Geelong midfielder Tom Atkins is adamant the club’s concussion saga has not been a distraction for the players as they prepare for Friday night’s elimination final against Carlton at the MCG.
The Cats were last week fined $140,000 for failing to officially inform the AFL about the concussion waiver in Jake Kolodjashnij’s contract.
The penalty is $100,000 plus a suspended sanction of $40,000, which stems from the league fining Geelong last October after an investigation into the club’s third-party agreements.
Kolodjashnij, who came forward as the player involved shortly after the story broke and has not played at any level since, returned to the club last week ahead of the finals.
Asked on Monday whether he or another player had a discussion around a similar concussion agreement, Atkins said: “No.”
“Our focus has been performing on the weekends and we just wanted to make sure Kola [Kolodjashnij] was all right as teammates and as friends,” Atkins said.
“That’s probably the extent of the detail that we looked into it as players.”
Atkins said it was “awesome” to have Kolodjashnij around the club, now the finals had arrived.
“Obviously we’d love him to be back playing and back in training, but hopefully that can get itself sorted soon,” Atkins said.
“But just having him in the rooms and seeing him smiling again is good.”
AAP
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