Gary Ablett Sr sues AFL, Geelong, Hawthorn for years of concussion

AFL great Gary Ablett Sr, who says he has brain damage due to football, is suing the league, and the Geelong and Hawthorn football clubs for negligence.

AFL great Gary Ablett Sr is suing the league for negligence.

AFL great Gary Ablett Sr, who says he has brain damage due to football, is suing the league, and the Geelong and Hawthorn football clubs for negligence.

Ablett told the Herald Sun last month that he estimated he had been knocked out “eight to 10 times” and had experienced “dozens” of concussion-like symptoms.

He says he now has migraines, insomnia, blurred vision, significant memory loss, anxiety, ­fatigue and severe depression.

Ablett’s Supreme Court claim follows two recently lodged class actions against the AFL on behalf of footballers who allege they have suffered brain trauma ­because of playing the game.

Ablett’s lawyer Michel Margalit said the 61-year-old had suffered neurological damage over the course of his 242-game career with Geelong from 1984-1996 and Hawthorn in 1982.

The court writ details how Ablett suffered concussions during games and also because of “head strikes” from his fellow players.

It claims the defendants – the AFL, Geelong and Hawthorn – “knew or ought to have known” the long-term damage concussions caused.

“In the course of his playing career and associated training, the plaintiff suffered concussions,” it reads.

“At all relevant times, and from time to time as the state of medical knowledge developed, the first, second and/or third ­defendant knew or ought to have known of the potential long-term consequences of concussion suffered by the plaintiff while training for and playing AFL football.”

Ablett told the Herald Sun last month that he had had a brain scan that revealed “significant, structural and functional brain damage”.

“I began getting headaches and pressure in the top of my skull around 2010, initially a few days a week,” he said.

“It then led to depression, anxiety and extreme fatigue. Under the advice of doctors, I then had numerous scans to try and find the cause of headaches and skull pressure.”