Concussion Culture Shifts: From Badge of Honour to Brain Health Priority The tragic death of Nathan Fitzgerald serves as a stark reminder of the importance of conversations around head knocks and brain health in football.
As someone who has played in the AFLW system for 11 seasons, I've seen firsthand how the landscape has changed since my early days on the field. For years, playing through pain was seen as a badge of honour.
If you copped a knock to the head, your first instinct wasn't to get checked – it was to grit your teeth and play on. The culture was different, with a degree of naivety surrounding concussion.