One of the most common forms of head injury sustained in the AFL is concussion, which will affect about 6-7 players per team, per season.
[1] The reason head injuries are a big concern is that they relate to an increased probability to developing forms of cognitive impairment such as; depression and dementia later in life.
Brown's injuries consisted of eight breaks around his eye socket, mandible, and cheek bone, which took hours of reconstructive surgery to repair.
[6] Chris Nowinski is a US concussions expert and states that he believes the AFL should do more to prevent players suffering head injuries which can lead to degenerate brain disease.
Nowinski is an advocate for education about concussion being mandatory in sports codes, and believes some AFL players may already suffer from chronic traumatic encephalopathy.