End beckons as Will Pucovksi remains absent from Victoria’s pre-season training

Victorian players and officials are increasingly resigned to the prospect Will Pucovski has played his last professional match, reports DANIEL CHERNY and PAUL AMY.

Victorian players and officials are increasingly resigned to the prospect that Will Pucovski has played his last professional match.

Pucovski, 26, has not returned to training with state teammates for the start of pre-season this month as an announcement on his playing future draws near.

The medical panel assembled to rule on Pucovski’s condition following his blow to the head in March has tabled its findings. CV and Pucovski are now discussing his next move.

CV performance chief Graham Manou said: “The expert panel has met and we are currently working through the findings.”

Sources have indicated that Victorian players are not expecting Pucovski to return.

Cricket Victoria contracted Pucovski for next season but the one-time prodigy’s name carried an asterisk because his future hinged on being given medical clearance to play.

Will Pucovski has not played since being struck by a bouncer last season. Picture: Steve Bell/Getty Images

It is unclear what sort of payout Pucovski would receive should he effectively be forced into retirement, which happened in the AFL with Melbourne’s Angus Brayshaw and Collingwood’s Nathan Murphy, the latter of whom is a friend of Pucovski.

One-Test batter Pucovski’s career was thrust into peril when he was felled by a bouncer from Tasmania’s Riley Meredith during the penultimate round of the Sheffield Shield season.

It was the latest in a string of suspected concussions that had plagued Pucovski for a decade since his days playing junior football.

Pucovski had been due for a county stint this year with Leicestershire but was withdrawn following the setback in Hobart. His import spot was taken by Victorian teammate Marcus Harris.

Muddying the waters of Pucovski’s situation is that he has also dealt with mental health issues, some of which he has discussed publicly.

In 2022, a medical panel found that several of Pucovski’s head injuries were “not true concussions’ and likely related to stress or trauma responses.

What is not in doubt is Pucovski’s immense talent.

His batting catapulted him into Australia’s Test squad before his 21st birthday and then an eventual debut against India at the SCG in early 2021, in which he hit a half-century.

Through sheer weight of runs and talent, Will Pucovski earned an Australian call-up before the age of 21. Picture: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

After a modest first half to the most recent Shield season, Pucovski issued a reminder of his class with a century against NSW at the SCG when he tamed an attack that featured Nathan Lyon.

Meanwhile, former Melbourne Renegades quick Zak Evans has turned his back on cricket and committed to a move to football.

A talented junior, Evans, 24 is being courted for a Category B rookie spot, similar to former Victorian leg-spinner Wil Parker, who made his debut for Collingwood recently.

Sources indicated Gold Coast was making a strong play for Evans but Geelong, St Kilda and the Magpies have also been linked with him.

For the past seven weeks he has been training with amateur football power Old Xaverians.

Xavs coach Daniel Donati said Evans’s ability had bubbled to the surface.

He cannot run out for the club given the Category B rookie positions are for players who have not played football for three years.

“He’s a bloody good size,’’ Donati said. “He’s got stronger every week.

“He’s big, he’s strong. He looks a utility type who could play mid, forward, back.

“He came here with a cricketer’s body but he’s just starting to take shape, get some definition.

“There were huge wraps on him as a kid.’’

Evans was dumped from the Victorian cricket squad 12 months ago after playing one Sheffield Shield match and two one-dayers for the Vics.

Last season he took 27 wickets at 22.63 for St Kilda in Premier Cricket.