Former Australia cricketer Will Pucovski has reached a confidential financial settlement with Cricket Australia and Cricket Victoria over the series of concussions that ultimately ended his playing career.
According to a report by Code Sports, the 28-year-old has secured the agreement over brain trauma suffered during his career and will not pursue a claim against Cricket Australia or Cricket Victoria. The financial terms of the settlement have not been disclosed.
Pucovski suffered 13 concussions across his career, with many occurring while playing cricket through blows from short-pitched deliveries, incidents in training and while fielding. He has experienced ongoing symptoms including fatigue, vision problems, nausea, headaches, mental health issues and difficulty completing tasks on the left side of his body.
Settlement comes amid growing concussion scrutiny
The agreement represents a significant development in the management of concussion-related cases in professional sport, where large-scale financial settlements have been more prominent in the United States.
The NFL has paid more than US$1.66 billion to former players through concussion settlements, while the AFL is preparing for a separate A$1 billion (approx. US$720 million) class action involving more than 100 former players.
Pucovski had engaged lawyer Peter Gordon in 2024 to obtain his legal records from Cricket Australia. Cricket Australia, Cricket Victoria and Gordon declined to comment on the settlement when contacted by Code Sports.
Concerns over Pucovski’s head injuries had previously prompted an independent medical review. In March 2022, he was cleared to continue playing after the assessment considered the nature of some of his earlier episodes.
Cricket Victoria said in a statement on March 19, 2022: “The panel’s overwhelming conclusion was that some of the previous injuries sustained had involved low trauma force and therefore were most likely not true concussion, but a form of either post-traumatic migraine or stress-related response.”
A subsequent panel reached a different conclusion about his playing future in August 2024, recommending retirement after his final head injury, sustained when he was struck by a bouncer during a Sheffield Shield match against Tasmania in Hobart earlier that year.
Separate Brighton Grammar case follows 2014 incident
The settlement with Cricket Australia and Cricket Victoria is separate from legal proceedings involving Pucovski’s former school.
The Herald Sun reported last week that Pucovski’s lawyers had launched legal action in the Victorian Supreme Court against Brighton Grammar over the treatment he received following a head injury during an Australian Rules football training session in 2014.
Pucovski was 16 when he was knocked unconscious after his head made contact with a teammate’s knee. He returned to training shortly afterwards, was admitted to hospital days later and subsequently missed months of school.
Speaking at a Taverners function at Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club, Pucovski said: “I literally got walked to the sidelines. And then my only memory was the coach coming up to me and being like ‘Do you want to keep training?’”
He added: “It is probably the biggest day of my life in a weird way because I have never felt the same since that day.”
He also told the gathering: “I went from someone who would do anything and everything to basically sitting on the couch doing nothing for an extended period.”
Pucovski remains involved in Australian cricket
Pucovski was regarded as one of Australia’s leading young batting prospects and made his Test debut against India at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January 2021, scoring a half-century in what proved to be his only Test appearance.
At domestic level, he finished with a Sheffield Shield batting average of 45.19 across 36 matches and scored seven centuries, including consecutive double-centuries for Victoria during the 2020-21 season.
His playing career ended after the independent panel’s 2024 recommendation, but Pucovski has remained involved in the sport. He is now Head Coach of Melbourne Cricket Club in Victorian Premier Cricket and has also worked as a commentator for Channel 7 during the Big Bash League.
The confidential agreement with Cricket Australia and Cricket Victoria resolves that part of Pucovski’s concussion-related case, while the separate legal proceedings involving Brighton Grammar remain focused on the 2014 incident.
