Tassie great Craig Davis reveals Windy Hill hits led to downhill spiral with brain trauma issues

A great of the game says he trains his brain daily just to get by, but will one day donate his brain to research after multiple hits in a single game left him a tortured soul.

Four-time VFL Grand Final player and Tasmanian Hall of Famer Craig Davis has pledged to donate his brain to research, saying he is certain he has got Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a crippling neurological disease linked to repeated head knocks.

Davis, 67, suffered a number of concussions in a game for Carlton against Essendon in a brutal game at Windy Hill in 1975 as well as a brain bleed after another knock in a practice match the following year.

He has endured ongoing issues related to head knocks ever since.

Davis, the father of Sydney’s 2005 premiership player Nick, revealed his CTE fears in a recent Carlton Football Club podcast With All The Champions.

“I have got CTE, no doubt about that, and I have donated my brain to science,” Davis said in the podcast. “That is all documented and all done.”

Kayo is your ticket to the best sport streaming Live & On-Demand. New to Kayo? Start your free trial today >

A trainer assists Craig Davis after being knocked out at Windy Hill as a brawl breaks out.

“I go to the fridge (now) and when I open the door I know what I want, but then I don’t know what I want.

“I had headaches for two to three years after (the 1975 incident). No one can touch the left side of my face … that is so sensitive that side of my face that got caved in.

“I am under a specialist. I train my brain, I do Sudoku. I am managing it and trying to get on top of it.”

Only a post-mortem can determine whether a person had CTE, with four VFL-AFL players (Graham ‘Polly’ Farmer, Danny Frawley, Shane Tuck and Murray Weideman) having posthumously diagnosed with the disease.

Davis played 163 games and kicked 360 goals from 1973 to 1988 with four clubs — Carlton, North Melbourne Collingwood and Sydney.

He has spoken with the AFL Players’ Association about his concerns, but says the AFL and the players’ union are now taking the situation seriously.

“I talked to the Players Association a little bit … and I have sent all the paper(work) I have got done to them,” he said. ‘Barnsey (John Barnes) is having a few issues (with the effects of concussion).

The star Tasmanian when son Nick was playing with the Sydney Swans.

Davis says he can only applaud the AFL for the steps it is taking.

“I worked for the AFL for 20 years (as a football administrator with NSW AFL), so I’ve got no issues with the AFL.

“I can only applaud them now for what they are doing for the past, present and future players … for looking after old players like me.”

Davis played in Carlton’s losing Grand Final side in his 1973 debut season, and would go on to play in three more losing Grand Finals with Collingwood in 1979, ‘80 and ‘81.

But his career almost ended prematurely when he was felled behind play in a clash with the Bombers at Windy Hill in Round 14, 1975.

“I don’t think anyone is too proud of it, people threw some heavy punches,” he told podcast hosts Tony De Bolfo and Howard Kotton.

“I nearly died because of it.

“I got hit from behind ... it’s a bit hard to have peripheral vision when someone sneaks up behind you.

“I got knocked out five times in the one game and I don’t think that would happen today.

“I actually kicked four goals after I got knocked out.”

Incredibly, Davis played the next week and played out the season but in a routine practice match the following year suffered “a brain haemorrhage” in the rooms.

“It was one of the most painful things ever,” he said. “My head was in a bucket of ice, I was a mess. I was rushed to hospital.”

“The specialist said ‘Will you get hit in the head again?’ (Davis said): “Does the sun come up in the east, of course it does, I am going to get whacked again’.

“He said, ‘Well, there is an 80 per cent chance you will die, and a 100 per cent chance you will lose the sight in your left eye.’ I walked out and retired that day.

Davis says he is certain he has got Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.

“I was devastated. I was 21 years of age and was at the height of my career.”

Carlton ultimately asked Davis to sign a waiver protecting them against a potential payout if he was to be further injured, but as a young family man, he refused to sign it.

He retired from football, but later returned to have a strong playing career with the Kangaroos, the Magpies and the Swans, having also overcome a blood platelet deficiency issue.

He has no regrets, saying it was hard to wish he had “ducked” more when many of the blows came behind play.

