{"id":910257,"date":"2026-09-29T21:52:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T21:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/910257\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T21:52:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T21:52:18","slug":"afl-2026-geelong-defender-jake-kolodjashnij-has-been-medically-retired","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/910257\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL 2026: Geelong defender Jake Kolodjashnij has been medically retired"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Geelong defender Jake Kolodjashnij has been medically retired just months after his concussion waiver went public.<\/p>\n<p>Kolodjashnij signed a form with Geelong several seasons ago, removing his rights for a future legal case should he suffer a brain injury.<\/p>\n<p>The news broke last month and the 209-gamer did not feature at any level afterwards.<\/p>\n<p>Geelong was fined for failing to inform the AFL Players\u2019 Association of its agreement but did not face any further punishment.<\/p>\n<p>Kolodjashnij spoke for the first time via a Geelong statement on Tuesday, thanking the club for the time offered. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am so grateful for the many fond relationships and memories the Geelong Football Club has provided me,\u201d Kolodjashnij said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFootball has been such a significant part of my life. I feel lucky to have shared it with some of my closest friends, and to have had the on-field success that we had during my time at the Club.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kolodjashnij played in the Cats\u2019 2022 premiership against Sydney, but as football boss Andrew Mackie said, his contribution extended further off the field.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe earned enormous respect through the way he approached his football, the care he showed for his teammates and his unwavering team-first attitude,\u201d Mackie said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJake built a reputation as one of the competition\u2019s most reliable defenders, his coaches and teammates had complete confidence he would take on whatever role was required and get the job done.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis career has been defined by consistency, resilience and selflessness. The determination and professionalism he displayed throughout his journey are qualities that made him such a valued teammate and person within our football club.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJake should be incredibly proud of everything he has achieved across his career, as we certainly are.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn behalf of everyone at the Geelong Football Club, we thank Jake for his contribution and wish him, Amelia and Leni all the very best for the future. They will always be a valued part of the Geelong Cats family.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Originally published as <a class=\"body-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.news.com.au\/sport\/afl\/afl-2026-geelong-defender-jake-kolodjashnij-has-been-medically-retired\/news-story\/7c4e4b895c5cfa7af394050737e3906f\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">AFL 2026: Geelong defender Jake Kolodjashnij has been medically retired<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Geelong defender Jake Kolodjashnij has been medically retired just months after his concussion waiver went public. Kolodjashnij signed&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":910258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[325111,478298,478297,413400,478300,478296,401028,478276,638,231397,478245,478299,425680,25103,64,63,55,639,378532,4990,478233,56057,434117,426639,596,478295,13658,478303,379545,478250,478307,455538,478246,423709,478308,377197,478237,478301,1910,376735,418737,67651,478273,478240,381011,43961,419421,478306,478259,478243,478302,85,478277,478238,670,478305,416839,390670,112480,378744,382205,380422,478294,478271,377453,376549,131558,478275,478304,438727,380914,478257,478263,376539,407486,214758,28333,478274],"class_list":["post-910257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-my-life","tag-2022-premiership","tag-a-brain-injury-the-news","tag-a-form","tag-a-future-legal-case","tag-a-geelong-statement","tag-a-reputation","tag-a-valued-part","tag-afl","tag-afl-2026","tag-amelia-and-leni","tag-any-further-punishment-kolodjashnij","tag-any-level","tag-association","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-behalf","tag-cat","tag-complete-confidence","tag-consistency","tag-defenders","tag-enormous-respect","tag-football","tag-football-boss-andrew-mackie","tag-geelong","tag-geelong-defender-jake-kolodjashnij","tag-his-career","tag-his-coaches-and-teammates","tag-his-concussion-waiver","tag-his-contribution","tag-his-football","tag-his-journey","tag-his-rights","tag-his-teammates","tag-his-unwavering-team-first-attitude","tag-its-agreement","tag-jake","tag-just-months","tag-kolodjashnij","tag-last-month","tag-mackie","tag-my-closest-friends","tag-my-time","tag-newswire-sport","tag-our-football-club","tag-publicised-deal","tag-qualities","tag-resilience-and-selflessness","tag-several-seasons","tag-sports","tag-such-a-significant-part","tag-such-a-valued-teammate-and-person","tag-sydney","tag-the-209-gamer","tag-the-afl-players","tag-the-care","tag-the-cats","tag-the-centre","tag-the-club","tag-the-competition","tag-the-controversial-concussion-waiver","tag-the-determination-and-professionalism","tag-the-field","tag-the-first-time","tag-the-future","tag-the-geelong-cats-family","tag-the-geelong-defender","tag-the-geelong-football-club","tag-the-job","tag-the-many-fond-relationships-and-memories","tag-the-on-field-success","tag-the-time","tag-the-very-best","tag-the-way","tag-tuesday","tag-whatever-role"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/910257","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=910257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/910257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/910258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=910257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=910257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=910257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}