MELBOURNE is yet to receive a claim of compensation from former player Daniel Bell for a series of head injuries sustained throughout his career.

A report in Thursday morning's The Age newspaper said Bell would pursue compensation after frequent head injuries sustained throughout his 66-game career left him with brain damage.

Demons CEO Cameron Schwab said the club would work closely with Bell to ensure he had adequate medical attention but that they were yet to receive an official claim.

"Daniel is within his rights to assess those options and the club is, in fact, helping him to get the type of assessment he needs to make that decision. At this stage, no claim has been lodged with us or the AFLPA," Schwab said on Thursday morning.

"We continue to work closely with Daniel. Our doctors are the people who continue to oversee his medical situation. From that perspective, we're very comfortable with where it sits. He's a terrific young guy, a really admired young person who, during his career, did seriously put his head over the footy and played the game with great courage."

Bell's case is timely as debate continues about the AFL's new concussion guidelines that stipulate a player diagnosed with concussion cannot return to the ground the same day they have sustained the injury.

Schwab said he hoped Bell's unfortunate run of injury and the new guidelines would not encourage other players to hide any head injuries they sustained.

"One thing we have to ensure as an industry is we don't have to encourage a behavior where players either hide injuries or have the situation where they create injuries," he said.

"We've got to have our systems and structures as such that they allow for an openness and an honesty when it comes to injuries.

"Quite clearly, places on AFL lists are hard to get and players will often do what they need to do to protect their position, but if that comes to hiding an injury then that becomes something we have to be concerned about."

Melbourne coach Dean Bailey said he never played a player who was unfit to take the field.

"Medical will always override. I don't have a degree in any medical at all so it's very easy for me to get the response from the doctors. If they say this is the situation, from our expertise, then we'll always go with the doctors' thoughts, no question," Bailey said.

"They'll be conservative because that's the nature of what they do."