Murphy's Law / concussion discussion

[inxs88]

Liam Pickering is a colleague of mine and assures that Nathan is tracking well, enjoying Bali and that the testing he receives on return shall allow him to play on in 2024.

[Pies2016]

Given he passed the HIA, why the drama?

Collectively over his entire footy career ( including juniors) he’s already up to ten notable concussions. So by anyone standards, that’s a drama.

[Arch@M32]

If he is ruled out then surely this is more worthy of a compensation pick in the draft than a player wanting to leave a club.

[The Black and White Lion]

If he is ruled out then surely this is more worthy of a compensation pick in the draft than a player wanting to leave a club.

This is an excellent point based on the player getting injured in the workplace. Murphy was a late second round or early third round pick I think. Would the AFL secret compensation recipe match his original draft position or add a nominal draft pick?

Either way I'm sure if the club requested it the AFL will reject it for equalisation reasons, send us to the last draft spot, PSD, RD, SSP or MSD and then introduce the rule in the next CBA to the advantage of another team.

[What'sinaname]

Given he passed the HIA, why the drama?

Collectively over his entire footy career ( including juniors) he’s already up to ten notable concussions. So by anyone standards, that’s a drama.

Yes, but it seems the GF concussion triggered the assessment. But Murph was cleared to go back on. So I would have thought this wouldn't count to concussions before having to be reviewed by a panel.

[Mr Miyagi]

Liam Pickering is a colleague of mine and assures that Nathan is tracking well, enjoying Bali and that the testing he receives on return shall allow him to play on in 2024.

Awesome to hear, thank you.

[mka]

hopefully im wrong but i feel that he seems to have a glass jaw which means he runs the risk of having to go off in games . which may mean he becomes a liability.

[think better]

If he is ruled out then surely this is more worthy of a compensation pick in the draft than a player wanting to leave a club.

This is an excellent point based on the player getting injured in the workplace. Murphy was a late second round or early third round pick I think. Would the AFL secret compensation recipe match his original draft position or add a nominal draft pick?

Either way I'm sure if the club requested it the AFL will reject it for equalisation reasons, send us to the last draft spot, PSD, RD, SSP or MSD and then introduce the rule in the next CBA to the advantage of another team.

Interesting to think about this - if the AFL rules him out then that should justify a compensation (as opposed to a player that has an injury and just can't play). It should be based on the same criteria as a free agent leaving a club I would have thought.

[Arch@M32]

Exactly my thoughts.
To not offer compensation may increase the risk of clubs pushing to get players back on the field rather than accept that the player should be retired for their own health.

[think positive]

hopefully im wrong but i feel that he seems to have a glass jaw which means he runs the risk of having to go off in games . which may mean he becomes a liability.

not a glass jaw, that sounds like a weakness, he has a lot of courage and smashes in. and some bad luck

[Geek]

Hope he is ok
If still playing next year better wear a helmet

May as well wear an easter bonnet - no headwear protects against concussion.

Correct. The helmet protects the skull but doesn't reduce the impact of the hit, the brain still bounces of the inside of the skull.

What I don't understand is that there already exists energy absorbing foam products, used in innersoles and other things that could be used to make a helmet that dramatically reduces the amount of force applied to the brain. Why has no-one made a purpose designed helmet from that kind of material?

AFL helmets already use cushioning in the way you suggest.

If a skull goes from great speed to an immediate stop over the distance of a couple of centimetres, the brain will keep moving straight through its fluid shock absorber (cerebral fluid). In the case of a good hip and shoulder, the head goes from a few metres per second to an instant, dead stop. Sometimes it will be accelerated just as hard in the opposite direction.

You could reduce the fallout by slowing down the rate at which the skull stops (like your insole material works), thus giving the brain's natural shock absorber more of a chance to cradle the brain as it comes to rest. But consider how large and springy that helmet needs to be in order to bring the skull to rest over a distance that allows the brain to stop without pushing through the cerebral fluid and being bounced off the hard skull.

Your helmet would be a pretty decent sized affair and would need to cover the entire head, since a hit or an instant stop to any part of the head is what induces that difference in speed between the skull and the brain.

For instance, Murphy's last one came from a smack to the jaw suddenly accelerating his head leaving his brain to be sloshed around while it caught up. There's a limit to how much shock that fluid can absorb for us. Our ancestors, at least the ones who lasted long enough to procreate, were pretty good at not smacking themselves in the head too often so we haven't evolved a gooey and thick enough cerebral fluid for contact sports. Call it survival of the sensiblest, if you will.

So I think they need to look at augmenting the cerebral fluid, making it more effective at cushioning the brain itself. The geek in me wants to see players surgically fitted with specially created brain springs inside their skulls that work like the shockers in you car to smooth out the ride, while the bogan in me reckons you could get just as good results from injecting their heads with a bunch of Space Filla.

Until then though, we either change the game or wear the concussions, I'm afraid. Helmets like Brayshaw's are of marginal utility, unless you make them space helmet sized or something

[K]

Given he passed the HIA, why the drama?

Collectively over his entire footy career ( including juniors) he’s already up to ten notable concussions. So by anyone standards, that’s a drama.

Were the junior concussions all from footy?

We know he played cricket.

Will Pucovski has been in some sorta cricket limbo. One of his junior concussions was at footy practice. IIRC tackle sent his head into a knee.

...
... But Murph was cleared to go back on. So I would have thought this wouldn't count to concussions before having to be reviewed by a panel.

It was a clear delayed concussion. There aren't any doubts about that.

[Brown26]

Didn’t the Blues get some compo pick when Liam Jones was ruled out due to not being vaccinated against Covid? Not sure - does anyone remember? Would be a similar situation, BUT other players have retired due to concussion concerns (ie. Max Lynch) and haven’t got compensation.? Not sure

- Ben

[pietillidie]

Liam Pickering is a colleague of mine and assures that Nathan is tracking well, enjoying Bali and that the testing he receives on return shall allow him to play on in 2024.

Awesome to hear, thank you.

Oh fantastic, for Murph and us.

[K]

Didn’t the Blues get some compo pick when Liam Jones was ruled out due to not being vaccinated against Covid? Not sure - does anyone remember? Would be a similar situation, BUT other players have retired due to concussion concerns (ie. Max Lynch) and haven’t got compensation.? Not sure

Nah... Blues' compo wasn't for retirement but for WB being able to pick Jones up. Just free agent compo.