Ex-AFL player Aiden O'Driscoll opens up on brain trauma hell and compensation fight

At 18, Aiden O'Driscoll was living out his childhood AFL dream.
In November 2023, the teen had been drafted to the Western Bulldogs.
When he walked into the football club for the first time, he felt elated — like he belonged.
"I was like, this is actually real now. I'm an AFL player — this is who I am," O'Driscoll said.
"I can train every day. I can work my butt off to then be a better player.
"All the Bulldogs boys were so welcoming and it felt like another family." But less than three months later, on a warm January day, he was playing in his first AFL practice match when he suffered a sickening "head-on-head" collision with another player that would change his life.