Mark Robinson: Peter Jess voices concern over AFL’s concussion reporting, welcomes Trevor Nisbett’s appointment

Concussion campaigner Peter Jess has welcomed former West Coast CEO Trevor Nisbett’s AFL appointment amid his concerns over the reporting of concussions by key bodies across the league.

Peter Jess has his concerns about the AFL’s reporting of concussion. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Concussion campaigner Peter Jess has welcomed the appointment of former West Coast chief executive Trevor Nisbett to the AFL amid his concerns about the reporting of concussion cases by key bodies.

Nisbett recently was revealed as “executive manager clubs” and Jess says the veteran administrator was the ideal conduit between the clubs, the AFL Players’ Association and the league on the ever-worsening concussion issue.

“Trevor’s knowledge of club and player issues will be invaluable in many areas, not least the continual fight to find solutions to the growing and horrible problems that concussion presents,’’ Jess said. “Trevor told me that he has to find better solutions for families impacted by players suffering brain trauma.”

Jess said he was confused about how the AFL’s concussion data for the 2023 season, which was released last week, did not correlate with the AFLPA’s 2023 concussion data.

Trevor Nisbett has joined the AFL as “executive manager clubs”. Picture: AAP Image/Richard Wainwright

The AFL revealed there were 69 concussions in matches – up from 62 in 2022 and down from 74 in 2021 – but the AFLPA revealed in its player survey that 179 male players had experienced a potential concussion in 2023.

“There’s a cause for concern when there’s a huge discrepancy between the AFLPA figures and the AFL (data),” Jess said.

“We have the AFL saying this number, yet the AFLPA said there were 179 clinical and subclinical concussions and our own concussion watch website, which correlates every reported concussion reported and matches them against the club’s weekly injury list, said it was about 110.

“It raises serious doubts about the AFL’s analysis of the problem, because we need factual basis to address the issues.’’

AFL boss Andrew Dillon told the Herald Sun on Saturday the AFL was working with the Players’ Association on finalising the introduction of an expanded injury and hardship fund and that it would be resolved in the “coming months”.

Jess said he met Dillon in 2021 and claimed Dillon told him he had put it before the Commission to create a compensation fund and that it would be active within 12 months.

“It’s now 2024 – we have made multiple submissions without a result for players who have been medically and scientifically certified as totally and permanently disabled from effects of brain trauma,” Jess said.

“It’s time the AFL actually dealt with these issues and addressed the humanitarian need, rather than the commercial need.’’

Former Bulldog Nigel Kellett is battling Parkinson’s disease. Picture: Michael Klein

He took a call from damaged former Bulldog Nigel Kellett on Sunday, who said he was considering taking his own life. Last week alone, Jess said he spoke to four former players with brain trauma and two of them spoke of suicide.

“Nigel Kellett was promised by Peter Gordon in 2022 – he was representing the AFL – that he would be the recipient of a compensation payment due to his brain injury,” Jess said.

“The AFL has paid him a monthly income, and he is grateful of that, but the lump sum payment has not been paid.”

Jess recently lodged a complaint with the AFL integrity department regarding the situations for a host of former players, and also about player safety, and had met the league’s integrity manager Tony Keane.

“We haven’t seen this much brain damage from a field of activity since World War II,’’ Jess said. “When you have the aggregate of AFL and rugby league players, playing collision-based sports through all grades (including) women and children, we have brain trauma in the tens of thousands of participants. The tragedy of this is it’s preventable.”