The growing evidence of brain disease in the AFL
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As a nation, it's a sport we love, Aussie rules, but it comes with a risk of head knocks for those who play it. And new figures reveal a big increase in the number of players known to have the brain disease, CTE, after their deaths. Today, Four Corners reporter Jess Halloran on her investigation. And a warning, this episode mentions suicide. I'm Sam Hawley on Gadigal land in Sydney.
How did Nick Loudon’s 2017 concussion change his behaviour and lead to his family's decision to donate his brain?
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Jess, we're going to be looking at the science of CTE, this really awful brain disease linked to head knocks. But first, why don't you tell me about Mick Loudon?
Yeah, Mick Loudon was this incredible young footy player who had been playing since the age of six. He was really talented. He had won five Best in Ferris as a junior and he really was on his way. He ended up being selected for this elite junior AFL team called the Gippsland Power. And that takes a lot to be able to be selected for a team like that. And Nick was really doing very well in that team. And then in 2017, he suffered a hit late in a game that was just devastating.
He went up for a mark and it looks like he's had his legs taken out from underneath him. And then he's just come down, hit his head on the ground until he was out for a couple of seconds.
Okay, and you spoke to his parents, Kerry and Tony Loudon. Just tell me what they said about that moment.
So they saw this hit happen in the fourth quarter of a game in late August in 2017. And Nick, he really was knocked out. But what happened then was Nick Loudon was taken off, but then he was returned to play. He should never have been put back out again, but he was.
I think I said to you, I said, oh, Nick's back on. He played, but he didn't really have any impact on the game.
What symptoms did Nick and his parents report after repeated head knocks and why did mental health worsen?
When we went in after day one, you could see his eyes were rolling. I thought, he's not even here with us.
And after the game, we have footage of him, you know, unable to even remember the Gippsland Power Team song. He was sort of looking up at this board where the team song was written and he was trying to read the words and sing the words. You could see he was already suffering memory loss. And his parents said his personality really started to change after that concussion.
We noticed over the next 12 months he started to deteriorate and he was a healthy strapping young man and he'd keep getting flu-like symptoms.
Sensitivity to light.
Sensitivity to light. Mood changes, depression, which was absolutely horrendous for a young man that he had so much going for him to have depression. We couldn't understand it.
Yeah, well, so he's 17 years old. He's suffered this big concussion. He did keep playing AFL after that, didn't he, at quite an elite level, but he couldn't get to the AFL competition where he really wanted to go because he was still suffering some pretty terrible mental health symptoms.
Yeah. Kerry and Tony said he used to be a very highly motivated young man and he was struggling with his depression. And he was saying to his parents, I don't know what's wrong with me. What is wrong with my brain? He just could not understand why he couldn't move himself out of this incredibly low mood. He would go and see psychologists. He tried medication, but he would say to his mum, nothing is working.
He said, mum, they're not working. He said, why am I like this? What is wrong with me? What is wrong with my brain?
Yeah, and then tell me what happened in 2023.
Well, by this stage, Nick, while he didn't make the AFL, he was playing for some really top footy clubs.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–1:22
2
How did Nick Loudon’s 2017 concussion change his behaviour and lead to his family's decision to donate his brain?
1:22–3:13
3
What symptoms did Nick and his parents report after repeated head knocks and why did mental health worsen?
3:13–5:58
4
When and how was Nick Loudon’s death linked to CTE after brain donation?
5:58–11:23
5
What do the Australian Sports Brain Bank figures reveal about CTE prevalence in AFL and amateur players?
11:23–16:20