Brayshaw opens up about Stevens concussion
Koby Stevens’ retirement from AFL football at the age of 27 this week was one of the lowest points of the season. And that was evident with the video of Stevens telling teammates on Monday afternoon.
But for young Demon Angus Brayshaw, it had both a meaningful and personal impact.
Not only has Brayshaw also suffered from several serious concussion throughout his short career, but he was part of an incident that contributed to Stevens' decision to walk away from the game.
It was early in the round 21 game last year that Brayshaw and Stevens – attacking the ball in the way we had come to know about both of them – clashed heads in a sickening collision.
Ironically, it was Brayshaw’s first AFL match in 19 weeks; his comeback game from another bout of concussion.
So when both players went down, the gasps and groans that echoed around the MCG were for Brayshaw more so than Stevens.
Brayshaw played out the game, but Stevens didn’t.
“I remember reaching out to him last year after it happened,” Brayshaw reflected on Wednesday.
“I never thought that it would get this far and it’s really hard to see. I feel really bad for him, but at the same time he’s doing best for his long term health and I think that has to be number one and obviously it is the most important thing.”
Brayshaw was asked the question about Stevens in the media conference about his new contract extension, barely 48 hours after the St Kilda midfielder called time on his career.
“It’s a bit of a reminder about how serious concussions are and it’s not lost on me whatsoever so I just wish him all the best,” Brayshaw said.
Stevens became the latest, in now what is a growing list of players, to retire due to concussion in the past few years.
Matt McGuire, Sean Dempster, Jack Fitzpatrick, Justin Clarke and one of Brayshaw’s former teammates in Heritier Lumumba are just some of the players to call time on their careers early because of head knocks.
And it’s a fear that Brayshaw knows all too well.
It was barely a year ago that the then 21-year-old took indefinite leave from the game after suffering his fourth concussion in 12 months, the latest of which came in the VFL.
“Yeah, I think [how scary concussion is] gets lost a little bit because sometimes you hear about it in the media … but this is real impact on a real person and he’s not playing any more.
“For me personally, having been part of the incident that has ultimately lead to this, yeah it’s really hard.”