Ex-Bulldogs president Peter Gordon assists Pucovski concussion case, requests medical records

Former Western Bulldogs president and leading class action lawyer Peter Gordon can be revealed as the prominent legal figure providing advice to one-Test opener Will Pucovski in the wake of his most recent concussion.

As part of that advice, Gordon and Pucovski have made a request to Cricket Australia for the 26-year-old’s medical records, which are held by the central governing body even though he is contracted to Cricket Victoria.

Former Bulldogs president Peter Gordon is advising Will Pucovski.Credit: Getty Images

Gordon, who has advised the AFL on a range of matters, is an advocate for the creation of a statutory, no-fault compensation scheme for concussion-related injuries in major sports in Australia.

“I am providing advice to Will Pucovski, and a part of that is a request for his medical records,” Gordon told this masthead.

Cricket Australia and Cricket Victoria declined to comment.

Pucovski was felled by a bouncer in a Sheffield Shield game in March, suffering the latest in a long series of concussions that left him experiencing symptoms for months afterwards.

Subsequently, Pucovski was advised against playing by a medical panel – comprising representatives from CA, CV and independent experts – that convened after he was struck on the helmet by a delivery from Tasmania’s Riley Meredith.

But the panel stopped short of forcing Pucovski to retire, due to the legal and insurance implications of doing so. He was recontracted by CV earlier this year, but has not been seen at training, and recently returned to Melbourne from a trip to Europe.

Back in 2018, Gordon outlined the factors at play should a group of footballers take up a concussion class action against the AFL.

“In Australia, to bring on a case against the AFL over concussion, you would need to say that the AFL owed a duty of care to those players, that it breached that duty, and that the players suffered damage as a result,” Gordon told the Beyond Reasonable Clout podcast at the time.

Will Pucovski is felled by a short ball from Tasmanian quick bowler Riley Meredith earlier this year.Credit: cricket.com.au

“You would also need to find a way to overcome the AFL’s defence, which is that the player voluntarily assumed that risk. There’s now a doctrine of obvious risk in the law, and every player that goes onto the field, goes on understanding there’s a risk, not just of concussion, but of any number of serious injuries.

“While the AFL has an overarching obligation to minimise those risks, the plaintiff is going to need to advance the theory that there is something you could have done which would have minimised or eliminated my risk.”

Relative to the football codes, cricket is still in the early stages of wrestling with the issue of concussion risk. In terms of medical retirements by young players with plenty of years left in their career if not for concussion, Pucovski has precedents, such as those of the ex-Brisbane Lion Justin Clarke, or his friend Nathan Murphy, a Collingwood 2023 premiership defender. Losses of future earnings were considerations in each of their cases.

Contemporary Australian players kept out of cricket by injury are eligible for the recompense of up to two years of missed match fees. The match fees stand apart from retainers baked into central contracts and paid irrespective of how many games are played.

Will Pucovski was hit on the helmet batting for Victoria on March 3 – the 12th time he’s been diagnosed with concussion.Credit: Getty Images

The AFL players’ superannuation fund includes a total and permanent disability clause, offering significant payments to those eligible. Players have access to two different insurance policies. The AFL Players Association’s injury and hardship fund also caters for a career-ending injury payout, for which the age of the player and the value of their contract are considered: the younger the player, the bigger the payout.

Medical research into concussion and brain trauma is continually evolving, with big implications for a range of sports.

While cricket is not considered a contact sport and has a very different risk profile to AFL, global studies of a similar sport, such as baseball, have shown the effects of being hit in the head by a hard ball or landing on the ground while batting or fielding.

The medical panel that previously cleared Pucovski to play in 2022 concluded in part: “The panel’s overwhelming conclusion was that some of the previous injuries sustained had involved low trauma force and therefore were most likely not true concussion, but a form of either post-traumatic migraine or stress-related response.”

Pucovski has also faced mental health struggles, about which he has been very open.

Gordon has a history of pursuing personal injury claims on behalf of working people.

“Throughout Peter’s career he has been a passionate advocate for those who have found it difficult to obtain support, representing injured workers, claimants, consumers and aggrieved shareholders,” the Gordon Legal website states.

“Peter has a strong commitment to being a lawyer for the ‘little people’ rather than big corporations.”

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