{"id":845319,"date":"2026-08-06T07:12:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T07:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/845319\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T07:12:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T07:12:19","slug":"afl-concussion-deal-geelong-cats-signed-secret-agreement-with-at-risk-player","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/845319\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL concussion deal: Geelong Cats signed secret agreement with at risk player"},"content":{"rendered":"

August 6, 2026 \u2014 2:32pm<\/p>\n

Save<\/p>\n

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n

Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n

AAA<\/p>\n

Geelong allegedly struck an agreement with one of its players, who had a history of concussion, that would see him assume legal responsibility for future on-field head trauma, this masthead has confirmed.<\/p>\n

The AFL Players\u2019 Association has condemned the deal, which involved an unnamed player signing an agreement that acknowledged his elevated risk of concussion. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe AFL is facing mounting legal actions over its liability for head trauma sustained on-field.AFL Photos<\/p>\n

Three industry sources, speaking anonymously because of the sensitivity of the situation, confirmed Geelong was the club involved.<\/p>\n

The Cats were contacted for comment.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Former<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe game has a duty to provide a workplace that protects the health, safety, and wellbeing of players and all clubs hold this duty as employers,\u201d AFLPA chief executive James Gallagher said.<\/p>\n

\u201cClubs cannot unilaterally contract out of their obligations under the CBA and standard playing contract, nor attempt to avoid their responsibilities under health and safety laws. Importantly, no player is permitted to return to play or train unless they have been deemed medically fit to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon and executive general manager of AFLW, health and football operations Laura Kane appeared at a mental health media round table on Thursday morning but did not answer questions about the initial report in the Herald Sun, which did not name the player or the club that struck the agreement two years ago.<\/p>\n

The league was expected to make a statement later on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The agreement reportedly acknowledged that the player was at a higher risk of more concussions and more serious damage because of his history, and required him to \u201ctake upon yourself the physical and legal risk of loss, damage or injury\u201d arising from future concussions.<\/p>\n

Melbourne coach Steven King responded to the report at his media conference on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\"ConcussionConcussion is a growing issue for the AFL. Marija Ercegovac<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I\u2019ll say about that is, as a club, or me personally, I would never do anything or ask my players to put themselves at risk,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what we are doing, and the things we have implemented in the game to help look after players\u2019 safety and wellbeing has been really positive.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a coach, my opinion is, I would never ask a player to put himself at risk to play. Those decisions are with our doctors and medical team and that\u2019s where, as a coach, I leave them to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

The revelation comes as the AFL and its clubs face a number of lawsuits relating to the long-term impacts of repeated head trauma. These include a $1 billion class action set to go to trial next year, involving more than 100 former AFL players, led by former Geelong defender Max Rooke.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer Geelong defender Max Rooke is the lead plaintiff in a class action against the AFL.Paul Rovere<\/p>\n

WorkSafe is also investigating the AFL\u2019s concussion management protocols.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"North<\/a><\/p>\n

Sports law expert Leon Harris, who is doing his PhD in head trauma and concussion liability, said he was not surprised to hear such a contract had been drawn up. He said whether it was enforceable was another matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t contract your way out of a statutory liability. If you have breached workplace health and safety requirements, you can\u2019t say, \u2018oh no we got them to sign a waiver for any injury they suffer at any point, we\u2019re in the clear\u2019,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo under the civil liability legislation in theory you would have rights still even if you were encouraged to contract your way out of those rights, but it just becomes a fight you don\u2019t really want.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the player as an adult knows the risk that they\u2019re running by continuing to play and is willing to voluntarily assume that risk then, in a way, that\u2019s up to the player. But the question then becomes, is it OK for a professional sporting organisation to allow somebody in that situation to assume that risk of harm, and that potentially is more of a moral question than a legal question.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harris said part of the problem was that there was still a grey area around the issue as it was yet to be fully decided in court. There remained limited research around the prolonged effects of repeated sub-concussive head trauma, he added. <\/p>\n

While numerous legal actions have been brought in Australia and overseas, most have resulted in settlements.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think eventually it will end up going to a court to make a decision, whether it\u2019s here, whether it\u2019s in England \u2026 and they will make a ruling and a variety of sports will have decisions to make, unless those sports start putting rules in place now to deal with sub-concussive events, not just concussion.\u201d<\/p>\n

The AFL was contacted for comment.<\/p>\n

Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Save<\/p>\n

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n

Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n

\"BridgetBridget McArthur<\/a> is a sports affairs reporter at The Age, covering the intersection of sports and politics\/business\/economy\/society.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"August 6, 2026 \u2014 2:32pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":845320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-845319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=845319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/845320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=845319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=845319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=845319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}