WOOF welcomes Aiden O'Driscoll to the Kennel

[angelopetraglia]

Heartbreaking.

[macca]

Take care of yourself Aiden. Your health is more important than any further injuries in a game.
Really sorry to hear this.

[azabob]

This is truly heartbreaking news.

[Dry Rot]

Agree with Sedat's comment about Geelong and Cameron. I watch that part again and thought that it was ludicrous that he continued playing.

Terrible news about AOD. I thought this might be on the cards given his absence from training.

[Sedat]

Agree with Sedat's comment about Geelong and Cameron. I watch that part again and thought that it was ludicrous that he continued playing.

If they were 5 goals down or up, he goes off immediately and stays off for the rest of the game. The fact that they had to collude with the AFEL to get their stories straight and manufacture a contrived outcome about doing a pissy little 20 second HIA on the ground (during the game no less) tells you everything you need to know that the AFEL don't really take the head trauma issue seriously enough, outside of the optics and being seen to be ticking the boxes to avoid future litigation.

The media cowards need to keep digging on this Geelong story but they won't - it has a terrible whiff about it.

Apologies for hijacking this thread, but O'Driscoll's premature retirement should come as a massive warning to all the clubs and the AFEL to treat this issue with utmost seriousness and not as an arse-covering exercise. Most other clubs already take it seriously - poor GWS took Brent Daniels off in a cut-throat PF last year with 5 minutes to go and 1 point the difference. And on the same night as Cameron, Sydney took Blakey off for 20 minutes to do a SCAT 1 test despite the impact being far less severe than Cameron's. There are zero excuses for Geelong not to have done so on the weekend, and other clubs know it (hence Justin Longmuir's comments last night on 360). Also explains why Chris Scott channelled his inner Sheedy and went full distraction mode in the post-match presser crapping on about how difficult umpiring is and how they were stiffed with the non-advantage interpretation (incidentally, how didn't he get a please explain from City Hall for criticising the umpires?)

[GVGjr]

Tom Morris

2023 draftee Aiden O'Driscoll has been medically retired, the Western Bulldogs have announced.

Copped a heavy head knock in January and has no symptoms, but the expert panel has made the call. He's the third player in three months to retire due to concussion.

(No symptoms but retired. What do they make the assessment on? Brain scans?)

What I thought was amazing was that within a couple of week, O'Driscoll was back training and put in a solid block after that.
He would join the boys on the warm-ups and lighter drills and once the contact drills commenced he was straight over to the rehab area and doing a power of running. This isn't an issue about him necessarily having symptoms like what say Paddy McCartin experienced.

[angelopetraglia]

What I thought was amazing was that within a couple of week, O'Driscoll was back training and put in a solid block after that.
He would join the boys on the warm-ups and lighter drills and once the contact drills commenced he was straight over to the rehab area and doing a power of running. This isn't an issue about him necessarily having symptoms like what say Paddy McCartin experienced.

I'm sure we will learn more. I hope so.

[GVGjr]

The incident initially occurred on Australia day in a later session than normal. I guess we could say the session was an intraclub practice game. It was a sickening collision and the given the severity of the knock and the medical care he was receiving the balance of the session was called off.
Surprisingly to me, AOD joined the team on their camp in QLD just a few days later and was back on the training track in quick time.
He was chirpy and mixing in incredibly well with his team mates so it all appeared somewhat positive despite what he endured.

A couple of weeks back and just after he fronted a panel of medical experts I was told then that he was unlikely to be cleared.
2 weeks later and unfortunately it's been confirmed. If anything positive is to come out of this is that Aiden isn't experiencing any symptoms and hopefully this means not much else changes for him.

A lovely youngster, lets all wish him the best.

[Mantis]

Terrible news for Aiden... hoping the club (and the AFL) support him as best as they can as he enters the next phase of what I hope is a rewarding & full life.

[angelopetraglia]

The incident initially occurred on Australia day in a later session than normal. I guess we could say the session was an intraclub practice game. It was a sickening collision and the given the severity of the knock and the medical care he was receiving the balance of the session was called off.
Surprisingly to me, AOD joined the team on their camp in QLD just a few days later and was back on the training track in quick time.
He was chirpy and mixing in incredibly well with his team mates so it all appeared somewhat positive despite what he endured.

A couple of weeks back and just after he fronted a panel of medical experts I was told then that he was unlikely to be cleared.
2 weeks later and unfortunately it's been confirmed. If anything positive is to come out of this is that Aiden isn't experiencing any symptoms and hopefully this means not much else changes for him.

A lovely youngster, lets all wish him the best.

Thank you. Appreciate the insight.

However, it still leaves more questions than anwsers. Quick recovery. Back into it. Currently no symptons.

I'm not an expert or even have any knowledge about this, hence the curiosity. How do they make this assessment? Is it based on how he is presenting? Is it based on an assessment of the actual impact? Is it how he presented to the hosiptal after his initial hit? Is there a brain scan? Are there any other physcial tests?

[Grantysghost]

Thank you. Appreciate the insight.

However, it still leaves more questions than anwsers. Quick recovery. Back into it. Currently no symptons.

I'm not an expert or even have any knowledge about this, hence the curiosity. How do they make this assessment? Is it based on how he is presenting? Is it based on an assessment of the actual impact? Is it how he presented to the hosiptal after his initial hit? Is there a brain scan? Are there any other physcial tests?

My question : what if he wants to play?

Do the AFL actually remove his registration?

[Go_Dogs]

Thank you. Appreciate the insight.

However, it still leaves more questions than anwsers. Quick recovery. Back into it. Currently no symptons.

I'm not an expert or even have any knowledge about this, hence the curiosity. How do they make this assessment? Is it based on how he is presenting? Is it based on an assessment of the actual impact? Is it how he presented to the hosiptal after his initial hit? Is there a brain scan? Are there any other physcial tests?

Im not an expert either but the risk of recurrence after a bad knock must be higher and put him at greater risk of it having impacts on his quality of life.

If he has no symptoms that is great - hopefully he moves onto another passion and lives a full life.

Sad to read it and wish him all the best.

[angelopetraglia]

Im not an expert either but the risk of recurrence after a bad knock must be higher and put him at greater risk of it having impacts on his quality of life.

If he has no symptoms that is great - hopefully he moves onto another passion and lives a full life.

Sad to read it and wish him all the best.

Agree. 100%.

What about the knock Sam Banks had on the weekend? That looked absolutely sickening. Or what about the Sam Taylor clash a few weeks ago. That looked like a car crash. Out cold before his heat hit the ground. One of the worst hits I have seen on a footy field. It looked that bad that they refused to show a replay.Taylor only missed two weeks.

What makes this clash different? I'm sure there must be something. Hence the decision. Just curious to know how they come to this decision.

[bulldogtragic]

Agree. 100%.

What about the knock Sam Banks had on the weekend? That looked absolutely sickening. Or what about the Sam Taylor clash a few weeks ago. That looked like a car crash. Out cold before his heat hit the ground.

What makes this clash different?

Clearly it was much worse. We have to respect his privacy, cut clearly this was not an ordinary concussion.

[angelopetraglia]

Clearly it was much worse. We have to respect his privacy, cut clearly this was not an ordinary concussion.

I should clarify. I don't want clarity on his specific diagnosis. That is own medical privacy. I'm interested in how they make a decision like this? What is their criteria? How do they make it?