In 2024, Geelong struck a secret agreement with an an undisclosed player, who took on legal responsibility for future brain trauma in a bid to exonerate the club and its medical staff from court action down the line.
The bombshell concussion case emerged on Thursday and pressure has continued to mount on the league and the Cats after the AFL didn't hand down any punishment that night.
On Friday afternoon, Geelong chief executive Steve Hocking said he had signed off on the deal and confirmed the "please explain" notice.
"I take responsibility for the fact that we didn't lodge it with the AFL and the (AFL)PA," Hocking told reporters in Geelong.
"... Whatever the AFL decide to do from here is up to them.
"I have received a letter of please explain from the AFL in relation to this matter, so we'll deal with that over the coming days."
The notice is a marked change in direction from Thursday night's statement.
Calling it a "complex and unique case", the AFL insisted it was "satisfied that the letter was not used by Geelong to allow a medically unfit player to return to play".
Geelong also issued a statement, saying they would remove the waiver from the contract.
"The club was not attempting to vary the terms of the AFL standard playing contract, or attempting to avoid its responsibilities under health and safety laws," the Geelong statement read.
New AFL Commission chair Craig Drummond was the president of the Geelong board when the deal was struck.
Drummond was not mentioned in the AFL statement.
Deciding not to front the media to explain the situation, Drummond issued a three-line statement on Thursday night calling concussion a "challenging medical and legal issue for all contact sports globally".
Fremantle veteran Mason Cox was among those unimpressed by the waiver, telling Nova 100 it was "very poor behaviour" and slammed the concept of doing "backdoor deals" without the players' union's involvement.
Melbourne captain Max Gawn told Triple M Melbourne on Friday that he wouldn't sign the waiver.
Former Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett also lamented the concussion waiver as "totally inappropriate", saying a doctor on the club's board wouldn't have ticked it off.
"This would never have been allowed, even if some of the board members said, 'let's do it.' It's just inconceivable," Kennett told 3AW.
Multiple AFL players, including former Melbourne star Angus Brayshaw, champion West Coast defender Jeremy McGovern and former No.1 pick Paddy McCartin, were forced into retirement due to repeated concussions.
Several deceased players, including Danny Frawley, Shane Tuck and Graham 'Polly' Farmer, were posthumously diagnosed with degenerative brain disease Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).
There is also a multimillion-dollar concussion class action against the AFL, led by former Geelong defender Max Rooke, in the Supreme Court of Victoria that is set to go to trial next year.
