Ex-AFL player Ty Zantuck says Richmond club doctors got his medical treatment ‘horribly wrong’

Ex-AFL player Ty Zantuck, who is suing Richmond, says he still loves the club, but its doctors got his medical treatment “horribly wrong”.

Ty Zantuck, who played 68 games for the Tigers in the early 2000s, is suing his former club.

A former AFL footballer suing Richmond over a debilitating back injury claims the club also failed to properly manage repeated on-field concussions, leading to his recent diagnosis of a suspected degenerative brain disease.

Lawyers for Ty Zantuck, who played 68 games for the Tigers in the early 2000s, said the club had “no adequate system” for responding to or managing concussion injuries despite the relevant science and medical knowledge available at the time.


Mr Zantuck, 40, claims he was allowed to continue to train and play AFL despite suffering repeated on-field head knocks which had not properly healed.

In April last year, the former footballer launched civil action against his old club seeking damages for a serious back injury, but has since broadened the lawsuit to include the new “brain claim”.

The Supreme Court of Victoria on Thursday heard lawyers acting for Mr Zantuck had been reviewing footage of old AFL matches in late 2021 when they noticed “evidence of repeated concussions” and recommended he see a doctor.


Former AFL player Ty Zantuck, picture here with his kids Jagger and Zepplin, says his former club mismanaged his injury. Picture: Wayne Taylor

In September, Mr Zantuck was diagnosed with traumatic encephalopathy syndrome, indicating probably chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), his lawyer Lachlan Armstrong QC told the court.


CTE is a progressive degenerative brain disease found in people with a history of repetitive brain trauma and can only be diagnosed post-mortem.

Mr Zantuck alleges he suffers depression, rage episodes, early on-set dementia and a shortened life expectancy as a result of the traumatic brain injuries.


Thursday’s hearing before Associate Justice Mary-Jane Ierodiaconou was to determine whether Mr Zantuck can have his claim tried outside the legal limitation period.

In court documents, Mr Zantuck said his back injury stemmed from a footy training camp in the Grampians in late 2001 where he was required to carry a 30kg backpack despite being diagnosed with stress fractures to his lower back just weeks earlier.

The former defender claims he was denied dispensation to complete the training by a club doctor.


Mr Zantuck claims he received between 15-20 epidurals as well as dozens of local anaesthetic injections during his playing career with Richmond in a bid to keep him on-field. 

“I’m still traumatised by the whole thing,” he said on Thursday.

Mr Zantuck told a court the doctors at the football club got his treatment “horribly wrong” and the injections had “ruined the muscles in my body”.

“I still love the Richmond football club, my two sons barrack for them,” Mr Zantuck said.


“I just think they got the treatment horribly wrong,” he said. 


The hearing continues.