But having played in four losing Grand Finals, his proudest moment came in 2005 when his son Nick played in the Swans’ drought-breaking premiership.

“In 2004 I turned 50 and (Nick) gave me a Swans jumper that had ‘05’ on it,” he said. “He said, ‘Dad, we have got a side to win the premiership, (but) we need you to wear it’.

“I wore it to the ground (on Grand Final day in 2005). Nick had signed it under the ‘05’. Seriously, it was close (the Swans won by four points), but what a win it was.”

Concussion plea: ‘Bulls**t’ betting cash should help players

AFL concussion victim Shaun Smith has launched a passionate plea for the league to consider a multimillion-dollar compensation fund as he urged fellow sufferers to stop suffering in silence.

Smith said Victorian racing had stolen the march on the AFL after releasing a new 140-page welfare report with 46 individual recommendations including the formation of a new national welfare body for racehorses.

Former Melbourne high-flyer Smith, known for his 1995 Mark of the Century, was awarded a record $1.4 million insurance payout after a ruling he had suffered “total and permanent disablement” due to head knocks in his 11-year career.

Former Melbourne high-flyer Shaun Smith at home. Picture: Alex Coppel

Smith said concussion campaigner Peter Jess’s suggestion for a “0.1 per cent levy” on betting on AFL football — which Jess claims would raise $25 million a year and $2 billion over 80 seasons — would help safeguard past and current players.

Jess said on Thursday his proposal to the AFL in January had received no response, arguing the racing industry was more concerned about the welfare of its horses than the AFL was about its players.

Smith is sickened by the invasion of betting ads around AFL games and says the AFLPA’s hardship fund can only help so many players given its limited funding.

“I am horrified by how many betting ads we have on for the footy.

“The young kids are watching it and it’s who will kick the third goal, who has their socks pulled up, who has orange hair, all these different fantasy bets.

“That is nuts. It’s bull****. It’s all about the coin.

“One main focus is preventing (concussion) happening and the return-to-play protocols, but outside of that there are plenty of blokes who are crook. They really need help.

Melbourne footballer Shaun Smith lines up a kick at goal in 1995.

Smith takes his famous grab over Richard Champion and Garry Lyon.

“Money is going to help those guys, because a lot of guys like myself have made rash decisions (because of their current state). And then they need the guidance to get back into the land of the living, as I call it.

“They are walking around in a doze. A lot of guys don’t know where to go, they don’t know they have a problem or they don’t want to admit it.

“As far as a total (for the fund) goes, off the top of my head I couldn’t quantify a number but guys do need some financial help. And they need assistance and guidance with their health because you can have all the money in the world, but if your health is no good you are going backwards.”

The racing welfare report, titled “The Most Important Participant: A Framework for Thoroughbred Welfare”, proposes levies on breeders, jockeys, owners and punters.

One suggestion is a 50 cent levy on every active betting account to help raise funds to safeguard the welfare of horses.

Tony Lockett colliding with Smith during incident in which Smith was knocked out and Lockett was reported for charging.

Jess took identical suggestions to the AFL this year but says he has received no response.

“I wrote to the AFL and said there was an ability to seek 0.1 per cent of their turnover and direct it into the welfare of players.

“Betting agencies have said they would participate in the thoroughbred welfare initiative. Wouldn’t you think they would do the same for AFL players? I haven’t heard anything back,” he said.

“Why have we let the racing fraternity commandeer a player welfare initiative to the detriment of ex-AFL players. Why are horses more crucial than ex-players?

“Why is it that horse racing can take a lead on this when the AFL has been sitting on it since January? Everything horse racing is doing for horses should be done for players. Who is more important?”

Smith on Thursday implored ex-players battling the fallout of concussion or repeated head knocks to speak to someone to get help.”

“People say why did you come out in the press? I was hiding for so long and was wearing a fake mask to go out in public. So go and talk to someone.

“Talk to a friend, talk to a stranger if need be. Give me a ring, but when you stew it up inside it becomes worse.

“If you aren’t feeling right or doing silly things or your personality has changed, you can identify that something is wrong and you can seek help.”

Originally published as Tassie great Craig Davis reveals Windy Hill hits led to downhill spiral with brain trauma issues