Many of them were young people \u2014 former players aged in their 20s, 30, 40s.<\/p>\n
Some played at the top level of the AFL, while some were semi-professional and some played at an amateur level.<\/p>\n
CTE poses a massive dilemma for the AFL: Contact is an essential part of the game, but there is growing evidence it can also be a grave threat to the health and welfare of its players.<\/p>\n
The youngest Australian footballer to be diagnosed with CTE is 23-year-old Nick Lowden<\/a>, who died by suicide in 2023.<\/p>\n If you or anyone you know needs help:Lifeline<\/a> on 13 11 14Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander crisis support line 13YARN<\/a>\u00a0on 13 92 76Beyond Blue<\/a> on 1300 224 636Headspace<\/a> on 1800 650 890ReachOut<\/a> at au.reachout.com<\/a>MensLine Australia<\/a> on 1300 789 978SANE<\/a>\u00a0on 1800 187 263<\/p>\n His parents Kerry and Tony are appealing for more education and awareness of the issue.<\/p>\n Nick’s dad Tony Lowden, who has been involved in country footy clubs all his life, says his experience is that most people in the community are unaware about CTE.<\/p>\n “If I go to a football match, and they ask about Nick, I tell them [Nick] had CTE and they look at you and it’s an unknown thing [to them].<\/p>\n “The awareness, the education, that’s what we want to see happen.”<\/p>\n Tony and Kerry Lowden’s son Nick took his own life in 2023.\u00a0 (Four Corners: Ryan Sheridan)<\/p>\n ‘A disease of exposure’<\/p>\n Awareness is one thing, but finding ways to better protect players’ brain health is key to the sport thriving in the future.<\/p>\n The question now is what can be done to help prevent CTE?<\/p>\n CTE is linked to the repetitive hits sustained playing contact sport. The cumulative, long-term impacts gradually trigger the build-up of abnormal protein in the brain, leading to brain cell death and tissue degeneration.<\/p>\n Neuropathologist Michael Buckland, the founding and executive director of the Australian Sports Brain Bank, says CTE is not a disease of concussion.<\/p>\n Michael Buckland says the diagnosis of CTE in 33 footballers shows the need for urgent action. (Four Corners: Ryan Sheridan)<\/p>\n “It’s a disease of exposure, and the way we’re going to prevent it is by reducing exposure, just like skin cancer and the summer sun, you reduce your risk by reducing exposure,” he says.<\/p>\n Buckland believes the AFL should have a CTE prevention protocol at all levels of the game.<\/p>\n Such a protocol could reduce how many times, and how hard, players are hit through measures such as reducing the number and duration of games and increasing the age at which young athletes start tackling.<\/p>\n AFL executive Laura Kane. (Four Corners: Ryan Sheridan)<\/p>\n AFL executive Laura Kane says the health and safety of players is the league’s highest priority and it has introduced numerous rule changes to protect the heads of players.<\/p>\n Last week the league announced it would be introducing limits to contact in training, but it has not stipulated the details.<\/p>\n Protecting young brains<\/p>\n But what about community footy and school-aged football? Should there be contact training limits for kids?<\/p>\n Buckland says the diagnosis of CTE in 33 Aussie Rules players shows the need for urgent action.<\/p>\n Some experts argue players should not be allowed to tackle until they are 14 or older. (Four Corners: Ryan Sheridan)<\/p>\n All contact sports need to better look after children playing the game, he says.<\/p>\n Do you know more?Contact Jessica Halloran at Halloran.Jessica@abc.net.au<\/a>If you require more secure communication, please choose an option on the confidential tips page.<\/a><\/p>\n In Australian Rules football, kids can start tackling around the age of nine.<\/p>\n Some experts believe kids should not be allowed to tackle until the age of 14.<\/p>\n But Ann McKee, a world leading expert in CTE who has examined thousands of brains and found CTE in nearly 500 NFL players, believes it should go even further.<\/p>\n “I know people say 14, but there’s nothing magical about 14,” says McKee, who is based at the Boston University CTE research centre. “I’d like it to be raised to 18 or even higher when a person is able to give their own consent for playing the sport and enduring the risks.<\/p>\n “I would like a player to be fully informed about the potential risks before they engage in it.”<\/p>\n Ann McKee has found CTE in nearly 500 NFL players. (Four Corners)<\/p>\n In late 2023, McKee’s most extensive study of neurodegenerative disease in young contact sports athletes revealed more than 60 cases of CTE in athletes under 30.<\/p>\n One of the youngest athletes in that cohort was 18-year-old US athlete Wyatt Bramwell, who had CTE caused by playing tackle football.<\/p>\n Before he died by suicide in 2019, Bramwell recorded a video for his family and friends, in which he spoke of struggling with depression and paranoia.<\/p>\n His parents gave the ABC permission to publish the video.<\/p>\n “My life for the past four years has been a living hell inside of my head,” he said.<\/p>\n In the video, he urged his loved ones to donate his brain for research.<\/p>\n Loading…<\/p>\n \u00a0“Wyatt was only playing high school level football,” McKee says. “He loved football, but he was experiencing all sorts of symptoms. He had terrible thoughts. He was depressed \u2026 but he knew something was going on. Something was in his brain that he couldn’t control \u2026 what I took away from Wyatt’s video of himself [is]I think it expressed his agony \u2026 even though he was only 18, there were multiple lesions of CTE.”<\/p>\n Bramwell’s mum Christie spoke to the ABC to raise awareness of CTE.<\/p>\n She says her son “loved football so much”, but she wants sporting bodies to better protect their players.<\/p>\n “I want his legacy to make it safer for future players,” Christie says.<\/p>\n “I want people to know about the risk. We never thought it would happen to us.<\/p>\n “I’m a nurse. We were vigilant in monitoring his hits. We had a communication system where I would get him to give me a thumbs up or down after a hit \u2026 but you can’t see CTE, you can’t see the damage. I want the conversation around safety to keep being had and I believe they should delay tackle football for as long as they can.”<\/p>\n Rapid advances offer hope<\/p>\n Currently, CTE can only be diagnosed after death.<\/p>\n But McKee says that could be about to change, as rapid advances in research bring closer what many consider the holy grail \u2014 the prospect of a test for CTE in living people.<\/p>\n “At the rate that we’re making discovery, I expect to be able to diagnose CTE during life within the next three years,” McKee says.<\/p>\n She says a diagnosis in life would give clarity to players suffering from the disease and allow them to better understand their treatment options.<\/p>\n Former Carlton star Ken Hunter leads FIFTHQTR Foundation, a group dedicated to the welfare of former players. (Four Corners)<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the FIFTHQTR’s Ken Hunter and Peter Venables continue to address local footy clubs in their spare time to raise awareness of player welfare issues including head trauma.<\/p>\n Venables’s son Daniel played and won a premiership with the West Coast Eagles but sustained a devastating brain injury which forced him into retirement at just 22.<\/p>\n Since then, Peter has been determined to educate and support the community from the ground up.<\/p>\n “There’s some magnificent, good people there [at the AFL] \u2026 but it’s about \u2026 pushing through and seeing things you don’t want to see.”<\/p>\n As the footy community waits for a breakthrough and the likes of Hunter and Venables do the heavy lifting at the grassroots, experts believe the league should be acting now to protect current and future players.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782765076_843_1d7b95b1baa7f8e4374ed37c3bd34a70.jpeg\")
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