Essendon's Nik Cox says he'll get back to the AFL after concussion panel ordered he sit out 2025
Cox, 22, hasn't played a game in 2025 as he continued to deal with the effects of concussion and fronted the AFL panel which has this year ordered the medical retirement of West Coast premiership veteran Jeremy McGovern.
But panel has provided 'a clear return-to-play pathway' for Cox, after stepping away from football completely for the remainder of the year.
Despite being forced to the sidelines, Cox said he would be back.
'After meeting with an independent AFL medical panel regarding my concussion history, I'm pleased that I've been cleared to continue my playing career,' he said
'While I'm disappointed that I won't return to the field for the remainder of the 2025 season, this time away from the game will be used to focus fully on my health, recovery, and building the strongest possible foundation heading into pre-season.
'I'm incredibly grateful to my club, teammates, medical staff, and everyone who has supported me through what's been a challenging and uncertain period. I've learned a lot about myself over the past few months, and I'm more motivated than ever to get back to doing what I love.
'My focus now is on continuing to work closely with specialists and the club to make sure I'm in the best place physically and mentally to return to football.'
Essendon football boss, Daniel McPherson, said the Bombers were 'fully committed to helping him recover both physically and mentally'.
'After meeting with the panel in June, the recommendation for Nik to step away from footy for the remainder of this year was one that we accepted with the view to giving him the best chance of getting back to his best when he returns, both on and off-field,' he said.
'Nik will have our full support as we navigate with him the next steps in his recovery.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Australian
an hour ago
- The Australian
Muswellbrook, Goulburn previews: Winx and you'll miss it
There is Winx form at Muswellbrook on Tuesday. Kind of. Enter Wayne Wilkes' home-bred first-starter Bellerata. Granted, Bellerata was foaled 10 years after Winx arrived but her own dam, Uratta Belle, wasn't just a contemporary of Winx, she was once a rival. Housed on the Central Coast by Kylie Gavenlock, Uratta Belle was sent out a $4.40 favourite in the IBIS Milano Restaurant Handicap (1100m) at Warwick Farm on June 4, 2014. Try as she might, Uratta Belle finished a distant third to one of Chris Waller's debutantes, namely, Winx. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! On Tuesday at Muswellbrook it will be the turn of Uratta Belle's second foal, Bellerata, to make her racetrack debut in the Godolphin Maiden Plate over 1000m. Bellerata was among the 116 foals from the first crop of Greg Hickman's All Aged Stakes winner Pierata. Wilkes' filly has trialled twice, finishing third of four in a December 30 heat at Taree before resurfacing at Port Macquarie on June 24 to clock in a close second of the half dozen runners. 'She has just got to do things right in the race,'' Wilkes said. 'She did a little bit wrong in her trial so I am just looking for a good educational run. 'She is a nice filly but she is still probably a bit young in the head too.' It may not be too long again before Wilkes is back in Sydney on a Highway quest. The Taree master is eager to test his handy chestnut Tanglewood Jimmy in another Highway after his barnstorming fourth in his first Highway back on Spring Champion Stakes day, 2024. 'I would like to find a nice 1600m Highway for the next start would be ideal,'' Wilkes says. 'Jimmy's' immediate mission will be Tuesday's Arrowfield Class 3 Handicap (1450m). It will be the horse's second run in 2025, the best part of a month after his eye-catching third at Muswellbrook in a 1280m Benchmark 66. 'I was very happy with him,'' Wilkes said. 'He was probably a little bit on the fat side first-up but still found the line. 'The 1400m will suit him, it's just if he gets the right run.' Both Bellerata and Tanglewood Jimmy will be steered on Tuesday by Wilkes' talented apprentice jockey/daughter Shae, whose tally of winners has reached 60 in quick time, with 23 of those wins are shared with her father. Trainer Wilkes' third and final runner on the Muswellbrook card today is Sheila's Fanta Sea who boasts a tidy CV of two wins, three seconds and two thirds. Sheila's Fanta Sea will no doubt find Tuesday's assignment decidedly easier than her last start when pitched against all-comers from around the state in a 1200m Class 3 TAB Highway at Royal Randwick. 'She just goes up a little bit in weight but she comes back to the country,'' Wilkes said. 'I nominated her for Scone as well on Friday and this is quite a tough race but I don't expect Scone to be much easier. 