Geelong's Secret Concussion Waiver: How a Hidden Clause Shook the AFL

Geelong Cats admitted a secret agreement with defender Jake Kolodjashnij should never have included a clause asking the player to sign away legal rights linked to future head injuries, as the club braces for a fine exceeding $100,000.

The agreement, struck in early 2024, sat alongside Kolodjashnij's standard two-year playing contract but was negotiated privately between the player, his family, an insurance advisor, and senior club figures including CEO Steve Hocking and then-president Craig Drummond. The AFL Players Association was not told. The AFL was not formally lodged with it either. Hocking has taken responsibility for that omission, calling it a "process misstep" and acknowledging the waiver clause "went too far" (The Age).

Kolodjashnij was a premiership player with more than 150 AFL games to his name by 2024, but a history of head knocks had placed him in the AFL's independent concussion panel "amber" category — a traffic-light system rating a player's cumulative concussion risk. Player agent and concussion advocate Peter Jess called the panel's red-orange-yellow-green categorisation "a complete fantasy" (ABC News).

The deal stayed private until it surfaced in the days before an ABC report published on 11 August 2026. A few days after the story broke, Kolodjashnij identified himself as the player involved and released a statement. He said he had participated fully in the AFL's independent concussion panel, respected its independence, and was comfortable with the outcome. He also objected to his private medical information being made public (ABC News).

The personal stakes run deep. Kolodjashnij's brother, Kade, was forced to medically retire from the AFL in 2020 due to head trauma from concussions. Jake kept playing.

Geelong has since moved to scrap the waiver. In a club statement published on 6 August, the Cats said they would remove the waiver from the letter while noting the player continues to acknowledge potential risks. The club also argued the document did not strip Kolodjashnij of protections under statutory health and safety laws (News.com.au; Geelong Cats).

Emails exchanged between Geelong and the AFL now form the core of the club's defence, suggesting the league may have had some awareness of the arrangement before it became public (The Age).

The story has widened. Another AFL player's secret concussion deal — used as a template for Kolodjashnij's agreement — has also emerged (Fox Footy).

Coach Chris Scott said he was kept at arm's length from the deal. AFL greats Matthew Lloyd and Rory Sloane were divided on whether the club should have allowed the waiver at all (Nine).

AFL CEO Andrew Dillon has spoken publicly on the matter as the league weighs its sanction (SEN).

For fans, the central tension is uncomfortable. Clubs owe players a duty of care — the legal obligation to protect their health and safety. A contract clause asking a player to waive future legal claims sits awkwardly against that duty, even with the player's consent and family involvement. The AFL's concussion protocols exist precisely because the long-term effects of repeated head knocks are serious and still being understood. When a club and a player negotiate privately around those protocols, the gap between the letter of a contract and the spirit of the game gets hard to ignore.

Geelong's fine, when it lands, will set a number on it. The bigger question — whether any club should be drafting these clauses at all — does not have a price tag.