Follow UsAt the age of just 27, Australian opener Will Pucovski has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket due to repeated concussions, and will now transition into coaching. His career was marred with plenty of injuries, which were mostly blows to the head that would lead to concussion.
The right-handed batter from Victoria played a solitary Test for Australia against India in Sydney in 2021, scoring 62 on debut. Pucovski last played a competitive game in March 2024 when Riley Meredith hit him on the helmet, and he was forced to retire out due to another concussion.
An independent medical panel advised Pucovski to retire from the game last year, but it took him a while to make the announcement.
Talking on SEN radio in Melbourne on March 8 (Tuesday), Pucovski said: "I wish I was coming in maybe under better circumstances. I'm not going to be playing cricket again. It's been a really difficult year to put it as simply as possible.
"I'd need a few hours, I think, to take you through the whole journey…but the simple message is I won't be playing cricket at any level again."
"After that century in Sydney (against New South Wales), I thought from a personal point of view things were starting to click for me. I put a mountain of effort into getting things right off the field to be good on the field.
"It had always been my dream to play for Australia, I found myself in that position in 2021. My ambition didn't stop there. I wanted to be that guy that was a leader of the batting unit. I wanted to play 100 Tests.
"Unfortunately, one Test is where it ends."
Talking about the last 12 months, Pucovski added: "In the couple of months post that (last concussion) I struggled to get anything done, walking around the house was a struggle. My fiancée was annoyed because I didn't contribute to chores. I was sleeping a lot.
"From there it's been a tough year, a lot of the symptoms didn't go away which has led me to this decision. The first few months were horrendous, but things didn't leave me. I've only just turned 27, the space of concussion is very young. Speaking to a lot of specialists, this is a difficult space to deal with.
"The technology isn't quite there to understand what is what. When you have symptoms for over a year and I've had others for numerous years, it can be quite difficult to see how can I get out to play professional sport again when I'm struggling to live my life how I want to."
Pucovski said he wanted to look at possible scenarios before making the final announcement. "In my head, I didn't want to make an official call until I was symptom-free,. When you're struggling it's hard to make a huge decision. The medical panel recommended I retire and that was really difficult to come to terms with. I felt like I was coming over the hill with a few things.
"Technically you can't make anyone retire from anything...it got made clear to me it was a strong recommendation but the final decision ultimately was up to me. Since then I have spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to find answers, trying to understand what the brain injury is that I have and why have I had all these problems.
"There probably wasn't a moment that I thought 'This is the day' but things haven't changed. I wanted to hold on to the dream as long as I could but the flip side to that is you want to feel better and live your life normally. I just don't want to risk doing any more damage to my brain than I've already done."
Pucovski, however, is done with cricket. The 27-year-old will be the head coach of Victoria Premier Club Melbourne for the 2025-26 season.
Overall, Pucovski played 36 first-class games and scored 2350 runs at an average of 45.19, studded with seven tons and nine fifties.