My Two Cents: Star Blood Josh Ryan the latest SANFL player to be knocked out of footy as concussion reality bites | Andrew Capel
The biggest issue in modern footy is not just a problem for the AFL, writes Andrew Capel.
Opinion
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Josh Ryan thought he was having a stroke.
Feeling dizzy, faint and “not good at all’’, Ryan was rushed by a West Adelaide official to the Royal Adelaide Hospital.
A week later, amid fears for his long-term health, the standout Bloods key defender announced his retirement from the SANFL.
At just 28, at the peak of his powers and desperate to help his beloved West climb the SANFL ladder – after five consecutive wooden spoons – he made the agonising decision to pull the pin on his stellar career before the game physically broke him.
“I want to live a healthy future,’’ Ryan told The Advertiser of his decision to walk away from football mid-season and just three months after he was one of the SANFL’s best players in its state league triumph against the VFL.
“As much as I love football and it’s been such a big part of my life, this was a decision I felt I had to make for my future.
“Of course I would have loved to have kept playing but in the end it was a pretty easy decision to make because I didn’t think I had much choice.’’
Ryan has, sadly, become one of football’s latest concussion victims.
He retired after 93 SANFL and two state games in nine seasons with the Bloods after
moving from Mildura and earning a reputation as one of the competition’s best key defenders.
Ryan won the Neil Kerley Medal as West’s best and fairest player last year and coach Adam Hartlett claimed he would “get a lot more recognition if he was playing for one of the top four clubs’’.
He has now been lost to the game after suffering four concussions in two years, including three in 2022, which saw him start wearing a helmet in a bid to continue playing.
While the 196cm Ryan thought he was having a stroke two weeks ago, he was diagnosed with delayed concussion.
Strangely – and almost frighteningly for Ryan – his latest concussion started with a bad knock to the ribs in the first quarter of the Bloods’ Round 11 clash against Glenelg at Richmond Oval on June 23.
He finished the game, despite “feeling a bit off’’.
But he struggled to recover, not feeling himself all week and pulled out of West’s next game against Sturt.
It was after the Double Blues game when he was taken to hospital “to get checked out’’.
Doctors initially thought Ryan was just having severe migraine headaches before he was later diagnosed with delayed concussion.
“It was concussion again,’’ Ryan lamented.
“Unfortunately, it just goes to show that you don’t have to get hit in the head to suffer concussion symptoms these days.
“Because your whole body is connected and I’d had a few concussions before the hit to the ribs, the pain sort of travelled its way up through my spine, neck and to the head.
“Then the symptoms came – the headaches, that sharp pain through the temples, the dizziness, loss of balance, it felt like my head was spinning when I lied down.
“There were also the dreary eyes and feeling unenergized and under the weather.
“With four concussions in just under two years I had to have a long, hard think about where I was at and if it really was necessary for me to keep playing footy.
“The doctors didn’t tell me to retire or rule me out of contact sport again but I made a health call for my future.’’
Ryan, who works at West as a marketing and graphic design manager, is the second star Blood in six months to have had his career cut short by concussion.
In January, 2023 captain Kaiden Brand announced he was “stepping away from playing indefinitely due to my ongoing concussion recovery’’.
Brand missed the entire 2023 campaign due to concussion and hasn’t played since Round 15, 2022.
Norwood’s Nick Pedro walked away from the SANFL at just 24 in 2022 because of a series of bad concussions that left him battling migraines, dizzy spells and nausea.
North Adelaide’s Sam Mayes, who played 118 AFL games for Brisbane and Port Adelaide from 2013-22, has been ruled out for the rest of this season after copping a nasty head knock at training prior to the Roosters’ King’s Birthday clash against Glenelg last month.
Given his history of concussions, including with Port’s SANFL team – his partner Cassie claimed he had been displaying concussion symptoms for years – it is unclear whether the 30-year-old will play again.
Concussion-enforced retirements, which have become a big issue in the AFL, are suddenly being felt in the SANFL.
The league, at the request of the AFL, this year changed its concussion protocols, ruling players out for 21 days instead of the previous 12 in a bid to help players recover from head knocks.
In the AFL, four players have retired this year due to concussion issues, including Ryan and Brand’s former West teammate Josh Carmichael.
Carmichael, who was selected by Collingwood from the Bloods at the 2022 mid-season draft, was forced into retirement last week at age 24 after a recent assessment by the independent medical panel convened by the AFL.
He had suffered three concussions in nine months.
“You are seeing a lot more people having to step away due to concussion, that’s how serious it is right now,’’ Ryan noted.
Carmichael’s Collingwood teammate Nathan Murphy retired earlier this year after suffering 10 concussions in his career, including during last year’s grand final win against Brisbane.
Melbourne’s Angus Brayshaw and the Western Bulldogs’ Aiden O’Driscoll are the two others who have pulled the pin on their football careers this year based on medical advice.
Adelaide’s Paul Seedsman, Sydney’s Paddy McCartin, Brisbane’s Marcus Adams, Bulldog Liam Picken and West Coast’s Daniel Venables are others to have been forced into premature retirement in recent years.
SANFL executive general manager football Matt Duldig described players having to retire for concussion reasons as “sad’’, adding “we want to provide our current and past players with as much support as we can’’.
“As an industry, the health and safety of all players at all levels of the game is a priority,’’ he said.
“We are committed to providing better management of concussion and ongoing education of clubs and players under the guidance of the AFL.
“This includes measures such as the new 21-day protocols, changes to Match Review Panel guidelines for reportable incidents and on-field rule changes to further protect the head and improve the response to head knocks in our game, along with ensuring that clubs and players have access to the best insurance cover.’’
The AFL, facing years of litigation over allegations of historical negligence in its management of concussion, has moved to support its players by setting aside more than $50 million for those suffering the effects of concussions and other football-related injuries.
The league has more than doubled its funding for the injury and hardship fund in the new collective bargaining agreement – $54.2 million over five seasons – compared to $25 million across the previous six-year term from 2017-2022.
A separate concussion fund could also be introduced.
NUMBERS GAME
4831
Days between Gold Coast wins against Port Adelaide – from Round 5, 2011, to Round 18, 2024.
100
Consecutive games Ben Keays has played for Adelaide – breaking the previous club record of 99 held by Scott Thompson.
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
“He could be the future. He could be the gun forward for a long time to come.’’
Adelaide football director and club great Mark Ricciuto on Riley Thilthorpe following his comeback game against St Kilda.
“Jason is a young player and he’s learning all the time and he’s got to be better than he was today in some moments, there’s no doubt about that. We won’t accept that it is OK.’’
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley on Jason Horne-Francis giving away costly free kicks against Gold Coast.
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