West Coast coach Adam Simpson says the club will put their arms around Daniel Venables after the premiership forward was ruled out of 2020 with ongoing concussion symptoms.
Venables hasn’t played since suffering a heavy concussion in Round 9 last year when he was hit in the head by an opponent’s hip before striking his head on the Optus Stadium turf as he fell.
The Eagles were hopeful Venables would be able to return to playing duties this year. But the 21-year-old is still suffering the after-effects of the concussion, and the Eagles have made the decision to rule a line through him for 2020 in the hope he can make a full recovery.
“We’ve worked very hard with Dan to try and get him best prep and see where he’s at physically,” Simpson said.
“It just hasn’t pulled up well enough and he’s going to take the rest of the year off. It’s really disappointing for him and obviously his family, but it’s the right thing to do.
“He’s going OK… but it gets to a certain point where he can’t go to that next level and I think the best thing for him and his health would be to pull it back.”
Simpson is hopeful Venables can return next year – but there are no guarantees.
“It was Round 9 last year when we had the incident, so we’ve given it every opportunity and the progression is just taking more time than we thought,” Simpson said.
“We’ll pull back a bit, do the right thing and see how he goes in the next six months.
“He’s in good spirits. He’s been preparing for this for a little bit. We’ll work through as best we can, and put our arms around him as much as we can.”
(Photo by Daniel Carson/AFL Media/Getty Images)
The news came on the same day that researchers revealed that Graham ‘Polly’ Farmer had been posthumously diagnosed with Stage III chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) following tests on the former champion ruckman’s brain.
Farmer is the first AFL player to be diagnosed with the disease believed to be caused by repeated head knocks and concussions, which is only able to be diagnosed after death.
Meanwhile, Tim Kelly tallied 27 disposals and Josh Kennedy booted 6.0 in West Coast’s eight-point pre-season loss to Essendon in Perth on Thursday.
The Eagles struggled in the swirly wind and wet conditions, but Kelly’s strong second half, Nic Naitanui’s ruck dominance, and Kennedy’s supreme effort up forward were big positives to come out of the match.
“We’ll probably walk away with a glass half full with no injuries and some things to work on,” Simpson said.
Gary
Roar Rookie
Tough decision ahead. The science is still not at a point to give reliable diagnosis of current brain damage for head knocks... but there are probably significant red flags to help make a decision on when to call it quits. Feel for the family.
6x6 perkele
Roar Rookie
Hope this doesn't end his career, am not surprised this is the outcome though from what was one of the most brutal footy knockouts I've seen
WCE
Roar Rookie
My heart goes out to this kid and his family, they must be so devistated. Looked like having a very promising future, but now unfortunately his health must come first. As Seymore says in his comment Dan is one of the lucky kids to have a GF medal around his neck something a lot of players only dream about having. Good luck Dan
Seymorebutts
Guest
Love Venebles, he looked like he was going to be a great player for the club. But if he is still having problems so long after getting knocked out I think its time for him to consider giving the game up. Playing Footy makes up a tiny part of your overall life you dont want to compromise being a good father, successful businessman, or your work relationships etc if thats what would happen if you continued playing. Once a boxer gets knocked out the first time, it takes less and less each subsequent time to knock him out again... those effects are cumulative. Anyone who has a traumatic head injury playing sport should seriously consider giving the game away. As for Venables, The guy already achieved what most players never will, he played at AFL level and has a premiership medallion, no one will ever be able to take that away from him.