Will Pucovski sues Brighton Grammar over 2014 concussion sustained in school football drill

Former Test cricketer Will Pucovski has launched legal action against his former school, Brighton Grammar, in the Supreme Court of Victoria over the handling of a concussion he suffered during an Australian rules football training session in May 2014. The writ alleges the school mismanaged the head knock that Pucovski says began a cascade of injuries that ended his cricket career.

Once considered a generational cricketing talent, Pucovski announced his medical retirement from the sport in April last year aged 27 after a career interrupted by head injuries; he played one Test for Australia against India at the SCG in 2021. The court filing lays the school incident at the centre of a sequence of head traumas that his lawyers say affected his subsequent health and playing prospects.

Pucovski’s writ states that during a full-contact training drill in May 2014 he was hit in the left temple by a teammate’s knee during a sling tackle and was knocked unconscious. The legal documents allege the session had been run on instructions from a coach who directed students to “go in hard” and that students had been warned the drill would be especially physical after they lost to fellow APS school Scotch College “by a very substantial margin” the previous weekend.

According to the filing, after regaining consciousness Pucovski was assisted off the oval for the remainder of that drill but later returned to the field when the coach allegedly asked if he could take part in the next exercise. The writ claims there was no appropriate medical assessment or treatment arranged at that time.

The writ lodged in the Supreme Court of Victoria says Pucovski experienced at least 13 known concussion injuries from balls to the head throughout his cricket career, and that those later concussions exacerbated symptoms from the primary head injury he sustained at Brighton Grammar when he was 16. His lawyers allege the coach did not have appropriate accreditation or training to coach junior amateur AFL players and that the school was vicariously liable for failing to inform Pucovski’s parents of the collision.

The documents set out a medical timeline in which Pucovski experienced headaches in the days after the collision, saw a GP who diagnosed concussion three days later, and acted as the runner for a Brighton Grammar seconds match that weekend after which his headaches worsened and he developed nausea. A doctor later urged him to stop all physical activity and stay home from school for six weeks; lawyers say the 2014 injury left him with a traumatic brain injury, vision problems, persistent migraines and mental health issues including OCD and anxiety, and that following his retirement the 28-year-old described long-term concussion-related symptoms including fatigue, headaches and motion sickness.

Brighton Grammar headmaster Ross Featherston told AAP the coach is "a highly regarded and experienced teacher" at the school and added: "Beyond that, given the matter is the subject to legal proceedings, Brighton Grammar School will not be making any further comment." The writ also alleges the school was "grossly" in breach of its duty of care and showed "a high-handed, contumelious and callous disregard" for Pucovski's safety.

The claims are yet to be tested in court, and neither Brighton Grammar nor the coach have had an opportunity to file their defence.