Geelong is under scrutiny, since the AFL performs an audit in the payments of third -party players, veteran journalist Caroline Wilson revealed.
The League and the Club have confirmed the current audit, which began last year and has flown again after Wilson's explosive claims.
“This is not an investigation, those who know strive to tell me today, it is an audit, and there are audits with third -party payments around the competition,” Wilson said in the Setters of the Seven Agenda.
The AFL movement follows the growing concerns about financial agreements involving high profile figures in the club.
A case involves the Association of Geelong Chris Scott coach with Morris Finance, an important club sponsor.
Scott appeared as leadership consultant for the company, with payments made outside its official AFL contract.
The veteran reporter of the AFL, Caroline Wilson, has revealed that Geelong is being audited by the league
The audit began at the end of 2024 and continues in the regular season after the opening round last weekend
The agreement of coach Chris Scott is expected with the sponsor of the Morris Finance Club to be scrutinized again
AFL intervened, forcing the club to classify part of payments within its soft limit.
Another case involves a $ 100,000 loan linked to a former club sponsor and former Geelong captain, Joel Selwood.
According to the reports, the agreement stood up to win Selwood $ 10,000. While there is no suggestion of irregularities by Selwood, the agreement raised the eyebrows at the AFL headquarters.
Wilson suggested that these financial treatment caused greater scrutiny.
“There have been rumors, unfair, about Geelong for many years, but I think that these two stories, Morris's finance agreement and the ancient story about Joel Selwood, caused this audit.”
The AFL argues that the audit is part of its broader financial supervision measures, but the League officials are being particularly exhaustive in the case of Geelong.
“They are looking and looking deeply,” Wilson said.
Geelong's ability to attract first level talent has caused speculation between rival clubs.
Rival clubs have long questioned how Geelong is able to regularly hunt first level talent, such as the winner of the Premier League Jeremy Cameron
It is likely that the new recruit Bailey Smith and its arrangement with the cotton on are under the microscope in the audit
Bailey Smith and Jeremy Cameron signings are among the most high profile movements in recent years.
While there is no evidence of irregularities in these recruits, clubs such as Melbourne, Western Bulldogs and GWs have expressed concerns about third -party arrangements involving players.
“Melbourne's football club raised questions about who Clayton Oliver spoke and what was involved in that possible agreement last year,” Wilson said.
'The Bulldogs remain very, very angry about what happened with Bailey Smith and the club. GWS, Idem, Jeremy Cameron.
Geelong is not the first club to face the scrutiny about financial treatment.
The AFL has previously punished clubs for salary offenses, with the 2002 case of Carlton as the most severe.
The blues were fined $ 930,000 and stripped of draft selections after violating the limit by more than $ 1 million.
Melbourne faced a similar scandal in 1999, which resulted in a fine of $ 600,000 and the loss of a draft selection. In 2012, Adelaide Crows were beaten with strong sanctions for an illegal contract with Kurt Tippett, losing key drafts selections.
Although Geelong's AFL audit has not yet produced any official finding, the process is being observed closely.
'AFL strives to say that this is an audit; There will be no findings necessarily announced if nothing is found, 'said Wilson. 'But they are looking.'