Updated ,first published
James Peters, KC, is the independent counsel engaged by the AFL to assist its commission reach an outcome in the Geelong concussion probe.
Peters, a past president of the Victorian Bar who has a strong reputation in legal circles, has been hired to investigate how the Cats and Kolodjashnij reached an informed consent agreement which allowed the premiership defender to continue his career in 2024.
The Cats responded to a “please explain” from the league on Tuesday, with AFL chief executive officer Andrew Dillon receiving their submission.
Peters is expected to investigate and test the evidence contained in the Cats’ submission, including emails between the club and AFL officials.
Peters became a QC in 2003 and is heavily involved in Melbourne’s rowing community.
Industry sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity confirmed Peters would support the commission. Peters refused to comment when contacted by this masthead.
The Cats have conceded they failed to lodge the relevant document with the AFL even though agreements considered separate to the standard playing contract require approval from the AFL and the Players’ Association.
Craig Drummond, who is now AFL Commission chair, has recused himself from all Commission deliberations as he was Geelong president at the time the deal was struck.
Meanwhile, Geelong coach Chris Scott says he would like to give “an impassioned defence” of the people at his club who were involved in drafting the controversial agreement with Jake Kolodjashnij but would keep his counsel on the matter while an investigation was underway.
The Cats’ coach said he had not delved into the reasons why the defender was made unavailable for selection in either the VFL or AFL this weekend as the controversy continued about the agreement which contained, according to AFL chairman Craig Drummond, “a waiver”.
When asked whether Kolodjashnij would appear in a Geelong jumper again, Scott replied: “I couldn’t speculate on that”.
Geelong says the “waiver” clause was, in fact, an “acknowledgment of risk” and have provided the AFL with the communications they shared with the league during the two-month process it took to develop the informed consent agreement with Kolodjashnij.
That agreement was reached after the player received an “amber” ruling from the league’s independent concussion panel, meaning his future was left in the club’s hands.
They decided to work with Kolodjashnij to find a way for him to continue his career while ensuring he and his family understood the club doctor’s advice was that he should stop playing contact sport if he wanted to eliminate the risk of suffering further head injuries. The agreement was signed off by the Cats’ board but not lodged with the AFL, and the league’s players’ association were not consulted.
The league has appointed an independent King’s Counsel to support the AFL Commission in reaching a decision on what penalties the Cats may face for failing to lodge the agreement which was separate to his standard playing contract.
“There is part of me who would like to give an impassioned defence of certain people within our club, but I just don’t think that would help at the moment,” Scott said.
The coach said the players had remained positive and were supporting Kolodjashnij, who played in the club’s 2022 premiership, as he dealt with the uncertainty facing him.
“I think they are concerned that he is concerned that he feels like his privacy has been invaded here,” Scott said. “I suspect the players are saying, ‘hey mate, if there is anything we can do …’.”
Scott said he was not prepared to reveal any details of conversations he’d had with Kolodjashnij but he was confident his absence from the upcoming round wasn’t due to the toll the coverage of his case had taken on him in the past week.
“I’m pretty confident that’s not the case, but I’m just not informed as to the actual reason,” he said. “It just gets fed back to me that he’s unavailable, so I’m sure others know the reasons,” Scott said.
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