Concussion campaigner Peter Jess calls on AFL to put more time into research

Concussion campaigner Peter Jess has called on the AFL to put more funding into research into the head injury, warning there are a generation of players suffering like St Kilda’s Patrick McCartin.

Paddy McCartin has been put on St Kilda’s long-term injury list after a series of concussions. Picture: Getty Images

Football has a generation of players whose lives have been severely affected in the same manner as Paddy McCartin, according to the man bringing concussion action against the AFL.

Concussion campaigner Peter Jess yesterday accused the AFL Commission of being “asleep at the wheel or incompetent or both”, arguing they were in breach of their duty of care to players.

The league declared a $50 million profit on revenue of $667 million in 2018, but has a minimum spend of just $250,000 on concussion research each year.

That money comes from players fines, so the players are funding their own research.

It means the league has a minimum spend of a single dollar on concussion research for every $2668 generated by the league.

Paddy McCartin has been put on St Kilda’s long-term injury list after a series of concussions. Picture: Getty Images

The AFL is investing in technology on smart mouthguards and the use of helmets in football, and has sent current and past players for advanced brain scans.

But Jess believes a fleet of cutting-edge researchers are being starved of the opportunity to conduct advanced research into AFL-specific studies because of a lack of funding.

He said yesterday four AFLW players have been forced to end careers because of concussion symptoms as well as the men to retire.

“Quite simply McCartin’s problem is the worst indictment of the AFL’s concussion policy,” he told the Herald Sun.

“We shouldn’t have a budget that limits the research. It should not be focused on the outcomes but on the fact we can prevent and mitigate it. The science is there and we are not spending any money on it. This is a Commission issue and they are either asleep at the wheel or incompetent or both.

“The Commission directs Gillon McLachlan. They need to play a proactive role in the decision-making process. If they don’t they are in breach of the duty of care section of the corporations act.”

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Peter Jess says the AFL must do more on concussion research.

Jess is in contact with NFL litigation lawyer Jodi Balsam, a professor of law at Brooks University, who believes that code’s compensation for players could rise from around $700 million to as much as $6 billion.

McCartin is yet to decide on his football future but said three months after his latest concussion he could not perform simple duties, in the same year Liam Picken retired from concussion.

“We have a system that is fundamentally failing Paddy on the basis that the extent of his problems were not diagnosed and they were exacerbated by allowing him to play on,” Jess said.

“We now have this state where he is demonstrating all of the symptoms of some of the older men who have now had their lives destroyed. It is frightening.

“We shouldn’t let one player suffer like this but he’s not the only one we have. I am dealing with 10 players in his age bracket who have exactly the same symptoms. We are dealing with a cohort under the age of 25. The AFL and the AFL Commission must step up.”

Jess could not quantify what the league should be spending on concussion research but said they were more concerned with quantifying the effects of concussion that preventing it.”