Retired Western Bulldogs premiership player Liam Picken has launched civil action against the AFL, his former football club and club doctors.

Picken alleges he was never sent for specialist help and was allowed to play repeatedly after sharing concern about his concussion symptoms.

Concussion researcher and director of Concussion Legacy Foundation Australia, Dr Alan Pearce, says current head injury assessments used are “a little bit subjective”.

“Someone can fail, so to speak, the head injury assessment and the doctor can still stay ‘I think they’re OK’, or vice versa,” he told Ross and Russel.

Blood tests can now detect if a brain injury is present, but Dr Pearce says “we need to improve the precision” of these tests so they can “give better confidence to the doctor” assessing head injury.

Press PLAY below to hear what Dr Pearce thinks should change

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