Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Former Australian cricketer Will Pucovski has alleged he felt his school football coach wanted his team to experience “physical pain” before a training session in which the young multi-sport star was concussed for the first time.
Pucovski’s writ against Brighton Grammar School, lodged in the Supreme Court of Victoria, alleges the elite private school mishandled the incident which became the start of a series of career-ending concussions for the talented batter.
The filing alleges that then Brighton coach Alex Sylvan organised a vigorous training session after the school’s second XVIII were beaten by Scotch College in a game of APS football in May 2014.
It is alleged Sylvan said “words to the effect that training would be aggressive and physical due to the team’s unacceptably weak performance in the weekend’s game”.
“Before the training drill commenced, Mr Sylvan again instructed and directed the students to be aggressively physical with each other, and to ‘go in hard’ against each other, and the plaintiff [Pucovski] understood the intention of the coach was that players would show aggression towards each other and that they deserved physical pain,” Pucovski’s writ, lodged by Gordon Legal, said.
“Requiring the plaintiff to participate in the training drill at the training session involved fault that concerned or related to an intentional act, namely the training drill, that was instructed to be undertaken, and was undertaken, with the intent that it would cause injury or harm to those participating.
“In the training drill, players aggressively attacked the ball and teammates. During the training drill, the plaintiff was sling-tackled in a rotational and vigorous manner, which caused his head [at the left temple] to collide with the knee of another student.”
In a statement on Wednesday afternoon, Brighton Grammar headmaster Ross Featherston said: “I can confirm that Alex Sylvan is a highly regarded and experienced teacher at Brighton Grammar School. Beyond that, given the matter is the subject to legal proceedings, Brighton Grammar School will not be making any further comment.”
After the “keepings-off” drill finished, it is alleged Pucovski was approached to take part in the next drill, and was permitted to rejoin training, which included running, jumping and tackling.
Pucovski experienced “head pain and other symptoms” in the ensuing days, was told he had concussion by a doctor at the Nepean Family Medical Centre, and was ordered to rest.
However, days later he was approached by Sylvan to be a runner for Brighton’s next football match, and did so.
Pucovski complained of more headaches after the game, and was taken to Cabrini Hospital in Malvern, where he was advised to “cease school and physical activity”.
For the next six weeks, the writ claims he frequently was forced to stay at home “often in a darkened room”, continued to have headaches and “developed for the first time persistent, looping and intrusive thoughts which would subsequently be diagnosed as a form of mental health disorder”.
Pucovski then visited a neurologist, Professor Gavin Davis, who wrote to the school and to Cabrini Hospital stating that the 16-year-old had “ongoing significant symptom load”.
The writ alleges that as a result of the head collision, Pucovski had “sustained a traumatic brain injury which he has never recovered”.
Gordon Legal alleges malpractice by Sylvan on a number of fronts, including failure to comply with “generally accepted guidelines including AFL protocols or guidelines for the management of concussion”.
Pucovski, 28, is seeking damages for a loss of capacity to earn an income as a professional cricketer between 2016 and 2025 and, “as a consequence of being medically retired from ever playing professional cricket again”, an inability to maximise the income he might have enjoyed in the media and coaching after a long playing career.
He played one Test for Australia, against India in January 2021, his career ending after a series of blows to the head.
He made a final comeback for Victoria in the 2023-2024 campaign, caressing a century in a Sheffield Shield game at the SCG. But he endured another heavy knock to the helmet in a Shield game against Tasmania in Hobart later that season, which took months to recover from. He did not play again.
He has recently worked as head coach of the Melbourne Cricket Club, and was a commentator for Seven in Australia’s recent two-Test series against Bangladesh.
Prominent class action lawyer and former Western Bulldogs club president Peter Gordon is representing Pucovski and has been advising him on his legal standing for several years. Gordon also confirmed the lodgement of the statement of claim. A court date has not been set.
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Jon Pierik is a sports journalist at The Age. He covers AFL and has won awards for his cricket and basketball writing.Connect via X or email.
