Brain trauma ends ex-Eagle Tim Houlihan's football career Former West Coast Eagle Tim Houlihan in his South Adelaide guernsey last year. Picture: James Elsby. FORMER West Coast Eagle Tim Houlihan yesterday became the second confirmed AFL player to have his football career cut short by a brain trauma injury. The tagger, who spent last season playing in the SANFL with South Adelaide after being delisted by the Eagles at the end of 2011, has retired aged 24 on the advice of a Melbourne-based neuropsychiatrist. His retirement came days after dual Brownlow Medallist Greg Williams revealed he was suffering a degenerative brain injury resulting from head trauma sustained during a 250-game career. Houlihan, who played 15 games for the Eagles, was concussed in the final game of the SANFL minor round last year. South Adelaide football manager Neill Sharpe said Houlihan suffered no abnormal symptoms following the injury but underwent testing with assistance from the AFL players Association. Sharpe said Houlihan was strongly advised not to play again after an MRI scan confirmed an "existing brain trauma." He did not know how many previous concussions Houlihan had suffered. "He went through the process of testing for brain injury and those tests revealed an existing brain trauma injury," Sharpe said. It was a pretty nasty concussion ... if we were playing the next week he would not have played but, given the symptoms he had, he probably would have resumed the following week ... He is disappointed that his football career is over at 24 years of age and he is still coming to terms with it but, in one sense, he feels pretty fortunate because, if the testing weren't available, he would have continued playing and risked much more serious problems. Former Melbourne player Daniel Bell was the first player officially forced into retirement due to brain trauma injuries, in 2010. Other players including former Carlton great Williams, former West Coast champion Dean Kemp and former Adelaide Crows and Collingwood player Chad Rintoul have reported health problems from concussion. Williams said his reflexes had significantly slowed as a result of his injuries. He called upon the AFL Players' Association to take action to protect players and proposed a raft of changes. They included mandatory lay-offs for head trauma injuries and banning the bump. "Things are a lot different now," Williams said. Williams said "five or six" players from his era had contacted him since he revealed his health problems saying they were suffering similar issues. Houlihan declined to comment yesterday.