{"id":847627,"date":"2026-08-08T05:38:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/847627\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:38:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:38:14","slug":"afl-news-2026-geelong-cats-concussion-waiver-craig-drummond-statement-jake-kolodjashnij-steve-hocking-press-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/847627\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL news 2026: Geelong Cats concussion waiver; Craig Drummond statement; Jake Kolodjashnij; Steve Hocking press conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Geelong<\/a> president Craig Drummond has conceded \u201cmistakes were made\u201d and the club \u201cwent too far\u201d in adding a concussion waiver clause<\/a> into Jake Kolodjashnij\u2019s contract.<\/p>\n

Not even 24 hours after Kolodjashnij identified himself as the player at the centre of the scandal, Drummond said the then-28-year old was \u201ccentral to all discussions\u201d and he had been \u201cthinking of him over the past few days\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jake Kolodjashnij.\u00a0AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was an extremely complex and sensitive matter, and obligations to both the player and the club were very carefully considered by the Geelong board,\u201d Drummond said in a Geelong-issued statement on Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the player was medically cleared to play, the club engaged in lengthy discussions including with him, his family, doctors, and insurers about his future and the potential risks of returning to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless of the player\u2019s agreement, the club went too far in adding a waiver into an informed consent document and it will be removed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe waiver did not remove the player\u2019s protections under statutory health and safety laws.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drummond was president of the club between 2011-2024, and is now chair of the AFL commission.<\/p>\n

The AFL and the AFLPA were also unaware the clause existed, which Drummond blamed on a \u201cprocess failure\u201d, and said he would not be involved in any AFL deliberation processes.\u00a0\u201cI apologise for the mistakes made in this very complex situation,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

Speaking on SEN on Saturday, AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon confirmed the league had written to the club asking for an explanation, and expected to hear back early next week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve heard from the current chairman of Geelong and also the CEO yesterday saying that was, I think, a fail or a misstep and so a mistake in the process,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of the lodger, there\u2019s some (punishments) that have got a maximum on them of $20,000, but there\u2019s other provisions that have got sanction at large. I don\u2019t want to get into speculating about where that might go until we hear back from Geelong formally.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Friday evening, Geelong chief executive Steve Hocking promised the player\u2019s privacy would be maintained.<\/p>\n

But barely an hour later, Kolodjashnij \u2013 through his own Cats-issued statement \u2013 identified himself after heavy speculation left him feeling he needed to address it personally.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Then-Cats president Craig Drummond in 2023.\u00a0Getty Images<\/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,\u201d he said.<\/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

Hocking declared he was the person who signed off on the waiver in Kolodjashnij\u2019s contract that made him responsible for any concussion-related injuries suffered.<\/p>\n

\u201cI take responsibility for the fact we didn\u2019t lodge it with the AFL and AFLPA,\u201d Hocking told media on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no reason, it was just a misstep in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hocking added he was \u201cquite confident\u201d he had support from the board and didn\u2019t want to discuss Drummond\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

The Cats chief executive also explained the process of the deal, explaining it was \u201cextensive\u201d and that Kolodjashnij wasn\u2019t coerced.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u201dThe player\u2019s representatives were involved including family and legal representation \u2026 it wasn\u2019t rushed, as much as some people believe, that he may have been coerced into it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mark Blicavs and Jake Kolodjashnij leading the Cats out in Geelong in round six against the Bulldogs.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is not the case. It was a thorough process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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

Hocking said after concussions, the player had gone to the AFL\u2019s concussion panel where no decision was given on his future. That meant the call was handed back to the football club which was worked through by the club, player, medical staff, the board and executive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was two months of work, the player was stepped through his right and all options were on the table for him. It was about achieving informed consent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Coach Chris Scott was also not across the matter, according to Hocking.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe great thing about our coach is he stays out of all medical decision-making. It\u2019s really important that\u2019s the case,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Geelong president Craig Drummond has conceded \u201cmistakes were made\u201d and the club \u201cwent too far\u201d in adding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":847628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-847627","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-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847627","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=847627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}