcoming campaign.

The introduction of mandatory Minimum Medical Standards three years ago has been credited with the dramatic plunge in the number and length of injuries.

PFA president Simon Colosimo told au.fourfourtwo.com:  “We know that the clubs, PFA and FFA all want the best players out there – there’s no doubt about that.

“There’s been a huge drop and I think it will drop again. We’re seeing the clubs that go beyond even the minimum standards are the ones that are excelling in that area.”

The results contained in the latest PFA injury report also underline the strong correlation between rates of injury and a club’s overall on-field performance.

Nowhere is that more evident than Sydney where Premiers Western Sydney Wanderers had the best injury record in the league with just 31 days missed.

   >>>   click here to download the full report   

Crosstown rivals Sydney FC racked up almost three times the number of injury days (92) – the worst in the league - and finished a disappointing seventh, outside the finals playoffs.

Since the league was launched in 2005/06, the team with the best injury rank has lifted the Premiers’ Plate five times.

However Wellington Phoenix picked up the second best injury rank last season - but also took home the wooden spoon.

Colosimo said there’s no doubt that professionalising injury prevention and management had been a huge boost to all stakeholders by making insurance more cost effective and keeping match-winners and crowd pleasers on the park.

The MMS covers seven areas including the provision of specialist physicians, trainers and physiotherapists as well as the right of players to seek a second opinion.

Colosimo’s old club, Heart, had one of the worst injury ranks, finishing ninth in both the A-League and injury ladders last season.

The defender said there were a number of factors contributing to that, including injuries carried over from the previous season.

The arrival of Harry Kewell next season to a club that struggles to pull numbers through the gate will provide motivation to keep the Aussie star on the park.

It’s a similar story for clubs with big ticket players such as Alessandro Del Piero (Sydney FC) and Shinji Ono (Wanderers).

“I think when other clubs see the results in Western Sydney and the results from some of the other clubs they’ll ask the question,” Colosimo said.

“They’ll be internally looking at it and if each club excelled the minimums or went beyond the minimums then we’d have even more improvement.”

There’s likely to be a rise in the MMS when the next CBA is signed off, possibly next week. And it’s a move the PFA believes clubs support.

“I believe that clubs will go beyond (the MMS) – it’s in their best interest, in the players’ best interests and that’s best for the fans,” Colosimo said.

“I think the FFA and the clubs are on the same page as us. If we can get those standards up we will reduce the risk of injury.

“Obviously we represent the players and FFA represents the clubs and there’s always that little bit of tension if you want to call it that.  But this is one thing that I think is a true partnership that we’ll all be working on to try and get better.”

I-League bound Colosimo, who describes himself as fortunate during his long stint in the A-League, says the prospect of an injury-reduced future looks even brighter for A-League players.

“At Perth, other than the travel which was a little bit difficult dealing with at first, the club were quite good. Sydney FC also and at Melbourne Heart we were pretty fortunate,” he said.

“There’ve been some other clubs that maybe might have dragged those averages up and down whichever way you want to look at it – your Gold Coast and clubs like that.

“But I’m quite optimistic and quite excited. Every year we look at the data, we do the research and year on year I look at it wanting to see if there is improvement and there’s been a vast improvement and we expect there to be more."