He has epilepsy which may be related to his concussions suffered whilst playing. He probably wouldn’t of been aware this was a risk in the late 90s early 2000s.
BTW, the NFL paid out a billion dollars for a similar case.
I hope he gets the answers he seeks.
Potential consequences for the careers of some currrent players who have possibly already had too many concussions like Brayshaw and McCartin. There might be a lot of pressure on clubs to retire more players if there is any “doubt”. Otherwise insurance premiums for the AFL and clubs will go through the roof.
I’m surprised it took so long for someone to mount the first case about this, to be honest.
I know what you’re saying here, and agree with you FWIW, but recent legal cases have been won on similar premises to just that. Jesus, it’s for legal reasons that I can’t get a decent hot cup of coffee anywhere these days.
The world has gone fkn mad, and it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest to see either the case get up or the AFL settle this out of court for an undisclosed sum.
Theres a difference between hot, and what mcdonalds were doing.
also when your coffees too hot it becomes bitter garbage.
The main concern l have here is that his health is continuing to deteriorate. The issue is going to become more serious for him, and his quality of life will dwindle, it might also affect his life expectancy.
Jonathon Brown said it best.
You know the risk when you cross the line. It’s also hard to measure all the other effects that may effect your health such as lifestyle and genetics. It’s impossible to prove.
Also went on to say that any other injury (that might be life long) is considered part of the game. the AFL and medial staff to the best with the knowledge they have.
It’s the reality of the game.
jono brown is a set of tools short of a tool box.
wouldn’t listen to a word he says.
Obviously it’s been some 16 years since Barnesy played his last game. Over the course of 2000-01, when he returned to us after playing at Geelong, I don’t recall too many times where he was concussed or knocked in a head during a game, not to the extent that we saw with Brown, or a guy like Nick Riewoldt or Joel Selwood. Not trying to cast aspersions, just that Barnesy was not that type of player who was bash-and-crash. Perhaps just the consistent physical nature of the game did it? Who knows, but if a guy like him is struggling this fat down the line, that there will be plenty of others who will suffer the same consequences after their career finishes…
He has a low base to start from that’s for sure.
But he’s a footballer who’s done it over and over again so his voice does have weight.
Barnes said ‘I’m not the man I used to be’. ■■■■ who is.
Extremely difficult to prove a causative link between his concussions and short term memory loss, since a significant number of people in the general population who did not play footy also suffer from similar symptoms at his age ( early dementia etc) . If, however, they can get a significant number of players with neurological symptoms to make claims they might have a better chance.of proving a link. Then its necessary to prove negligence on the part of the AFL.
Of course the more victims, the more the payout and that would be a disaster for the AFL and the code.
I’m no expert in this area - most of what i know comes from watching ‘Concussion’ which is based on the investigation into NFL-related brain injury (and is a great film by the way) - but I understand that repeated ‘micro-concussions’ may well do more damage than fewer classical concussions.
Hes a guy thats been concussed time and time again because hes a ■■■■■■■ idiot. if he doesn’t say what he did, it tarnishes the way he plays, which was a ■■■■■■■ stupid way to play.
That simply makes no sense.
And of course his massive binge drinking stints played no part in any of this
It only has to be considered a contributing factor through expert opinion, not conclusive study I would of thought. If the consulting neurologists believe that concussion was a contributing factor to his current symptoms, given this is a civil claim, that would probably be sufficient to then assess whether the AFL was negligent in dealing with it.
It also has to be shown that their management was negligent in light of knowledge at the time. Research into the long term effects of concussion has skyrocketed of late (largely because of the NFL), so it is entirely feasible that the AFL acted in line with the knowledge at the time.
Will be interesting to see the outcome, but one suspects if this case is successful there will be several subsequent ones to follow.
Back whe I played at a country level, we all started throwing $5 per week in for insurance to cover us against injury,… medical bills, loss of income, T&PD, etc.
You would imagine all AFL players had massive policies to cover them for the same, even back in Barnesy’s day.
Why wouldn’t insurance cover this injury? Why the need to sue anyone?
The rumour is that the AFL refused a request by Barnes and others to process the claims, probably on advice of their Insurers.
By the way, some of the Coteries that are not universally liked on Blitz, are looking after more than one past player who has similar health issues to Barnesy.
Hence him becomming a host on nova…
Why would the AFL be in a position to have to be requested,… let alone in a position to refuse? They aren’t an insurance company,… are they?
The policy would be between the player & insurer, and the claim made directly to the company, surely?