Former NRL players may be suffering from effects of head knocks, says Matty Johns

MATTY Johns fears former NRL players are showing the ill effects of concussion following a shocking US study into NFL players and CTE, a debilitating brain disease.

Research into the effects of concussion.

MATTY Johns fears former NRL players may be experiencing the ill effects of concussions suffered during their playing days.

A shocking US study into the brains of NFL players revealed 99 per cent showed signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a debilitating brain disease.

It prompted calls from a leading Australian researcher to build a “brain bank” so similar testing can be performed on our own stars.

The increased focus on player welfare in recent times has led to the NRL introducing stricter guidelines to deal with concussion.

However, a lax attitude had been taken with regard to the injury in the past with Johns recalling on the Triple M Grill Team, a dose of smelling salts was the cure to a head knock.

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This combination of photos provided by Boston University shows sections from a normal brain, top, and from the brain of former University of Texas football player Greg Ploetz, bottom, in stage IV of chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

“If you got a really bad concussion, talking wiped out, you went into the sheds and, mate, often times you were out there 10 minutes later,” he said.

“They give you smelling salts, bring you around and it makes you so much more susceptible.

“I remember at one stage getting three concussions in consecutive weeks.”

Worryingly, Johns says he is now beginning to see former players exhibit the symptoms associated with CTE, like confusion, memory loss and depression.

“I got up and spoke at a function about certain players, old players that played in MG’s [Mark Geyer] generation, the one before me,” he said.

“I run into some of those guys now and I’m telling you they are hanging on by a thread some of them.

“Players of my generation, I’m seeing it now.

“Not all of them some of them have gone on to be very successful after football. But there are some that are really struggling with life.”

Fellow Triple M host and former league hardman Geyer also said he too knows players that are possibly showing signs of cognitive impairment.

“Players slurring their words ... start a sentence and can’t remember what they were saying,” Geyer said.

Melbourne Storm fullback Billy Slater is stretchered from the field after being knocked out on Saturday night.

While Johns doesn’t believe he has been impacted by the effects of concussion post his footy career, he admits the results of the US study have him worried for his sons who play rugby league.

“I don’t worry too much about myself … I’ve got two sons that play and that concerns me but one thing that is very encouraging is two three weeks ago I went and saw my son play at Belmore Oval,” Johns said.

“He put his head in the wrong spot, boom went down and got up and was wobbling a little and they took him straight off and took him down there for a HIA.

“So I went around there and he actually passed his assessment, they said ‘you know what, you wobbled, we are not going to let you go back out there’ … for me that’s encouraging.”