Concussion at local footy as serious as AFL

For his wife Sam, the incident and her husband’s next seven days in hospital were some of the scariest of her life.

“[I was] very scared for the outcome, worried for him, worried for the kids,” she says.

“It was a pretty tough week. He’s not the same person still.”

Mr Edwards’ concussion is on the serious end of the spectrum but it could have been worse.

“He’s got scarring on his brain which has been shown on the MRI, he’s got these permanent spots all over his brain from the impact, but he’s very forgetful,” Ms Edwards says.

“I could call him and say ‘could you do this’ and he’ll forget two hours later.

“Obviously his temper is different too. He goes from zero to 10 very quickly. He used to be a very patient person, so that’s changed as well.”

Talk of a mandatory week off for footballers who suffer concussion is a contentious argument, but for Paul, when he returned to the field nearly two years after his incident, even then he wasn’t ready.

“I’d go for a ball and it wasn’t there,” he recalls.

“I didn’t want to be told I couldn’t play footy again. They told me I couldn’t drink alcohol. I don’t drink alcohol so I wanted to drink.

“[But] it was way too early, I had no idea what I was doing.”

Mr Edwards chooses not to read the stories of the late Danny Frawley or Shane Tuck, whose symptoms of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) mirror those of his own.

In fact, the veteran has returned to pre-season training this year in the hope of proving he can still play the game he loves.

“I used to just always get depressed that there was something wrong with me,” he says.

“I get depressed because I think my kids won’t look up to me the way I was. I used to think when I was playing footy that I was the idol and I just want to show them that things can’t keep you down.

“It’s something I’ve done for so long.

“If I’m no good, I’m no good, but I want to prove that I can do it.”

Ms Edwards regrets not documenting her husband’s days in hospital, to remind him of the risks associated with concussion. She says the 2016 head knock was actually the third in his career, albeit by far the worst. It’s unlikely he will be let back on a field, however.

“I’m not going to watch [if he does], I refuse to watch. I’m not going to put myself through it,” she says.

Concussion expert Allan Pearce says community footballers are their own biggest risk, and talk of a mandatory week off for AFL players who are concussed should flow down to club level.

“I think it’s actually more important [at community level] because they don’t have access to medical staff the way AFL players do,” Professor Pearce says.

“The doctor doesn’t really know if they’re downplaying their symptoms and may do a bit of a clinical test; it’s still very subjective. If the player looks all right and answers the questions and says they don’t have any symptoms, the GP doesn’t really have any alternative but to sign them off and clear them.

“Potentially there are thousands of players across Australia being injured with a concussion and coming back too soon.”

The deaths of Frawley, Tuck and Polly Farmer have resonated with the AFL playing group, but Professor Pearce says it might take the posthumous CTE scan of a community footballer before those at the lower levels start taking concussion more seriously.

“It’s a cultural change as much as it is education and having a mandatory time off,” he says.

“I think if we have some community players’ brains … that might illustrate that CTE doesn’t discriminate against elite players [only].”