{"id":454739,"date":"2026-02-03T01:38:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T01:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/454739\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T01:38:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T01:38:12","slug":"footy-player-to-sue-afl-after-catastrophic-concussion-from-head-knock-left-him-with-hearing-and-memory-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/454739\/","title":{"rendered":"Footy player to sue AFL after ‘catastrophic’ concussion from head knock left him with hearing and memory loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former premiership-winning footballer is suing the Australian Football League after a sickening on-field head knock allegedly left him with permanent brain damage, hearing loss and suicidal thoughts.<\/p>\n

Trent Melville, a dual-premiership forward with the Nightcliff Tigers, has launched legal action against the AFL<\/a>, AFL Northern Territory and his former club following a collision during a 2022 match.<\/p>\n

Court documents filed in the Northern Territory Supreme Court<\/a> claim the head clash resulted in ‘catastrophic injuries’ that have devastated his health and ended his football career.<\/p>\n

The now 33-year-old alleges he suffered a head clash with another player while contesting the ball during a match on October 15, 2022, leaving him concussed.<\/p>\n

‘I went to pick up a loose footy and as I stood up I got cleaned up by someone, we smashed heads and I sort of blacked out for a second,’ he said at the time.<\/p>\n

‘About a week after my headaches were getting worse, and I drove to work and when I arrived I couldn’t remember driving which is when I thought ‘something’s not right here’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Trent <\/p>\n

Trent Melville played for the\u00a0Nightcliff Tigers in the NT AFL competition before a head clash ended his footy playing days<\/p>\n

\"Melville <\/p>\n

Melville is now taking legal action against the AFL because of the effects of concussion he is allegedly suffering now<\/p>\n

‘I didn’t think too much of it and got up about 10 seconds later and took myself off the ground and off to hospital, not thinking much of it.<\/p>\n

According to the statement of claim, the injury triggered a cascade of symptoms including ‘post-concussion syndrome’, chronic headaches, hearing loss, insomnia, pain, memory loss and suicidal ideation.<\/p>\n

‘At the beginning it was pretty much like chronic migraines, they were unbearable, fatigue, couldn’t get out of bed, lots of memory loss and dizziness,’ he said.<\/p>\n

‘I was really struggling and I had to take time off work which settled things a bit; from there it’s kind of been a rollercoaster, some days I feel okay and the next I’m feeling terrible.’<\/p>\n

Melville claims the incident was the breaking point after years of repeated head trauma.<\/p>\n

‘It’s impacted my whole life, for pretty much the past year I’ve struggled to work, had to go part time and that’s had a pretty big impact on me financially, I’ve probably lost half my yearly wages,’ Melville said.<\/p>\n

‘I’ve had to go to a lot of appointments which is stressful, had to change my diet, I can’t socialise, I can’t do much at all, I pretty much work half a day and then go home.<\/p>\n

‘I can’t go out and have dinner or a drink, and I can’t go to the footy at the moment because the lights are too bright and I can’t handle it.<\/p>\n

\"Former <\/p>\n

Former AFL star Gary Ablett Sr is another player that is taking action after suffering head knocks during his career<\/p>\n

\"Bulldogs <\/p>\n

Bulldogs premiership hero\u00a0Liam Picken was forced into premature retirement because of concussion<\/p>\n

‘Everyone thinks you’ll get a bit better every day and then suddenly be fine, but that’s not how head injuries work, some days can be good and others I’ll be down in the dumps.’<\/p>\n

The documents state he suffered up to seven concussions and ‘numerous sub-concussive blows to the head’ across his career, with ongoing memory problems dating back to at least 2017.<\/p>\n

He alleges the AFL, AFLNT and the Nightcliff Football Club failed to properly manage his concussion history and allowed him to keep playing despite ongoing symptoms.<\/p>\n

The claim alleges Melville ‘was susceptible to serious injury from a further significant blow to the head’ and should have been warned of the risks.<\/p>\n

He argues he would not have suffered the injuries if officials had ‘warned him that he risked catastrophic injury from a further head knock and prevented him from playing whilst experiencing memory loss’.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit claims the AFL owed him a duty of care to ensure his safety, including by warning players ‘of the dangers associated with repetitive head injuries’ and ensuring concussion information was properly shared with leagues and clubs.<\/p>\n

It further alleges AFLNT and Nightcliff failed to keep adequate injury records and did not prevent players with ongoing symptoms from taking the field.<\/p>\n

‘By reason of the breach of duty and\/or negligence by the first, second and third defendants, the plaintiff has suffered injury, loss and damage,’ the court documents state.<\/p>\n

Melville is seeking damages, interest and legal costs. None of the defendants have yet filed defences. The case is due to return to court for a directions hearing in Darwin on March 18.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit adds to mounting legal pressure on the AFL over head injuries, following separate actions brought by former stars including Gary Ablett Sr and Liam Picken, as well as a major class action involving dozens of ex-players.<\/p>\n

If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact Lifeline 131 114, or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former premiership-winning footballer is suing the Australian Football League after a sickening on-field head knock allegedly left…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,100,588,85],"class_list":["post-454739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-dailymail","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}