Cats Cop A Please Explain, And Fair Enough Too

Well, well, well. Head office has finally pulled its head out of the sand and asked Geelong to please explain this concussion contract business with Jake Kolodjashnij, and about time too. Been going on for months this one, quietly, in the background, while the Cats kept winning footy games and everyone looked the other way.

For those who’ve missed it, or chosen to, Kolodjashnij’s contract apparently has clauses in it relating to his concussion history, the sort of thing that makes an old bloke like me put down his cuppa and go “hang on a tick.” I’m not a lawyer, never wanted to be one, but you don’t need a law degree to know that mixing player contracts with head knocks is about as sensible as sending a bloke back on with a wobbly leg because the trainer reckons he’ll be right.

The AFL Can’t Have It Both Ways

Now I’ll say this for the AFL, and it doesn’t happen often in this column, good on them for actually asking the question. Because for years now we’ve had concussion this and concussion that rammed down our throats, doctors this, protocols that, and fair enough, the game’s changed and we all know blokes from my era are paying for it now in ways nobody talks about at the pub. But you can’t spend a decade lecturing clubs about duty of care and then let a contract like this slide through unnoticed. Someone at League HQ was either asleep at the wheel or didn’t want to look too hard, and neither one’s a good look.

The AFL alleges there are elements of the arrangement that need clarifying, and Geelong’s been asked to explain how it squares with the concussion and health protocols the whole competition supposedly signed up to. That’s the polite way of saying somebody upstairs isn’t happy and wants answers before the pitchforks come out.

What Exactly Is In This Thing?

Details have been thin on the ground, which in my experience means there’s something in there nobody’s proud of. Reports suggest the contract has performance or appearance-based elements tied in some way to his concussion history and management going forward. If that’s true, and I stress if, because nothing’s been proven and the Cats deserve their say before we start hanging them, then you can understand why eyebrows have gone up all round the competition.

Because think about the position that puts a player in. A bloke who’s copped one too many knocks to the head, trying to work out whether he’s right to play again, and in the back of his mind there’s a contract that might be nudging him one way or the other. That’s not footy, that’s not what any of us signed up for watching this game, and it’s certainly not what it was about back in my day when a concussion meant the runner came out, gave you a whiff of something under your nose and sent you back out to finish the quarter. Different times, I know, and thank god we’ve moved on from that particular brand of stupidity. But we can’t lurch from one extreme to the other and end up with contracts that muddy the water on player welfare either.

Geelong’s Not Alone In This, Let’s Be Fair

Now before every Cats fan in the state starts sending me angry letters, and believe me they will, I’m not saying Geelong’s some rogue outfit trying to pull a swifty. This is a club that’s been as well run as any in the competition for twenty years, premierships to prove it, and Chris Scott’s not the sort of bloke who’d sign off on something dodgy with his eyes open. It’s entirely possible this contract was drafted with good intentions, trying to protect both player and club given his history, and it’s got twisted up in the reading of it.

But that’s exactly why you need the AFL asking the please explain. Because if a genuinely well-run club like Geelong can end up with a contract raising these sorts of questions, imagine what’s sitting in the bottom drawer at some of the competition’s less scrupulous list management departments. This isn’t really about Geelong being the villain here, it’s about the whole system needing a decent look under the bonnet.

Head Office Loves A Rule, Hates Enforcing One

And this is where my old-man grumble comes in, because it always does eventually. The AFL absolutely loves tinkering with rules, we’ve had more interpretations of what a mark is than I’ve had hot dinners, and don’t get me started on the whole deliberate out of bounds carry-on. But when it comes to something that actually matters, genuine player welfare, contracts that might compromise it, they’ve been slow as a wet week to actually front up and ask the hard questions.

Back in my day the VFL, and yes I know it’s the AFL now, don’t write in, wouldn’t have had the first clue what a concussion contract even was, mainly because contracts back then were a handshake and a carton of beer. But we also didn’t understand the first thing about what repeated head knocks actually do to a bloke over forty years, so let’s not pretend it was all sunshine and lollipops either.

What Needs To Happen From Here

• Geelong needs to lay the contract out plainly, no legal jargon, so supporters and the competition understand exactly what’s been agreed
• The AFL needs to use this as the excuse to finally standardise how concussion history gets handled in contract negotiations league-wide, not just slap Geelong’s wrist and move on
• Kolodjashnij’s welfare, not the club’s premiership window, needs to be front and centre of whatever comes out of this

Because at the end of the day this bloke’s played his heart out for that club, been part of a premiership, and deserves better than being a headline in a please explain letter. If the contract’s fine, clear the air quick smart and let him get on with his footy. If it’s not fine, fix it, and don’t let vested interests anywhere near the fix.

The Bigger Picture, As Always

This saga’s bigger than one contract and one club, it’s a test of whether the AFL’s concussion talk is fair dinkum or just good PR when the cameras are rolling. I’ve watched this competition change more in the last fifteen years than the previous fifty, some of it good, plenty of it debateable, but on head knocks there’s no room for cutting corners or clever contract wording. Get it right, Geelong, get it right AFL, and let’s not be back here again in twelve months with another club’s version of the same headache.