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A private school football coach allegedly directed students to “go in hard” against each other during a training drill a Test cricketer claims left him with the first of a series of career-ending concussions.
Former Test cricketer Will Pucovski has launched legal action against his school Brighton Grammar over its handling of a concussion he suffered during an Australian rules football training session in 2014.
Once considered a generational cricketing talent, Pucovski announced his medical retirement from the sport in April last year aged 27. He played one Test for Australia against India at the SCG in 2021 in a career interrupted by head injuries.
In a writ filed in the Supreme Court of Victoria, Pucovski says he experienced at least 13 known concussion injuries from balls to the head throughout his cricket career.
Those exacerbated symptoms from a primary head injury he sustained at the school when he was 16, he claims.
In the May 2014 training incident, he says he was hit in the left temple by a teammate’s knee during a sling tackle in a full contact training drill and was knocked unconscious
The coach had directed students to be aggressively physical and “go in hard” against each other during the keepings off drill, Pucovski’s lawyers claimed.
Students had been warned the session would be especially physical after they lost to fellow APS school Scotch College “by a very substantial margin” the previous weekend.
After regaining consciousness, Pucovski was assisted off the oval for the remainder of the drill, but returned to the field for the rest of the session after the coach allegedly asked if he could take part in the next drill.
The claims are yet to be tested in court and neither Brighton Grammar nor the coach have had an opportunity to file their defence.
Brighton Grammar headmaster Ross Featherston told AAP the coach is “a highly regarded and experienced teacher” at the school.
“Beyond that, given the matter is the subject to legal proceedings, Brighton Grammar School will not be making any further comment,” Featherston said.
Lawyers for Pucovski allege the coach did not have appropriate accreditation or training to coach junior amateur AFL players and failed to arrange medical assessment or treatment for the future Test cricketer.
The school was vicariously liable for the alleged care breach by failing to inform Pucovski’s parents of the head collision, the writ alleged.
The then-16-year-old experienced headaches in the days after the collision but continued to go to school, until a GP diagnosed him with concussion three days later.
That weekend he acted as the runner for a Brighton Grammar seconds match, after which his headaches worsened and he developed nausea.
A doctor later urged him to stop all physical activity and stay home from school for six weeks to recover.
Lawyers claim the 2014 injury left Pucovski with a traumatic brain injury, vision problems, persistent migraines and mental health issues including OCD and anxiety.
Following his retirement, the 28-year-old described suffering long-term concussion-related symptoms including fatigue, headaches and motion sickness.
The school was “grossly” in breach of its duty of care and showed “a high-handed, contumelious and callous disregard” for Pucovski’s safety after the incident, the writ claimed.
