I fear for the future of our game

[meher baba]

The concussion thing is clearly becoming a bit of a go-to strategy for lawyers representing former players.

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australi ... 90e51&ei=8

Thankfully, the judge did not give much credence to the medically doubtful argument from Kerr's lawyer that his schizophrenia was at least partly brought on by the head knocks he had received playing AFL.

But, in our highly litigious age, it is becoming clear that former AFL players are likely to make increasing use of past concussion events as an all-purpose excuse for anything that subsequently goes wrong in their lives: mental illness, criminal acts, alcoholism, failed business ventures, losing all their money through gambling, whatever.

Concussion is a serious issue, and perhaps our game - although considerably less rough than the rugby codes or gridiron - will eventually be sued out of existence through the courts as representing too great a threat to the health and safety of its participants.

I'm probably being overly pessimistic but, as I said, we live in a highly litigious age.

PS: Daniel Kerr's story is a certainly a sad one. A terrific player in a terrific team that really should have won more premierships than the sole one that it managed. Of course, we now know that there were a lot of problems at the club, but I'll leave it to others to be judgemental about those because there but for the grace of God, etc.

[cwrcyn]

First thing we need to do is ban any front on bumps/hits.

I would actually go as far as ruling that a bump an only be applied by two players running or standing side by side competing for the ball

Some will go bananas at that idea, but if we're really serious about player welfare then we have to genuinely protect them.

There are those with a bit of blood lust that love the kind of brutality and damage that a bump to the head inflicts on a player . ....Dermott Brereton, Cameron Mooney,etc. Gee, I wonder why. And there are many in the crowdxwith the same blood lust.

But this is not a video game. There are real people being serious affected by head knocks.

The actions we have tolerated in this game for so long would not be tolerated in any other team sport in the world. Rugby woke up to the dangers 20 years ago, and the penalties they apply for misdemeanors are far greater than the wet lettuce approach applied by the AFL's hopelessly inconsistent match review panel

[Life Long Saint]

I am still unsure how this is the fault of the AFL.
Unless there is some evidence that they knew about the long term impacts of concussion and did nothing then the fault is with the player?

[Impatient Sainter]

It will get to a point where the AFL will ask players to sign a waiver to play. NO waiver no player registration. Its obviously a workers compensation insurance issue, so the AFL and legal processes will be driven by that industry. There has obviously been test cases and precedents set, but I doubt the insurance providers and AFL can afford to end up in court everytime a player submits a claim.