‘I can’t lead a normal life’: Why this former Bulldog is fighting for his future

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A former Western Bulldogs player medically retired because of concussion remains aghast at a diagnosis that has him fighting for what he believes he deserves.

A former player who was forced into medical retirement after suffering eight brain bleeds and a fractured skull has been left shocked after an AFL-ordered clinical assessment ruled that he had sustained only a “mild” brain injury.

That clinical reclassification – delivered more than two years after Western Bulldogs draftee Aiden O’Driscoll was forced out of the game before playing a senior match – has left the 21-year-old traumatised, derailed his bid for a $600,000 severe injury payout and put his management on a collision course with the league.

O’Driscoll retired at just 18 in May 2024 before he had made his senior AFL debut, having suffered a major “head-on-head” concussion during a pre-season match simulation session and rushed to The Alfred hospital. He suffered a seizure and a fracture behind his ear, an MRI later revealing that the collision had left him with eight brain bleeds.

While he received a career-ending injury payment of more than $150,000 in 2024, his application for a $600,000 severe injury benefit (SIB) payment was rejected this year by the AFL and AFL Players’ Association, which found he did not meet the criteria.

That decision was based on a neuropsychological assessment report completed in Perth in March by a group of clinicians specialising in the diagnosis and management of neuropsychological and behavioural conditions, which concluded that O’Driscoll suffered only a “mild TBI [traumatic brain injury]” – leaving O’Driscoll and his agent Peter Jess in shock.

An AFL medical panel’s report in April 2024 revealed the extent of O’Driscoll’s injury, going as far as declaring “Aiden has more micro-haemorrhages than the panel has seen in other athletes”. He was medically retired by the AFL’s independent concussion panel.

He struggles with daily memory loss, nausea and anxiety, dizziness and has difficulty sleeping as a result of the brain trauma stemming from the training incident.

“It [mild assessment] does not add up.

“I have lost a couple of girlfriends…

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