AFL's Concussion Insurance Gap: Zurich Pulls Brain-Injury Cover as Waiver Scandal Forces Reform
More than 500 AFL players lost insurance coverage for brain injuries on May 1, 2026, after Zurich Insurance applied concussion and head-trauma exclusions to the total and permanent disability cover held in their superannuation fund (ABC News).
The insurer had previously paid up to $1.1 million in total and permanent disability benefits to players who suffered traumatic head injury, concussion, CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease linked to repeated head knocks), post-concussion syndrome, or any neurological impairment connected to brain injury. That safety net is gone.
ABC News first reported the impending loss of coverage on March 27, 2026. Zurich's decision takes effect in a sport where concussion has already ended careers — Melbourne's Angus Brayshaw was forced to retire because of repeated concussions, a fate he shares with a growing list of former players.
The insurance gap sits alongside another controversy that has tested the AFL's governance this season. Geelong entered into a private waiver agreement with defender Jake Kolodjashnij after the AFL's Concussion Panel — the league's medical body that assesses whether players can safely continue after head injuries — could not give a firm answer on whether he should keep playing. Kolodjashnij signed an acknowledgement-of-risk letter that absolved Geelong from its legal obligations around his continued selection (ABC News).
The AFL commissioned an independent investigation led by James Peters KC. Peters made no adverse findings against Geelong for entering the waiver to mitigate its legal exposure. But the club was fined $140,000 — $100,000 for altering Kolodjashnij's contract outside the standard playing contract framework and failing to lodge the document with the AFL, plus $40,000 from a suspended sanction tied to a separate incident the previous year.
AFL CEO Andrew Dillon drew a line in the sand. He said any similar waiver that reduced the minimum terms bargained for by the AFL Players Association — the union that represents all listed players, negotiating standard pay and conditions across the league — would require the association's approval and would not be granted.
AFLPA CEO James Gallagher went further on radio station SEN, saying anything that looked like a change to a player's terms of employment must come to both the AFL and the players' union for sign-off. Health-and-safety-related waivers would not be approved going forward.
The average AFL salary sits at about $500,000 per year. With Zurich gone, the AFLPA has written to other insurers seeking replacement cover for brain-injury claims. No deal has been announced.
For players and fans, the stakes are plain. Concussion is an unavoidable part of Australian rules football — the game is built on speed, contested marking (the aerial contest where players leap to catch the ball), and heavy body contact. The AFL has introduced protocols for managing head knocks during matches, but the long-tail risk of repeated brain injury remains. When the insurer walks away, the question of who carries that risk has no comfortable answer.
The league has not commented on whether it will step in to fund brain-injury cover itself if no commercial insurer is willing to take it on. The AFLPA's search for a replacement continues.
