“We know how important sleep is for brain plasticity,” he said. “And there is evidence of sleep maybe being protective following concussions, but there’s not a lot [of research] looking at it in adolescence.”
Schools are closely watching how insurance policies covering amateur sport might be affected, after insurer Zurich last month removed concussion and traumatic injury from policies for new clients in all professional sports.
Haileybury’s rugby players have been wearing customised mouthguards since their season began in April.Credit: Justin McManus
Alison Smith from insurance broker AON, which has numerous independent schools on its books, said the group had not yet seen changes to the way concussion and trauma injuries were covered in policies.
Aidan Ryan, Haileybury’s head of rugby, said some data gathered this season had already resulted in faster diagnosis of concussion after a student reported symptoms days after a game.
Ryan said the student was sent for blood tests and a brain scan after the mouthguard data was reviewed. The data included the g-force generated in the student’s collision.
The scenario, Ryan said, proved how valuable the information collected on each player was.
Researcher Spencer Roberts (left) and rugby coach Aidan Ryan say the mouthguard trial has been valuable.Credit: Justin McManus
“What we were using before this was probably too blunt an instrument,” he said.
“For a community-level coach to say, ‘Oh, he’s got a concussion’ – it’s madness. If you had a car crash, you wouldn’t go to the local football coach and ask him if you had a brain injury.”
Ryan said parents had been keen for their children to participate in the study.
“Everyone is concerned and rightly so because it is a brain injury. We forget that concussion is a brain injury,” he said.
The data captured by the players’ mouthguards. Researchers, the school and medical staff can get results within hours of a game.Credit: Justin McManus
Ryan said that as a coach, using data to make earlier assessments on players’ wellbeing helped reinforce decisions, especially when students were reluctant to be sidelined for weeks.
“I worry most about the student who might have symptoms but doesn’t want to tell us,” he said.
“So this gives us the data to point to and say, ‘No, you need to sit this one out’.
“The game won’t fundamentally change. I just think how we look after children will, and how we embolden them to look after themselves will.”
Anita (second from left) and Danny Frawley with their daughters in 2019.Credit: Instagram
Ryan said that by taking time off, students were likely to extend their playing days.
Anita Frawley, the widow of AFL great Danny Frawley, welcomed the research project.
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Her husband suffered about 20 concussions during his playing career, which included 240 games with St Kilda. The former Richmond coach died in 2019 and was posthumously diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated head trauma.
“The more research that’s done, especially on young developing brains, the better,” Anita Frawley said. “Whatever comes out of it will be invaluable, and we will be able to pool our knowledge.”
The Frawleys’ daughters, Chelsea, Danielle and Keeley, went to Haileybury.
Chelsea and Danielle played Australian rules football for the Old Haileyburians while their father was coach and won a premiership in 2018, the year before their father’s death.
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