Geelong is under scrutiny as the AFL conducts an audit into third-party player payments, veteran journalist Caroline Wilson has revealed.
The league and the club have confirmed the ongoing audit, which began last year and has blown up again after Wilson’s explosive claims.
‘This is not an investigation – those in the know are at pains to tell me today – it’s an audit, and there are audits going on with third-party payments around the competition,’ Wilson said on Seven’s Agenda Setters.
The AFL’s move follows growing concerns over financial arrangements involving high-profile figures at the club.
One case involves Geelong coach Chris Scott’s partnership with Morris Finance, a major club sponsor.
Scott was listed as a leadership consultant for the company, with payments made outside his official AFL contract.
Veteran AFL reporter Caroline Wilson has revealed Geelong is being audited by the league
The audit began in late 2024 and is ongoing heading into the regular season after last weekend’s Opening Round
Coach Chris Scott’s arrangement with club sponsor Morris Finance is expected to come under scrutiny again
The AFL intervened, forcing the club to classify part of the payments within its soft cap.
Another case involves a $100,000 loan linked to a former club sponsor and former Geelong captain Joel Selwood.
The deal reportedly stood to earn Selwood $10,000. While there is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Selwood, the arrangement raised eyebrows at AFL headquarters.
Wilson suggested that these financial dealings prompted further scrutiny.
‘There have been rumours, unfair, about Geelong for many years now, but I think that those two stories – the Morris Finance deal and the old story about Joel Selwood – sparked this audit.’
The AFL maintains that the audit is part of its broader financial oversight measures, but league officials are being particularly thorough in Geelong’s case.
‘They are looking, and they are looking deep,’ Wilson stated.
Geelong’s ability to attract top-tier talent has long sparked speculation among rival clubs.
Rival clubs have long questioned how Geelong is capable of regularly poaching top-tier talent, like premiership winner Jeremy Cameron
New recruit Bailey Smith and his arrangement with Cotton On is also likely to come under the microscope in the audit
The signings of Bailey Smith and Jeremy Cameron are among the most high-profile moves in recent years.
While there is no evidence of wrongdoing in these recruitments, clubs such as Melbourne, the Western Bulldogs, and GWS have raised concerns over third-party arrangements involving players.
‘The Melbourne Football Club raised questions about who Clayton Oliver spoke to and what was involved in that potential deal last year,’ Wilson reported.
‘The Bulldogs remain very, very angry about what went on with Bailey Smith and the club. GWS, ditto, Jeremy Cameron.’
Geelong is not the first club to face scrutiny over financial dealings.
The AFL has previously punished clubs for salary cap breaches, with Carlton’s 2002 case being the most severe.
The Blues were fined $930,000 and stripped of draft picks after breaching the cap by over $1million.
Melbourne faced a similar scandal in 1999, resulting in a $600,000 fine and the loss of a draft pick. In 2012, the Adelaide Crows were hit with heavy penalties for an illegal contract deal with Kurt Tippett, losing key draft selections.
While the AFL’s audit of Geelong has yet to yield any official findings, the process is being closely watched.
‘The AFL is at pains to say this is an audit; there won’t be findings necessarily announced if nothing is found,’ Wilson said. ‘But they are looking.’
