{"id":848065,"date":"2026-08-08T14:28:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/848065\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T14:28:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:28:15","slug":"afl-news-2026-geelong-cats-coach-chris-scott-speaks-on-concussion-waiver-controversy-concerning-jake-kolodjashnij","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/848065\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL news 2026: Geelong Cats coach Chris Scott speaks on concussion waiver controversy concerning Jake Kolodjashnij"},"content":{"rendered":"

Geelong<\/a> coach Chris Scott<\/a> has distanced himself from the club\u2019s concussion waiver scandal<\/a>, claiming he did not know about the secret agreement until the matter became public.<\/p>\n

The Cats are in damage control after it was revealed on Thursday that a Geelong player had struck a deal with the club assuming all legal responsibility for any further head trauma he may suffer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Chris Scott during Geelong\u2019s clash with Essendon on Saturday night.\u00a0James Wiltshire\/AFL Photos via Getty Images.<\/p>\n

Defender Jake Kolodjashnij has since identified himself as that player.<\/p>\n

Scott was quizzed on the controversy after his side\u2019s 67-point win over Essendon on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am kept at arm\u2019s length from these things. I don\u2019t know enough to give an informed opinion on it,\u201d Scott said in his post-match press conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if I was prepared to say more, I just wouldn\u2019t be able to give you anywhere near [as] clear a picture as the people that actually were involved in this stuff, or are involved in it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not 1980 \u2013 the coach doesn\u2019t run everything these days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked when he had learned of the matter, Scott said: \u201cI can\u2019t remember exactly, but I would imagine I heard about it when it was made public.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, again, even when I search my recollection of it, I can\u2019t even remember the timing around it. That\u2019s how far away I am from it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement issued via the Cats on Friday, Kolodjashnij said it was disappointing private medical information had been made public.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone deserves the right to keep their confidential medical information private,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Scott was coy when asked how Kolodjashnij was faring.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore and more I\u2019m sort of coming to the conclusion that private conversations and relationships shouldn\u2019t be aired publicly,\u201d the Cats coach said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that there\u2019s an interest in that, but it doesn\u2019t mean I need to buy into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kolodjashnij was cleared as fit to play by an AFL<\/a> concussion panel.<\/p>\n

In a joint statement issued by the AFL and the AFL Players Association, the governing bodies said the waiver signed by Kolodjashnij was not lodged with or approved by the AFL or the AFLPA.<\/p>\n

The Cats have removed the waiver.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Geelong coach Chris Scott has distanced himself from the club\u2019s concussion waiver scandal, claiming he did not know…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":848066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-848065","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\/848065","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=848065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}