By Australian Associated Press and Tom Place For Daily Mail Australia
Published: 04:32 BST, 27 June 2019 | Updated: 05:43 BST, 27 June 2019
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A disease linked to repeated concussions in NFL has been found in the brains of two former Australian rugby league players.
The discovery is the first time Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy - or CTE - has been identified in an NRL athlete and comes as America's NFL is forced to pay out nearly $700m in a mass compensation claim.
CTE is a degenerative brain disease that has been found in former players of American football, ice hockey, soccer, rugby union and others exposed to repeated head injury.
The brain disease known as CTE that has been linked to repeated concussions in American sport has now been found in the brains of two former Australian rugby league players
Researchers and clinicians from Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, NSW Health and the University of Sydney's Brain and Mind Centre made the discovery in two donated brains from middle-aged former professionals who played more than 150 NRL games over many years.
Their identities have been kept confidential.
Lead author Associate Professor Michael Buckland said the changes in the two brains were 'distinctive and definitive'.
'I have looked at about 1000 brains over the last 10 years, and I have not seen this sort of pathology in any other case