Gary Ablett Sr suing the AFL over devastating health condition

AFL legend Gary Ablett Sr. is the latest former player to launch legal action against the league over concussion, with his Supreme Court filing also naming former clubs Geelong and Hawthorn as defendants. The 61-year-old revealed the devastating toll from what he estimates were at least eight to 10 concussions sustained during his 16-year AFL career.

One of the most celebrated players in Geelong history, Ablett Sr. says he has suffered increasingly debilitating symptoms as he grows older, including headaches, blurred vision and memory loss. He underwent a brain scan in November last year, which revealed structural and functional brain damage.

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According to Ablett's lawyer, Michel Margalit, the 61-year-old is unable to work or pay medical bills as a result of the steadily worsening symptoms. Margalit is also the leading lawyer in another concussion lawsuit against the AFL, lead by another former Cats star, Max Rooke.

Ablett Sr. is expected to argue it was 'reasonably foreseeable' that his football career could potentially result in debilitating symptoms later in life, arguing that Geelong, Hawthorn and the AFL failed in their duty to provide proper care. Margalit said the legal action was necessary for Ablett Sr. to have quality of life moving forward.

“One of the biggest challenges for Gary is he very much is left without the means and ability to fund the care he now requires, given his condition,” Margalit said. “This is really why he’s been forced, in a sense, to bring the claim; to be able to afford both the medical expenses and medical care he requires ... and those costs will only continue to increase.

“He really struggles on a daily basis, and it is very typical symptomatology you see from players, or athletes, who suffer these concussion-related injuries around the world. There is everything from memory loss to being unable to work and many other symptoms.”

The father of fellow Geelong Cats great Gary Ablett Jr, the elder Ablett became an icon of the game throughout the 1980s and 1990s, winning the Norm Smith Medal in Geelong's losing grand final effort in 1989. Having spent the near entirety of his career playing in an age where head knocks were not treated with the seriousness they are now, Ablett Sr said there were many occasions where he would not report feeling ill effects.

Gary Ablett Sr. describes debilitating effects of concussions

The league great first raised concerns about debilitating symptoms with his long-time manager, Peter Jess, who organised for Ablett Sr. to undergo testing. Jess has been a prominent figure in concussion-related issues in the AFL for many years, advocating for several other former AFL players in the past.

"I started getting symptoms that alarmed me to the point where I contacted Peter Jess, whom I'm aware has been a concussion advocate for a number of past players," Ablett told News Corp. "I told him of my concerns and Peter helped organise an MEG scan that American Military use. It showed I have significant structural and functional brain damage.

"Obviously I was a very physical player and while I only got totally knocked out eight-10 times, I experienced being semi-concussed, such as ears ringing and out of it for a few minutes many dozens of times. But because you weren't knocked completely out you wouldn't even bother mentioning it."

A separate class action led by former Melbourne player Shaun Smith, Adelaide Crows premiership player Darren Jarman and the family of the late Shane Tuck was launched last month. Margalit said it was unlikely Ablett would join the class action because he started playing Australian rules football years before the other plaintiffs.

But she expected other former footballers to come forward with their own claims.

"Players are beginning to realise that these very unpleasant symptoms that they are suffering are not personal failings but rather symptoms of an injury," she said. Ablett's statement of claim will be filed in the Supreme Court in the coming months before the defendants put forward their response.

With AAP

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