Leigh Adams retires from AFL because of concussion battle
Herald Sun
Update May 25, 2016
Leigh Adams has been forced into retirement. Picture: Michael Klein
LEIGH Adams ran unsteadily to the bench for the final time, feeling disorientated and nauseous.
The North Melbourne midfielder had suffered an innocuous hit to the back of his head in a VFL game in June, triggering his fifth bout of concussion in the past year.
For about the next minute or so, the fearless Kangaroo could hardly see, his vision was so blurry to his left and right side.
Adams, 27, said he hoped it was only some mud in his eye, and tried to wipe it away.
But really, it was his brain telling the gutsy ball-winner it had had enough. It was time to retire.
“It was like I had a set of blinkers on,” Adams told the Sunday Herald Sun.
“At first I was feeling OK I thought, but I had shocking vision, no peripheral vision.
“And I went to one more stoppage and that’s when I started feeling wobbly and wasn’t really sure where I was.
“Once I got off the ground I started feeling worse, really nauseas and confused, so it wasn’t great.”
Over the past month and half, Adams has been consulting neurological specialists to get the best medical advice, knowing deep within he had probably played his last game of football.
Adams in action at North Melbourne training. Picture: Robert Prezioso/Getty Images
After his fourth concussion in the preseason earlier this year, Adams suffered depression, and doctors warned him over the past month that further head knocks would put him at risk of suffering serious long-term health affects, such as short and long term memory loss.
Perhaps even early dementia.
The former rookie pick was encouraged to cease all contact sport immediately.
With the full support of the club, his partner Cassie and manager Nigel Carmody, from Elite Sports Properties, Adams told his teammates on Friday that he would finish up on 104 games.
“I’m really comfortable with the decision, because the doctors had seen a trend,” he said.
“I was getting concussed more easily and it was taking longer to recover, and when they said there could be long-term affects with the next one, it makes it pretty easy to walk away.
“I think it’s a real relief for my family now they don’t have to watch me play footy anymore with their hearts in their mouths.”
Adams’s fearless and courageous playing style made him a favourite at Arden St and he will continue to help coach North’s midfielders and small forwards for the rest of the season.
He was a pivotal link in the midfield and forward lines as the rest of his young teammates continued their development, finishing top five in the club’s best and fairest award in 2011 and 2012.
But he underwent 13 separate surgeries, including a knee reconstruction in 2008.
Adams said he was content he got the most out of his opportunities, despite the regular stints on the sidelines.
“I’m pretty proud of my career, I would have like to have played a final in nine and a half years of footy but I always said I wanted to get my name on the locker (after 100 games), and I did that,” he said.
“So I’m pretty rapt and definitely feeling excited about the next chapter.”
Coach Brad Scott said Adams was a highly respected player at North.
“It’s a real credit to Patch, that in my view, he redefined that forward/midfielder role in today’s footy. He really did play that role as well as any player in the competition,” Scott said.
“Patch was such a highly valued person and highly valued performer for us over such a long period.
“But we know there are things that are more important than the game. As a footy club, I’m proud of the way everyone has supported Patch through a really difficult time and certainly support his decision.”