'She's had a couple of goes at Scone and hasn't done well there, whereas she has placed twice at Muswellbrook the only times she's been there.' Sheila's Fanta Sea boasts a fascinating pedigree. Her fifth dam is none other than Sweet Embrace who still holds the somewhat dubious honour of being the longest priced winner of the Golden Slipper. The Jack and Bob Ingham owned daughter of inaugural Golden Slipper winner Todman was sent out at 40/1 when successfully shedding her maiden status in the 1967 renewal. ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Cleary wants a win for 'Uncle Gerry' Trainer Joe Cleary (right) with his trainer father Frank. Trainer Joe Cleary aims to deliver the man he affectionately knows as 'Uncle Gerry' a parting gift when blue-blooded mare Juliette's Joy makes what could very well be her final racetrack appearance on Tuesday. Juliette's Joy was bred by Gerry Harvey and foaled down in New Zealand. Not only is she a daughter of New Zealand's nine-times Champion Stallion Savabeel, she is from the same family as the Harvey-bred 2003 Golden Slipper winner Polar Success. 'The wet track won't worry her, she is rock hard fit, 2100m – there's more positives than negatives,'' Cleary says. 'I have taken the blinkers off her, she's just been getting a little bit revvy with the hoods on so hopefully she can just get back and relax and find the best part of the track. 'And I think that will be it for her on Tuesday. I think she heads home after (today). 'She's been a ripper. She really cops her work and she enjoys her work and her racing but it is that time of the year when Uncle Gerry wants his mares home and I think she'll be one of them.' 'Uncle Gerry' can reciprocate by handing Cleary a present of his own should the in-form Pretty Vegas cash in on Tuesday. A daughter of Exosphere, Pretty Vegas made her way to Cleary's Queanbeyan HQ from Harvey's Baramul Stud in the Hunter Valley via Adelaide when offered at the 2021 Magic Millions. 'She is super consistent,'' Cleary said. 'I just thought I would stay away from Saturday's Highway and try and find her a confidence booster and I think I've found the right race for her on Tuesday. 'Keagan (Latham) seems to ride her really well, they seem to have clicked, and she carries weight okay. 'An outside barrier won't be a hindrance with the way the track is going to play, so it is probably a bonus drawn out to be honest, and she has trained on well since her good effort in the Highway (June 21). The Canberra Raiders tragic will also saddle-up stablemates Pick A Symphony and Crazy Atom. 'Pick A Symphony has still got his L-Plates but he is going to be a nice horse,'' Cleary said. 'Crazy Atom is screaming out of a bit of a journey and a bit of juice in the track and she is going to get both.'
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
De Minaur defeated by Novac Djokovic at Wimbledon
Australian Alex de Minaur has failed to reach the quarter-finals of Wimbledon, after being knocked out of the contest by 24-time grand slam winner Novak Djokovic. Despite a strong start by the Aussie, his Serbian opponent staged a comeback that keeps his hope of a 25th grand slam win alive. Djokovic will now advance to the quarter-finals after his 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory over de Minaur. With Roger Federer watching from the Royal Box, the player whose record eight men's titles Djokovic is trying to equal, Djokovic's usually-surgical game misfired badly early on. "I can't remember when I've seen him play a worse set than this," John McEnroe, who won Wimbledon three times in the 1980s, said on the BBC telecast. "I mean, it's literally been years." The Aussie took an early lead, winning the first set, before Djokovic turned the tables and ended the match in the three subsequent sets. The hustling and bustling of Di Minaur's game continued to cause Djokovic headaches, but the sixth seed found his range to win the next two sets full of baseline rallies. Even then, Djokovic looked like getting dragged into a fifth set as Di Minaur jumped into a 4-1 lead in the fourth set. But the Serb slammed the door shut just in time, winning five games in a row to take his place in the last eight. Djokovic's bid for an eighth Wimbledon title and 25th Grand Slam singles trophy overall will continue against world number 22 Flavio Cobolli of Italy. AP/Reuters/AAP
News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
Outrage as McLaren secret slips out over Oscar Piastri penalty
