OUT COLD 6 TIMES BUT I’LL PLAY ON
TYLER’S GUTSY CALL
TYLER Wemyss feared his football career was over.
At just 24, the Modewarre hard nut was urged to consider his future after the discovery of “cloudy spots” and a potential blood clot on the brain.
Wemyss has suffered a staggering six concussions in less than two years and “around 8-10” in his career.
But doctors have given the hardworking plumber the all-clear to play as early as next season after scans cleared him of any head damage.
“I’m bloody stoked,” Wemyss said yesterday.
“It’s a bit of a heavy load off the shoulders with all the worry over the last few weeks. It’s good to know that I can slowly get back into it now.”
Wemyss returned to training at Community Bank Oval on Thursday night, much to the joy of his Warriors teammates.
But it was his concerned family who was the most relieved.
“I actually called my girlfriend at the start and then I called my cousin,” Wemyss said of spreading the news.
“I waited until I got home to tell Mum because she’s no good with that type of thing. She was just more happy for me more than anything because she’s had aneurisms cut out, so there’s family history. She was stoked that I didn’t have to go through what she did. It was good news.”
Wemyss won’t play in 2017, following doctor’s orders to rest his weary head.
“I definitely can’t play this year,” he said.
“There’s no real rule on concussion and they don’t know how bad it will be if I get a concussion now or in a year’s time, but a year off will do my head the world of good, so that’s what we’re going with at this stage.
“There’s no time frame but he (doctor) said ‘take it easy’ and if I do want to come back to footy next year, we’ll have another meeting and see how I’m tracking and go from there.”
The worse head knock came in Round 5 last season when he was aggressively slung to astro turf in a bitter clash against Torquay. Wemyss busted his AC joint and was rendered unconscious in the tackle from Tiger Lachlan Baker, who copped a six-match ban at the tribunal but the penalty was later reduced on appeal.
Wemyss was then involved in a car accident in October of last year, suffering severe concussion, before sustaining yet another blow to the head in February.
“I was at training during the year and I clashed heads with Troy Anderson,” Wemyss said.
“I bent down to pick up the ball and I came up and we hit heads, not hard at all, and I was no good. I was in bed with concussion for two days, so it doesn’t take much these days.
“A few of them were heavy knocks and concussion, but with two (sling tackle and car accident) of them I was out cold.”
Wemyss admitted he was fearful doctors would order him to hang up the boots, with the risk of further brain damage proving too much to risk.
“Absolutely, especially with all the concussions over the years and the fear of a blood clot. That wasn’t too good,” he said.
“They thought it was a blood clot but it ended up being a bunch of nerve cells that had grouped together when I got knocked out a few times.
“In the end, it’s a good circumstance with only 12 months out of the game.”
Wemyss knows he is potentially just one head knock away from a career end and, more importantly, life-threatening injury.
But he won’t change his courageous aptitude to the contest, admitting he instinctively hunts the football with reckless abandon.
He has tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to change his courageous attitude to the contest. “It’s just the way I play,” Wemyss said. “You get a role for the team and my role is to get in and get the ball out. That’s what I do.
“I always just put my head down over the footy. I always go 100 mile and hour no matter what I do.
“I’ve tried to change my ways but I just can’t. I don’t know if anyone tried that they could do it.”