{"id":846654,"date":"2026-08-07T10:10:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T10:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/846654\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T10:10:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T10:10:14","slug":"jake-kolodjashnij-reveals-himself-as-player-who-signed-geelong-concussion-waiver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/846654\/","title":{"rendered":"Jake Kolodjashnij reveals himself as player who signed Geelong concussion waiver"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jake Kolodjashnij has identified himself as the Geelong player who secretly signed a concussion waiver without the AFL or AFL Players Association\u2019s knowledge.<\/p>\n

In a statement issued via Geelong on Friday, Kolodjashnij said he felt he wanted to be unmasked.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I appreciate the efforts made not to identify me, the speculation has left me feeling I needed to address this personally,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n

\u201cI participated fully in the AFL\u2019s independent concussion panel process, respected its independence, and was comfortable with the outcome. I have continued playing AFL football since.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat disappoints me most is that my private medical information has been made public. Everyone deserves the right to keep their confidential medical information private.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to thank my family, the AFLPA, my manager, my teammates and the football club for their support over the past 24 hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am healthy, feeling good, and focused on playing my role for the team for the remainder of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reports exposing the deal were first published on Thursday, with the club and player initially unnamed.<\/p>\n

\"JakeCamera IconJake Kolodjashnij of the Cats (right) is seen with brother Kade Kolodjashnij (left). Credit: Michael Willson\/AFL Photos<\/p>\n

But further articles identified the club before reports that the player involved could be delisted at the end of the current season prompted Kolodjashnij to speak out.<\/p>\n

The defender didn\u2019t feature at AFL level in 2025 due to several injury issues, but has played 11 games for Geelong this season.<\/p>\n

His most recent outing came last week for the club\u2019s VFL side.<\/p>\n

Kolodjashnij\u2019s brother, Kade, was forced to retire in 2020 due to significant concussion battles.<\/p>\n

The statement came at the end of what had already been an eventful day for the club.<\/p>\n

Geelong\u2019s chief executive Steve Hocking denied there was any \u201ccoercion\u201d in the deal at a press conference on Friday morning as the AFL issued the club a \u201cplease explain\u201d despite confirming they were \u201csatisfied\u201d that Geelong would not be punished.<\/p>\n

Hocking said the deal was worked out over a two month process that allowed Kolodjashnij family and legal support.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important to note that the player was very well represented, both legally and by his immediate family,\u201d Hocking said.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Kolodjashnij) still feels the care from the club is as strong as ever. We had a misstep.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an extensive process, it was conducted over a roughly two-month period.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe player\u2019s representatives were involved, including family, legal representation as well, and that letter spelt out all of that entire process.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took time, it wasn\u2019t rushed, as much as some people believe he may have been coerced into it. That is not the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a thorough process, the care of the player and getting the player back to play was really important for the football club and for the player and his family.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also revealed coach Chris Scott was neither consulted nor made aware of the deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe great thing about our coach is that he stays out of all medical decision-making,\u201d Hocking said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important that\u2019s the case, he\u2019s got a team to coach and so from his point of view, no (he didn\u2019t know).<\/p>\n

\"JakeCamera IconJake Kolodjashnij has identified himself as the Geelong player who secretly signed a concussion waiver. Credit: Quinn Rooney\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWe keep him at arm\u2019s length, he\u2019s got a game to coach tomorrow, he\u2019s focused on that and he\u2019s made sure he\u2019s got around the player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, veteran Fremantle ruckman Mason Cox hit out at Geelong for their \u201cback-door\u201d dealings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very poor behaviour, to be honest with you,\u201d he said on Nova 100\u2019s Jase, Lauren & Clint show on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a player, health and safety \u2014 at any job of any kind of employer \u2014 you would expect to be at the highest.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd to be trying to do back-door deals without the AFLPA being involved is pretty poor.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jake Kolodjashnij has identified himself as the Geelong player who secretly signed a concussion waiver without the AFL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":846655,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,13659,588,85],"class_list":["post-846654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-geelong-cats","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846654","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=846654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/846655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=846654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=846654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=846654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}