Concussions rule Will Pucovski out for entire season
By Malcolm Conn
Cricket officials say that Will Pucovski has not medically retired but after multiple concussions he is not expected to play this season.
One cricket official, who spoke anonymously because of the sensitive nature of the issue, told this masthead they had been “blindsided” by reports that Pucovski, 26, had retired. Cricket Australia, Cricket Victoria and Pucovski’s management all declined to comment.
Channel Nine’s Tom Morris reported from Melbourne on Thursday night the decision was made several months ago, but will shortly be formalised contractually by Cricket Victoria.
Pucovski’s promising but badly interrupted career was put on hold again last March when he was subbed out of a Sheffield Shield match after ducked into a short ball from Tasmanian fast bowler Riley Meredith, buckling at the knees before going to ground. Multiple sources claim he took months to overcome the latest symptoms.
After scans and an examination by a neurologist following his most recent blow, a joint panel of medical experts put together by Cricket Victoria and Cricket Australia convened to discuss Pucovski’s future given his long and worrying history of concussion.
A similar panel met two years ago after Pucovski was ruled out of a match when struck by a volleyball. The panel questioned whether Pucovski had been misdiagnosed at times.
“The panel’s overwhelming conclusion was that some of the previous injuries sustained had involved low trauma force and therefore were most likely not true concussion, but a form of either post-traumatic migraine or stress-related response,” the 2022 panel report said.
Pucovski, an exciting young batsman who played his only Test in 2021 and has a first class average of 45, told the Victoria State Cricket podcast last summer that his mental health and concussion issues were intertwined.
Will Pucovski is attended by medical staff after being struck on the helmet playing for Victoria last March.Credit: Getty Images
“The concussions have masked the bigger issues, and that’s the mental health stuff,” Pucovski said. “The mental health has been a much bigger issue for me than even the concussions.
“I don’t fear for my long-term health, it’s more the mental health side that’s been the tougher part.”
After the latest concussion former Cricket Australia doctor Peter Brukner questioned whether Pucovski may be headed towards medical retirement like Melbourne’s AFL star Angus Brayshaw.
“It’s a very difficult one, isn’t it? We’ve just had the Brayshaw retirement, which was sad, and I think, it’s the same sort of principle. I really feel for Will and his family,” Brukner told this masthead at the time.
“You get all the testing done and the best medical advice, but there comes a time really where you’ve got to think, ‘When is enough, enough?’”
Brukner has also questioned the value of helmets preventing concussion.
“Pre-helmets, almost no one got hit in the head. And now there’s not a Test match that goes by without a hit in the helmet. What’s changed?
“Now they feel as though they’re indestructible. They can just look at the ball straight on and if they miss it hits their helmet.”