Footy great Garry Lyon calls for concussions to be re-named 'brain injuries' - after losing his close mate Danny Frawley to CTE

AFL legend Garry Lyon has called for footy commentators to correctly label on-field concussions 'brain injuries' - his impassioned plea comes after losing his close mate Danny Frawley to CTE in 2019.

Lyon's comments follow increasing concerns about the long-term impact of on-field head clashes, with several ex-players diagnosed in recent years with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), after their deaths.

They include Frawley, Graham Farmer, Murray Weidemann, Shane Tuck and Heather Anderson.

CTE - which is associated with exposure to repeated head trauma - causes memory loss, confusion, depression and progressive dementia.

'We [commentators] say concussion. But what is that? It means the brain is bouncing around in the skull,' Lyon told News Corp.

'We should call it a brain injury because that's what it is....and I will continue to refer to it as a brain injury. 

'I'm more than happy to shine a light and keep it at the forefront for the powers that be.'

Former St Kilda legend Frawley, who Lyon described as 'unconditional mate', was diagnosed with CTE after taking his own life the day after his 56th birthday in 2019.

Away from football, king hit attacks in public - often fuelled by alcohol - are now referred to as 'coward punches.'

The term has government backing and follows the death of Thomas Kelly in July 2012 when he was attacked by Kieran Loveridge in Sydney's Kings Cross.

And following an attack on New Year's Eve in 2013, Daniel Christie died days later in hospital after crossing paths with a heavily intoxicated Shaun McNeil at the same venue.

McNeil was later jailed for at least seven and a half years following the unprovoked assault.

And according to the Pat Cronin Foundation, at least 170 Australians have been killed by a coward punch since 2000.

Males accounted for more than 90 per cent of all victims, a recent Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine study revealed.

When an individual is coward punched, the impact makes their brain hit their skull.

The brain may then rebound and hit the other side of the skull – with the 'rattling' damaging and tearing the soft tissue.

Bleeding inside the skull or brain, or hemorrhaging, can be fatal without immediate treatment.