‘Deceitful’ or ‘incompetent’?: Bartel turns heat up on Cats
Geelong champion Jimmy Bartel has called out his old club for its public commentary surrounding the concussion waiver clause signed by defender Jake Kolodjashnij, which made him responsible for future brain-related injuries and not the club.
The secret waiver was not lodged with the AFL or the AFL Players’ Association and Kolodjashnij’s manager was also not involved in the process.
Steve Hocking and Chris Scott. Getty Images
The story broke on Thursday, with the league initially happy with the contract being torn up and everyone moving on.
However, external pressure then led to a ‘please explain’ being issued, with reports the Cats are looking at potentially a six-figure fine.
Geelong chief Steve Hocking on Friday explained the lack of lodgement as a “misstep”, not a deliberate attempt to evade scrutiny.
“I take responsibility for the fact that we didn’t lodge it with the AFL and the AFLPA,” Hocking told reporters.
“There’s no reason (why we didn’t lodge it), it was just a misstep in the process.”
That comment, however, isn’t flying with Bartel, who says he struggles to believe that version of events.
“This is not a misstep. (These are) incredibly experienced people, not only in the corporate world, but AFL world,” Bartel told Nine’s Today.
“So it’s either incompetence or a deceitful act to circumnavigate a standard playing contract.”
Bartel has called on the AFL and Geelong to release the full details of what transpired before appropriate penalties are dished out.
“The initial response from Geelong and the AFL wasn’t good enough, and I don’t think the general public will just accept this passing by,” he said on Monday.
“(There needs to be) an open and honest discussion regarding concussion across contact sport and players’ agency to choose what they do moving forward. Where Geelong has come unstuck is this side contract they’ve had and that’s where they’re going to feel the wrath of many in the AFL world.
“Any contract needs to go to the AFL and the AFLPA and this is where questions will be raised as to who was in the meeting, why his agent was not involved, the concussion board didn’t give him a green light or a red light. Hopefully, we get to the bottom of all of this.
“This needs to be out in the light to see how we got to this point. Everyone’s thinking of Jake, it’s a shame that it’s his personal medical records, but why do we have a contract that sits aside from that.”
Fellow Geelong legend Joel Selwood, meanwhile, was more sympathetic and diplomatic with his old side.
Geelong’s Jake Kolodjashnij, pictured in April, has identified himself as the player involved in the agreement. AFL Photos
“What I do know is all of the people involved extremely well and in saying that, I can only think these people will be working for the best interests of the player and to think otherwise, I just couldn’t see it,” Selwood told 3AW on Saturday.
“The things they were trying to put in place, they called it a misstep, I can understand the misstep.
“Would I like to know more about it? Yes, we’ll find that out in time. Did we need to hear about it earlier? These things are so complex.
“It drops on Thursday, they work through it with the AFL and AFLPA all of Thursday. We hear from Steve Hocking on Friday. There’s going to be more to this and that will take a period of time. We’ll have to wait and see.
“Would like they to take it back? They probably would, but I imagine it was a thorough process with Kolodjashnij and his family and a legal representative.”
When asked on Friday if the club would do things differently if they had their time again, Hocking said there was “not a lot” they would do differently.
Hocking served as the AFL’s head of football operations between 2017 and 2021, serving as CEO Gillon McLachlan’s right-hand man, before taking up the role at Geelong.
The last time the AFL handed out a punishment for a secret contract waiver was to Adelaide in 2012, stripping them of draft picks and fining them $300,000 for salary cap manipulation with star player Kurt Tippett.
Scrutiny is also mounting on new AFL Commissioner Craig Drummond, who replaced the outgoing Richard Goyder. Drummond was president of Geelong in 2024 when this secret concussion waiver was agreed to and signed off by the board.
Collingwood champion Tony Shaw claims the veteran administrator needs to resign immediately.
“The Chairman of the AFL (Drummond) and Geelong CEO (Hocking) need to resign. If any board members of (the club) are privy to this agreement they need to resign,” he tweeted.
