Former Hawthorn midfielder Brad Sewell admits his footy suffered as a result of the serious concussion he received more than a decade ago.
In the final round of the 2009 season, Sewell suffered a fractured jaw when he was knocked out by Essendon great Matthew Lloyd in what has since become an infamous incident.
Two-time premiership Hawk Sewell suggests his output was below its best after the fact.
“It was the last game of the year so I didn’t miss any games per se but I sort of felt like I didn’t get back to playing good footy until 12 months later,” Sewell said on SEN’s KB & The Doc.
“Obviously I played that following year in 2010 but I didn’t feel like the same footballer for one reason or another for quite some time thereafter.”
Luckily, Sewell says he escaped any ongoing issues from the knock which is a positive story given today’s increasing environment of serious concussions.
“No, I don’t think so. I was pretty fortunate,” he added.
“That was obviously a serious concussion but otherwise I escaped relatively unscathed. I think that was the only concussion I had.
“I didn’t have any lingering effects and certainly don’t to this day. I guess that’s the risk or the challenge for today’s players and the medicos because you just don’t really know do you?
“It’s one of those things, concussion and the after-effects, that we just don’t know enough about.”
Sewell, however, has always maintained that he harbours no ill-will toward Lloyd who he feels didn’t do too much wrong.
The Essendon-Hawthorn rivalry continues at Marvel Stadium on Friday night with the Bombers sitting 10th on the ladder and the Hawks 11th.