For once it wasn't going to be the Australian who got screwed over. Aussie Oscar Piastri has been left feeling aggrieved after a wild British Grand Prix where a 10-second penalty cost him a likely race win. As McLaren teammate Lando Norris charged to win his home race at Silverstone, Piastri was desperately searching for a solution that would have stopped his world championship lead from being slashed to just eight points. Fox Sports, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every practice, qualifying session and race in the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship™ LIVE in 4K. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer. The 24-year-old was feeling hard done by after being handed a penalty for an unsafe race re-start on Lap 22 where his sudden braking before a safety car was called into the pits at late notice resulted in Max Verstappen needing to take evasive action. The penalty, announce after a quick FIA review, created a nightmare situation for the McLaren garage. All it was going to take was another safety to force the team to make its biggest call of the year. With both drivers in a pit stop window in the middle laps of the race, another safety car in the wet and wild conditions would have forced team bosses to make a call between their two drivers. Watch the moment Oscar Piastri was penalised for in the video above The prospect of forcing Norris to double stack while his teammate served a 10 second penalty in the pits would have left local fans ready to tear the place apart. The only alternative would have been to order Piastri to give the race lead to his teammate and be double stacked in the pits. The team was fortuitous to avoid the nightmare scenario, but team principal Andre Stella explained after the race it was Piastri who would have been given priority. 'In reality, the way we manage the situation, given the penalty, was to allow Oscar, despite the penalty, in case of a safety car, to retain the lead, because if there was a safety car, both guys would have pitted,' he said after Norris' race win, per The Race. 'Oscar would have paid the penalty. Lando could have waited. And the two McLarens would have gone out in the same order as they came in. 'But at the point in which we needed to have the transition of the dry tyres, then the penalty was paid, and at that stage we thought that we should just retain the natural order gained through the penalty.' Stella's comments have caused outrage among Norris' legion of fans. A complaint made by one Norris supporter, where they said Stella's comments left them 'lost for words', has gone viral on X. There were many other social media users that were furious when hearing how Piastri would have been given the advantage. One posted: 'I had a feeling that in case of a safety car and penalty they will still pit Oscar first and Lando will be screwed over massively. 'This is not fair racing. This is punishing a driver for another driver's mistake which is absolutely insane.' One wrote: 'Absolutely disgusting from the team, but I'm not surprised. 'Lando will have to fight really hard for every win but I'm 100 per cent confident he can make it happen.' Stella's comments will only add to rumours that have previously suggested McLaren made a conscious call to prioritise Piastri's title tilt when Max Verstappen was still seen as a serious threat. However, McLaren also showed a clear sign they do not have a dog in the fight as Piastri and Norris slug it out for the title when Piastri's request for Norris to let him pass late in the race was rejected. It was a desperate request from a driver who hoped his team disagreed with FIA stewards as much as he did about the penalty handed down earlier. Piastri asked the team on radio late in the race: 'I don't think the penalty before was very fair. I know it's a big question, but if you don't think it was fair either, I think we should swap back and race'. His race engineer, Tom Stallard, didn't take long to inform Piastri that his wish would not be granted. Despite his complaints, Piastri admitted the team's decision was 'fair'. 'I thought I would ask the question,' Piastri said. 'I knew what the answer was going to be before I asked, but I just wanted a small glimmer of hope that maybe I could get it back. But no, I knew it wasn't going to happen.' Piastri was much more angry about the penalty itself. 'I don't really understand it,' he said later. 'I need to look back and see it again because I don't think I did anything different or anything wrong,' he said. 'I mean I did what I did at the first restart and, apparently, one needed a penalty and other didn't. 'I thought the penalty... was pretty bad.' Verstappen's reaction in the moment on Red Bull team radio was telling. 'Woah, mate,' Verstappen said. 'He just suddenly again slows down!' But the Red Bull driver was still surprised by the penalty. 'It caught me out on cold tyres,' Verstappen explained. 'I only found out after the race [that Piastri was penalised]. It has happened to me a few times, this kind of scenario. I find it strange that Oscar is the first to receive 10 seconds for it.' It was McLaren's first home triumph at Silverstone since seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton won in 2008. For Norris, it was a first home win, his fourth win of the year and the eighth of his career.
