Sydney escalates its concussion management strategy to protect Swans players

SYDNEY has dramatically escalated its concussion management strategy and will have scanned the brains of its entire list by season’s end.

Ted Richards helped off the ground after his latest concussion. Picture: Getty

SYDNEY has dramatically escalated its concussion management strategy and will have scanned the brains of its entire list by season’s end.

The club believes by conducting neurological baseline testing of its players it can better assess when they are ready to return to action.

Swans defender Ted Richards was ruled out of Friday night’s game with a second heavy concussion in as many years.

The Swans are adamant Richards’ career is not in doubt with his brain scans showing encroaching signs, but his symptoms showing he had not yet recovered from the concussion.

It comes with a dozen concussed players throughout the AFL missing games this year, with six of them out indefinitely.

Ted Richards hit his head in this marking contest. Picture: George Salpigtidis

The AFL has in recent seasons invited heavily concussed players to have brain scans at Melbourne’s Florey Institute to help assess the damage.

Now Sydney has already conducted baseline testing for players with concussion histories as it works through its entire list.

Kurt Tippett suffered a trio of concussions in a month during 2012, while Dan Hannebery and Jeremy Laidler have also had recent concussions.

Sydney head of football Tom Harley, so concussed during the 2008 Grand Final he cannot recall its details, says the Swans are putting their players first.

“We now do baseline testing on all our players and if there is another trauma it gives us something to measure it up against.

“We have a new medical structure this season and we are going through the list.

“We prioritise players who have had concussions in the past and even the baseline testing is a pretty significant assessment.

“We have been through the priority players and will have all players done by the end of the year. We think it’s important to have that on record.”

Most baseline tests measure neurocognitive function, reaction time, memory, concentration and visual processing of athletes.

The Swans have elevated Tom Cross as their head doctor after long-time doctor Nathan Gibbs moved on after 18 years with the club.

Richards was concussed in a sling tackle by Port Adelaide’s Jay Schulz last year then knocked out as he fell in a marking contest last week.

“He has had a few over the journey and he still had his symptoms on Wednesday so he is clearly not playing and we will see how he goes over the weekend,” Harley said.

Tom Lonergan and Lachie Henderson at Geelong training. Picture: Peter Ristevski

Geelong football manager Steve Hocking said Tom Lonergan was ready to play on Sunday against Carlton after his latest concussion against Adelaide in Round 8.

Lonergan trialled a padded helmet at training this week but it is understood he will not use it against the Blues.

Collingwood’s Corey Gault has missed five games with concussion and reportedly told the Pies he had been concussed eight times as a footballer.

Concussion campaigner Peter Jess’s lobbying has seen the AFL confirm it will baseline test the players in its new women’s league next year.

“(The heightened awareness) is a really positive thing. It’s an education process at club level, player level and supporter level,” Harley said.

“We are players who are effectively “subbed off” with concussion and no one bats an eye lid any more.

“A player does a knee or hamstring and doesn’t come back on and it’s fair to say concussion is coming into the same realm.”