
‘I’m sitting at home having seizures. I can't drive my car’: Why John Barnes is suing the AFL
From 7am
Published 4/12/2026

From 7am
Published 4/12/2026
More than a decade after he retired from AFL, John Barnes collapsed without warning and began having seizures. The former Essendon and Geelong ruckman says years of head knocks left him with epilepsy, memory problems, and a life he barely recognised. Now, as a growing class action takes on the AFL…