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The AFL is being urged to slash the number of full contact training sessions before the 2025 pre-season as part of extensive concussion changes recommended by a coroner investigating the death of former Richmond player Shane Tuck.
State Coroner John Cain on Monday called on the AFL to limit the risk of significant head trauma to players, during both the on and off season, in the men’s and women’s games.
Tuck (left) on the field for Richmond in 2010.Credit: Joe Armao
He said the AFL should also employ independent medical practitioners to attend all matches, who would be empowered to remove players from the field for a medical assessment and overrule club doctors.
Cain also recommended the league’s concussions spotters, who monitor games from the media box, be able to pull players from the field.
Cain held an inquest into the death of Tuck, who took his own life in July 2020. Tuck, 38, had a decorated AFL career, playing 173 games with Richmond from 2004 to 2013.
Two years before his retirement, Tuck told a post-AFL season medical assessment he had suffered concussions.
After football, Tuck was involved in professional boxing from 2015 to 2017. He also suffered knockouts in that sport, and was hospitalised.
The coroner heard in the years before Tuck’s death he had begun hearing voices and withdrawing from family. His behaviour was caused by the suspected impacts of head knocks during his sporting career.
A post-mortem examination found Tuck had severe chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) at the time of his death – a type of brain degeneration thought to be caused by repeated head traumas.
Experts told the inquest the prevalence of CTE was not known in Australia as it could only be diagnosed after death.
An Australian Sports Brain Bank neuropathologist later found Tuck had the most severe case of CTE they had seen. Tuck is one of five former AFL footballers to be diagnosed with CTE after their deaths.
Others include the late Graham “Polly” Farmer, Danny Frawley and Murray Weideman.
It’s estimated about 100,000 sports-related concussions occur each year in Australia, but most go undocumented and many occur in community sport.
Counsel assisting the coroner Gideon Boas told the court one in five children would experience concussion, and 25 per cent of those would result from sport participation by the time they turned 10.
Initial symptoms of CTE can include issues with concentration and memory, impulsive behaviour, explosiveness, anxiety and depression.
On Monday, Cain also recommended the AFL develop standardised baseline neurological testing for all players and encourage past and present participants to consider donating their brains to the Australian Sports Bank for research.
The AFL has been contacted for comment.
Cain said the federal health department should also fund brain banks nationally.
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