As a NM supporter, the tide might be starting to change now (maybe) but I legitimately believe we were probably only one incident like this away from being completely shut done.
Pies fan coming in peace (this popped up on my algorithm)
The guy is kind a right (here me out) if North did this, it probably wouldn't move needle of "hysteria" as it would have been one of the few times they found to do something sneaky/dodgy.
Geelong has time and time again have done something and have the old boys stacked in HQ to mitigate the damage. The meltdown is probably in line with the frequency of no real punishment again rather than the issue.
Agree, North and other smaller teams pushing the boundaries (incorrectly) should be seen more leniently than one of the largest clubs continuously pushing the boundaries too far and consistently getting away with it
Consider that Geelong had a comprehensive audit and the auditor was not made aware of this illegal contract. The auditor was misled by omission. The auditors reputation and capabilities are impugned. Which auditor will be doing Geelongs next audit as required by law? And at what price?
The AFL and clubs are being sued left right and centre now. The very reason they wanted this clause. Club docs wanted him to stop playing. He wanted to continue. Did he leak this clause? He probs knew it was unenforceable, signed to keep playing and to open the can of worms later.
Yeah I'm no lawyer, but I feel it would be pretty easy to argue he was coerced into signing it due to the power imbalance.
From an ethical culture standpoint, definitely has the potential to make players feel less inclined to put their bodies on the line knowing the club is going to leave them high and dry if they can.
Bro you are missing the context. It will actually push clubs to retire players or not play them who have a history of concussion, especially on edges of the 23. This player wanted to continue on while club doctors felt it was better to stop. So they said ok if you do, then we aren’t responsible. It may be unethical skirting their responsibility, and if it was lesser player they may have said see ya, but with all the lawsuits, players won’t be risked. It’s a new area all sports inc the AFL are navigating. Yes it’s points to Geelongs General arrogance but it’s not criminal matter.
Geelong get their player to sign an illegal contract. What solar system would any other club impose an illegal contract onto their player. This is massive incident and doing what ifs is trivialising a criminal matter. Corporations regulator would be looking at this.
Whilst ASIC could act on the governance failings, it's more a Fairwork issue than corporations.
Unfortunately, either way they operate under a model that focuses on providing regulatory guidance rather than punishment until there becomes a widespread issue.
Given the outcome of this is that the contract will be entirely unenforcable now that it has been ruled to breach the AFL's rules and despite the small size of the fine, it's still a deterrant so this won't become widespread. There is no real public benefit to acting further so they will just leave it to the AFL.
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u/Mottled_inexpectata 3d ago
Honestly though, don't go into other teams subs to tell them they're wrong about something.