Margalit Injury Lawyers Managing Principal Michel Margalit has called for urgent reform to the compensation protections available to professional footballers suffering concussion-related injuries in an opinion piece published in today’s Geelong Advertiser.

In “AFL safety coming to a head”, Michel reflects on the experiences of former footballers living with the long-term consequences of repeated head trauma and questions whether Australia’s existing system provides them with an adequate safety net.

Professional athletes are currently excluded from workers’ compensation legislation. Michel notes that one of the historical reasons given for that exclusion was that sporting professionals would generally be protected through alternative insurance arrangements. However, that position has become increasingly difficult to reconcile with the protections now available to AFL players. Michel highlights the removal of head-trauma cover from insurance provided through players’ superannuation, as well as the limitations of the AFL Players Association Hardship Fund. She argues that compensation for brain-injured players should not depend upon a system administered within the same football ecosystem in which competing interests exist.

Instead, Michel is calling for neutrality, independence and government intervention, including reconsideration of the legislative exclusion preventing professional footballers from accessing workers’ compensation.

The issue was considered by the 2023 parliamentary inquiry into concussion and repeated head trauma in contact sports, which recommended removing the legislative workers’ compensation exclusion.

As Michel writes: “No Australian worker, footballer or otherwise, should be left out in the cold.”

Margalit Injury Lawyers is proud to advocate for the rights of AFL players through this class action.

Michel’s full opinion piece, “AFL safety coming to a head”, appears in the Geelong Advertiser, 17 August 2026.