Why Will Pucovski saga is dragging on: Concussion, mental health, unknowable hypotheticals and the spectre of litigation

Will Pucovski is in cricket’s twilight zone: not officially retired but seemingly no chance of playing professional cricket again. But while the curtain may be closing on his playing days, a legal war is just beginning.

What does cricket owe Will Pucovski?

This question underpins why the one-Test opener finds himself in the game’s twilight zone: not officially retired but seemingly no material chance of playing professional cricket again either.

It is a swamp engorged by an ungodly concoction of concussion, mental health, unknowable hypotheticals and the spectre of litigation.

A matter so complex and sensitive that it is nigh on impossible to get an interested party to provide any more than a bland generality on the record about it.

At face value Pucovski’s case is similar to that of his friend and Bayside contemporary Nathan Murphy, who was forced into retirement earlier this year after a string of concussions including one sustained during Collingwood’s AFL grand final win over the Brisbane Lions last year, the game that proved to be Murphy’s last in football.

Yet there are also key distinctions between Pucovski’s situation and that of Murphy and fellow forced AFL medical retirees Angus Brayshaw, Aiden O’Driscoll and Josh Carmichael, all of whom are believed to be entitled to their full payment entitlements which in Brayshaw’s case were only due to expire in 2028.

Will Pucovski finds himself in the game’s twilight zone. Picture: David GRAY / AFP

But Pucovski stands apart too. For one thing the medical panel that convened to assess his condition following his most recent concussion in March only had the power to recommend he retire from cricket, it could not compel him.

And so officially at least, the ball remains down Pucovski’s end of the pitch. And yet with Victoria’s first game of the season less than three weeks away, there is no peep from the 26-year-old or his camp about his intentions, even after conflicting reports late last week as to whether he had made a call to hang the helmet up and despite the fact that he remains a contracted player with the Vics this season.

There are at least two other clear points of difference between Pucovski’s situation and the AFL examples.

It is true that Pucovski’s staccato professional career has been shaped by concussion, but so too has he grappled with mental health and performance anxiety issues, topics he has admirably canvassed publicly. By some counts the blow he copped from Tasmanian quick Riley Meredith six months ago was the 13th concussion of Pucovski’s career, yet there is considerable debate about that figure given a panel formed two years ago concluded that several of Pucovski’s incidents had not been “true concussions.”

That the first such occurrence came on the footy field when Pucovski was a schoolboy muddies the waters around the degree of responsibility owed by cricket bodies to the Victorian batter.

It’s been quiet from Will Pucovski’s camp over his playing future with Victoria’s first game less than three weeks away. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

It is hard enough to figure out what has happened to this point. Good luck then to anyone trying to determine what Pucovski would have achieved if not for his concussion troubles.

Would he have been the “once in a generation player” capable of playing 100 Tests for Australia - and earning all the riches that follow - as he was labelled on SEN by Vics great Brad Hodge in late 2020. Does he deserve to be compensated as though he would have been Ricky Ponting?

Or would he have been just a very good domestic player, as evidenced by a first-class average of more than 45 but just 31.09 across seven matches last season?

Pucovski does not and has never held a Cricket Australia central contract. His Victorian deal expires at season’s end. Under the memorandum of understanding between CA and the Australian Cricketers’ Association, he is entitled to keep earning Sheffield Shield match payments for two years following his most recent injury.

Cricket fans have been left to debate what Will Pucovski would have achieved without his concussion troubles. Picture: David GRAY / AFP

Some medical expenses will also be covered to a point in accordance with the MOU. However unless he has income protection insurance, it would take legal action or a negotiation beyond the realms of the MOU for Pucovski to make the sort of money that he could have made his potential been fulfilled.

Victorian captain Will Sutherland told this masthead last week that ultimately Pucovski’s wellbeing was what mattered.

“He’s close with (wicketkeeper) Sam (Harper), and Sam says that he’s going OK. So I guess that’s all we really want,” Sutherland said.

“It’d be great for him to play, but first and foremost is his mental health and his happiness. So hopefully he’s in a good place, and he looks after himself.”

Teammates months ago resigned themselves to the likelihood that Pucovski would not play again.

But in the background the off-field saga is dragging on. Lawyers are already involved, and it is hard to get a clear line of sight on just where it ends.

Originally published as Why Will Pucovski saga is dragging on: Concussion, mental health, unknowable hypotheticals and the spectre of litigation