https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/news/concussion-victims-angus-brayshaw-nathan-murphy-and-paul-seedsman-at-centre-of-multimillion-dollar-insurance-stoush/news-story/9efc23f007515146b77eac62a057bd7f

3 medically retired players including Gus

Seem to have their insurance payouts delayed by Zurich Insurance

Whether or not this is true is debatable however Zurich reputation is being tarnished and our club could cop peripheral damage

There seems lots at play here.

Insurance company being an Insurance company, but also the local branch sponsoring the football club that one of them played for and league approved Insurance policies... step back and take the emotion out of it -

The players will be saying they can't work - true from a football perspective, not necessarily true from an Insurance point of view where they could work in another job - so are watching them like a hawk to see if normal day to day life stacks up with the premise they are unable to work from a physical point of view - fascinating stuff.

Without knowing the wording of the policies- its pure speculation as to the rights of the players vs the rights of the Insurance company.

I remember Luc Longley screwing his ankle up and retiring from the NBA and when Bogut retired from the NBA - they had to tread a very fine line, not working in any capacity to ensure multimillion dollar Insurance payouts. I guess we are finally seeing that here with medical retirements now far more common with head injuries.

Still for the life of me can't work out how payouts following medical retirements while contracted remain in the salary cap in any capacity. Obviously the concern is being dodgy - doing big deals and being able to wipe them off the books with some trickery. But the space is different now with concussions literally wiping players out of the competition instantly

7 minutes ago, Sideshow Bob said:

There seems lots at play here.

Insurance company being an Insurance company, but also the local branch sponsoring the football club that one of them played for and league approved Insurance policies... step back and take the emotion out of it -

The players will be saying they can't work - true from a football perspective, not necessarily true from an Insurance point of view where they could work in another job - so are watching them like a hawk to see if normal day to day life stacks up with the premise they are unable to work from a physical point of view - fascinating stuff.

Without knowing the wording of the policies- its pure speculation as to the rights of the players vs the rights of the Insurance company.

I remember Luc Longley screwing his ankle up and retiring from the NBA and when Bogut retired from the NBA - they had to tread a very fine line, not working in any capacity to ensure multimillion dollar Insurance payouts. I guess we are finally seeing that here with medical retirements now far more common with head injuries.

Still for the life of me can't work out how payouts following medical retirements while contracted remain in the salary cap in any capacity. Obviously the concern is being dodgy - doing big deals and being able to wipe them off the books with some trickery. But the space is different now with concussions literally wiping players out of the competition instantly

Good summary , many of my thoughts expanded

1 hour ago, Satan said:

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/news/concussion-victims-angus-brayshaw-nathan-murphy-and-paul-seedsman-at-centre-of-multimillion-dollar-insurance-stoush/news-story/9efc23f007515146b77eac62a057bd7f

3 medically retired players including Gus

Seem to have their insurance payouts delayed by Zurich Insurance

Whether or not this is true is debatable however Zurich reputation is being tarnished and our club could cop peripheral damage

If I’m the board I’m calling Zurich’s corporate boss and telling them to sort this or we sack them as sponsors

This is that serious

1 minute ago, Superunknown said:

If I’m the board I’m calling Zurich’s corporate boss and telling them to sort this or we sack them as sponsors

This is that serious

"Pay out a compo claim or we will stop taking your money" not sure how that would work exactly

6 minutes ago, Superunknown said:

If I’m the board I’m calling Zurich’s corporate boss and telling them to sort this or we sack them as sponsors

This is that serious

Not exactly how Sponsorship works.

14 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

"Pay out a compo claim or we will stop taking your money" not sure how that would work exactly

They want brand recognition - “we got rid of them as they are acting in bad faith”

ASIC is investigating - it’s obviously serious

You can put whatever spin on it you like

9 minutes ago, beelzebub said:

Not exactly how Sponsorship works.

I understand how sponsorship works

Insurers really are the scum of the earth.

2 hours ago, Sideshow Bob said:

The players will be saying they can't work - true from a football perspective, not necessarily true from an Insurance point of view where they could work in another job - so are watching them like a hawk to see if normal day to day life stacks up with the premise they are unable to work from a physical point of view - fascinating stuff.

There was an interview with Paul Seedsman a little while ago and if the way he described how he was going then I highly doubt he’s fit for any work of any sort. Migraines and vertigo on a daily basis, permanent brain fog and so on. I hope that isn’t what Gus (or any of the other medically retired players) is going through.

2 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

"Pay out a compo claim or we will stop taking your money" not sure how that would work exactly

"We'll do for you what we did for Energy Watch"

2 hours ago, Sideshow Bob said:

Still for the life of me can't work out how payouts following medical retirements while contracted remain in the salary cap in any capacity. Obviously the concern is being dodgy - doing big deals and being able to wipe them off the books with some trickery. But the space is different now with concussions literally wiping players out of the competition instantly

it should be emphasised that in these cases however it is different because it was the afl medical officer who forced the retirements

no scope for club trickery here

2 hours ago, KozzyCan said:

Insurers really are the scum of the earth.

Having worked for one in the past I can attest to this.

10 minutes ago, Nasher said:

There was an interview with Paul Seedsman a little while ago and if the way he described how he was going then I highly doubt he’s fit for any work of any sort. Migraines and vertigo on a daily basis, permanent brain fog and so on. I hope that isn’t what Gus (or any of the other medically retired players) is going through.

I just read that too. The other part worth considering is that sure, these players may recover and be able to work in some capacity, but when they’re at the point of being medically retired, the symptoms they’re dealing with won’t just go away. They’ll have good days and bad days (potentially). So, their earning capacity has changed significantly at this point. I think Paul Seedsman mentioned occasionally having to spend days in bed bc the effects can still be incapacitating.

2 hours ago, KozzyCan said:

Insurers really are the scum of the earth.

Coming from a village in thenorthern Rivers NSW and seeing over half our town go under fort the first time ever, the majority of people flooded got royally screwed around.

One of our friends who got flooded were told by her insurance company to stump up the $5k excess before they would even send an assessor out.

We had no internet or proper phone coverage to even get the money to them but they still refused to lodge the claim. Her and her son's just had a few bags of clothes.

3 years to get things rebuilt.

Luck you're with xxxx

They're all the same though

19 minutes ago, Supermercado said:

"We'll do for you what we did for Energy Watch"

2 hours ago, Superunknown said:

If I’m the board I’m calling Zurich’s corporate boss and telling them to sort this or we sack them as sponsors

This is that serious

Not sure it would be wise to risk a breach of contract situation with a billion dollar insurance company.

Surely this is AFL arranged insurance. If there is an almighty concussion loophole it reflects on them.

I don't see how the club is in any position to do anything.

The flip side to no insurance pay out is that the AFL and MFC could be liable.

A lot of water to go under the bridge but that's the AFL nightmare scenario

Surely the AFL didn't cheap out on the policy and have been found out when it's payout time?

1 hour ago, 710 Asbury St said:

I just read that too. The other part worth considering is that sure, these players may recover and be able to work in some capacity, but when they’re at the point of being medically retired, the symptoms they’re dealing with won’t just go away. They’ll have good days and bad days (potentially). So, their earning capacity has changed significantly at this point. I think Paul Seedsman mentioned occasionally having to spend days in bed bc the effects can still be incapacitating.

Yup very sad, Seed is coaching part time at my old club in Adelaide (Walkerville). and he has mornings where he physically cannot get out of bed, literally his brain isnt speaking to his body and he can't move, take him the whole day to get moving.

Very hard to be employed and commit when any day could be like this. real nice guy too. Not that that changes anything.

4 hours ago, Superunknown said:

If I’m the board I’m calling Zurich’s corporate boss and telling them to sort this or we sack them as sponsors

This is that serious

Yes I'm sure Zurich will be reeling from the loss...

Having read about the lengths they're going to in order to avoid concussion payouts (including to Angus), I hope the club severs ties with them. It's a poor look in my opinion having their brand all over our merchandise when they can't even pony up a payout for one of past champions.

I don't care what they pay us. Hopefully Guerra and co. can find a new main sponsor.

I was just about to post this

Last week I started a thread ,this week this is further embarrassment to the club with the insurance company

I can't buy Melbourne merch because I'm embarrassed to walk around advertising corporate villainy.

It's Insurance 101