Geelong skipper Joel Selwood will suffer later in life if he continues to suffer concussions, Greg Williams says. Picture: Michael Klein Source: Herald Sun
DUAL Brownlow medallist Greg Williams, who has revealed his battle with a degenerative brain disease, has described Geelong captain Joel Selwood as a walking time bomb who needs to be protected from himself.
Williams said yesterday the AFL and players' association must take action to protect players such as Selwood and Sydney's Kurt Tippett from the effects of repeated trauma and concussion.
Since revealing his memory loss and need for on-going treatment for a degenerative brain disease, Williams said he had received calls from five or six players from the same era who said they had similar symptoms.
He said Selwood needed help to protect himself from his fearless head-first approach.
"He gets knocked out a couple of times a year and gets stunned that many times that the club has to protect him because he can't protect himself," Williams said.
"He is a champion player and courageous, but he is too courageous for his own good.
"If he keeps getting concussed, it's a huge issue for him in life and they have do to something about it."
Williams said there should be compulsory lay-offs for players if they are diagnosed with concussion.
One of the game's toughest players, Williams supports the removal of the bump but said free kicks for head-high tackles must be awarded even if a player ducks his head.
He also wants stricter concussion tests and asked whether doctors would send their own sons back onto the field after suffering head trauma.
"This isn't about Joel Selwood, it's about every player," Williams said.
"We are 10 years behind the Americans and, although the NFL is a different game, concussion is the same.
"There were a lot of times where I played with concussion and you don't have to be knocked out to suffer from it.
"You can get stunned and you feel crook after the game and during the week and that sort of stuff, but you just keep playing."
During his career with Geelong, Sydney and Carlton, Williams said he had the best vision, reflexes and decision-making, but tests two weeks ago revealed he was now half as good as a group of people who had never played contact sport.
Williams admitted that he would have kept playing even if a doctor told him he shouldn't because he was suffering from concussion.
"Things are a lot different now," he said. "They used to say it was OK to smoke, they used to say it was OK to work with asbestos. It's not OK to get hit in the head."
"There is treatment for it and they can help the damage going forward but if you play again and get knocked out, common sense says your brain is not there to be bashed again."
Williams said Tippett would have serious problems if he was knocked out again this year.
He said it wasn't a player's fault if they had "a glass jaw", while others players might not be knocked out, but it still hurt.
"It's the job of the players association to look after players and they are not looking after them properly," he said.
"They say they have sent someone over to America and they think everything is okay but I'm telling you now it's not.
"Five or six players have rang me and they are suffering the same problems and they don't know what to do," he said. "Now I know what I'm doing and they want the same help as me."
Williams said former players were not getting any help from the AFL or the player association.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Diesel warning for Cats captain
Dengan url
http://ganangandollar.blogspot.com/2013/02/diesel-warning-for-cats-captain.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Diesel warning for Cats captain
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Diesel warning for Cats captain
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar