Concussion has forced another AFL player out of the game, with North Melbourne's Leigh Adams retiring on expert advice after suffering one too many head knocks.
The 27-year-old's last attempt at a football comeback was in mid-June, but a high blow at VFL level ultimately signaled Adams' end game.
Adams was set to play his first AFL final last September but suffered a concussion in round 23 that, in a football sense, he has never entirely bounced back from.
In a club statement on Saturday, North Melbourne coach Brad Scott said the club supported the difficult decision and praised the contribution he had made to the club during his career.
"It's a real credit to 'Patch', that in my view, he redefined that forward/midfielder role in today's footy. He really did play that role as well as any player in the competition," Scott said.
"Patch was such a highly valued person and highly valued performer for us over such a long period.
"But we know there are things that are more important than the game. As a footy club, I'm proud of the way everyone has supported Patch through a really difficult time and certainly support his decision."
The 104-gamer, who still has a year remaining on contract, now joins a troubling list of AFL players – Matt Maguire, Brent Reilly and Jonathan Brown the most recent, but Daniel Bell, Chad Rintoul and Dean Kemp having gone before Adams – who have been told to stop playing, or risk more severe damage.
Set to discuss his condition on Channel Seven's Saturday Night Footy pre-match show ahead of North Melbourne playing Carlton, Adams has previously alluded to the sense of depression he suffered during his attempts at comeback.
Bell's case, outlined by the former Melbourne player to Fairfax Media in 2011, was a game changer for Australia's Indigenous football code.
Bell was the first AFL player to detail publicly how he'd received advice from a neuropsychologist that he'd suffered brain damage during his elite football career. Bell estimated he was diagnosed with concussion between eight and 10 times during his 66- game, nine-year AFL career at the Demons. Through AFL rules he was entitled to injury compensation of around $100,000 though Bell agonised over pursing a claim given his club – not the league – was responsible for making it.
Past premiership players Kemp and Rintoul, who suffered badly with concussion and its after-effects, later detailed how they received compensation for the way in which their careers ended.
Around the same time that Bell revealed his delicate personal position the AFL introduced stricter concussion protocols but the thorny topic remains a highly sensitive issue in the game. Not least because of the example in America where the NFL was sued by more than 4500 former players and eventually came to a US$765 million settlement over concussion related brain injuries through America's Federal Court.
Adams had played 60 senior games in the last three seasons before concussion cut his career short.
After concerns worsened about Adams and his response to head knocks this pre-season, he played consecutive VFL matches and when he returned to competition in May, watched by his wife and parents, the experience was encouraging.
Adams collected 28 possessions, was among the best afield and said after the match for North Melbourne's VFL affiliate side that he'd been pleasantly surprised that some heavy contact had not seemed to affect him.
But when he sustained a blow weeks later he was sent for brain and neurological scans.
A small forward/midfielder, Adams was an outstanding junior, captaining Victorian Metro in the 2006 national under 18 championships and winning the team's most valuable player award that year. He was selected by North Melbourne with pick three of the 2006 AFL rookie draft and made his senior debut the next year.
