Justin Clarke Announces Retirement

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The snippets from the age are pretty confronting

Justin Clarke left home to drive to university. He got halfway and stopped. He had driven the road hundreds of times but suddenly he had no idea which way to go.

He knew that he knew the way but his mind was blank. He had a choice of two roads but he sat there with the car idling and traffic banking behind him looking at the way ahead not knowing where the roads led or which way to go. So he chose one, the wrong one, and was late for university.
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His visual memory was badly damaged. He had always quickly absorbed what he read when he studied but now has had to read things five times for it to sink in. He fretted that the damage would be permanent.

After the injury he was assessed by a neuro-psychologist and his memory readings were out of kilter. His cognitive function was in the top fifth percentile of the population - thus he could still drive – but his memory was in the bottom 25th percentile – so he could not remember where he was going. The testing also detected the problem with his visual memory.
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"My speech was slurred and I would trail off in conversation and forget what I was going to say half way through saying something. Shocking headaches and dizziness, I couldn't get out of bed," he said.

A week ago he went with his manager Matt Bain to the AFL Players Association in Melbourne. Clarke could not climb the short flight of stairs to the door.

"He had to stop halfway," Bain said. "He was dizzy and faint, he was complaining of headaches and this is 10 weeks after the injury," Bain said.
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His dad broke his back in a car accident years ago – he made a full recovery – but the initial phone call home about the injury informed the Clarke's their son had suffered possible spinal damage.

"That upset mum quite a bit because it brought back a lot of stuff about dad's accident. Dad really struggled with hearing me on the phone stutter along and lose track of everything. It was not particularly pleasant for them," he said.
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Reading that he wants to perfect wings on supersonic jets to lesson the sonic boom impact, probably points to the fact that a football career is almost a waste of time for this bloke. Just a shame he didn't get to make the call himself.
 
Definitely the right call for young Clarkey. Wish him all the best in whatever career he pursues. Sad as it is, does open the door however for someone like Paine or Close in the backline.
 

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From his first game, I loved Clarke and just assumed that we would see him anchoring our back line for many years to come.

I was looking forward to watching his career, ticking off the milestones, 100 games, 200 games. Finals maybe even premierships. He would be out best kept secret. The brainy, no-nonsense, no frills kid from the bush. Doing his job and never getting the respect he deserved outside of Brisbane.

This year would be the year Sauce would pass the mantle on to Jase, and we would see him blossom into a true leader at the club.

I never thought that the last time we saw him, would be... the last time we saw him.

But it was, it is, and as much as he will be missed, I for one am glad he made this call. This year is going to be terrifying, the first game showed us just how much work our back line needs. But more terrifying, particularly given the information and research now coming to light about, concussions, and CTE and long term brain injury, would be the thought that this young man, kept playing (for us) and did himself a long term injury.

Good luck Justin, thanks. Well done.
 
Definitely the right call, horrible that he is still very much affected so long after the incident. Thanks for your service to the club and all the best for your future!
 
Terrible for the Club but the right thing for Justin. We will cope and I hope he will recover. The symptoms he has experienced sound terrifying and I sincerely hope that he can pull it together and continue on a bright non-football career.
 
Maybe we'll one day see all footballers wearing helmets. Although we don't see this very often, there are concussions every week and the effects may be there and unreported years after retirement. It's a pretty high risk sport in regard to this.
Very sad for a player to sustain any career-ending injury, but the brain is such a delicate organ and one that is so much more important than any other. Aside from the obvious effects, the psychological strain and worry would be awful as well.
I hope his noggin recovers and he can lead a full life.
 
Cockliff38 said:
Showing my legal noobness here but what happens with worker's compo etc. Is that something the AFLPA and the AFL will lock horns over or is it a club thing?
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As a player under 25 with a career-ending injury (sustained in play/preactice) he can apply for 200% of his final year base pay.
There's no Work Cover etc for professional athletes.
 

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Cockliff38 said:
Showing my legal noobness here but what happens with worker's compo etc. Is that something the AFLPA and the AFL will lock horns over or is it a club thing?
Click to expand...
I assume work cover is through the AFL, rather than individual clubs, but either way it is an insurance situation where neither the AFL or clubs would be coughing up.
It would be interesting to know whether he would only be covered for the term of contract. A lot would depend on his recovery, I suspect. If he is still not well going into next year (beyond his contract) I suspect he would still have grounds for some sort of claim.
 
Absolutely devastating. Even until today I was holding out false hope that he'd start getting better and lead our defence for the next decade; not to be.

Justin brought us joy for his entire career, he's the kind of player anyone wants at their club. Players like him are the reason we keep turning up at the games every week, players like him make a club.

Sad to see him go, it's over way too quick, but I'm glad he's made the right decision for himself.

He's such a smart guy, he's going places. I'll be looking out for his name in the years to come, he'll do something special.

Thanks for everything Clarkey. Concussions are cruel but the fact that you are smart enough to put your long term health over football is part of the reason you were so well liked, level headed, smart, a good decision maker, just like how you played your footy.

Devastating day for the club.
 
Bugger! Not unexpected, but I'd hoped he'd wait the year out before making a decision. From the snippets of the story it looks like this will take a while to recover from though.

We've had a personal interest in Justin's career, and along with Crusha have sponsored him the last few years. We chose Justin because he was a country boy from SA, a terrific and genuine bloke to talk to, and I had designs on corrupting him to take on my own particular profession (but to no avail - he stuck with his electronics engineering).

Best of luck for the future Justin - I know you'll overcome this setback.
 
Terrible news but not unexpected at this point. Such a shame, really looked like he was going to have a great AFL career but gotta do what's best for him. At least memory function will return to normal so his study and future career will not be impeded significantly. That Gleeson article was eye-opening, must have been terrifying time for the guy.
 
Right decision for him , life before footy Every time ! Great bloke and a quality player , leaves us with a huge hole but we will cope , his health is the important thing , the club is behind him 100% and that is great , he will need that for a long time I guess
 
Terribly sad that this has happened to Justin. Everything crossed for a full recovery long term so that he can fulfil his potential outside footy. Will miss him on the field though.
 

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Justin Clarke Announces Retirement

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