Admin errors, not ‘breaches’: How wine and a short vacation led to Geelong’s AFL fine

Gifts of wine and time spent at a club associate’s holiday house were among the undisclosed infractions discovered in the AFL’s audit into Geelong’s compliance of total player payments and soft cap rules.

The AFL ruled on Wednesday that the Cats had not broken salary cap or player movement rules, following a review of the period from 2019 to 2024.

But the club was fined $77,500, $40,000 of that suspended, following the exhaustive audit in which club officials’ phones, laptops and emails were examined and interviews conducted in a process that took much of the season.

The league said the Cats should have disclosed an academy training camp held at a club associate’s property. An industry source told this masthead of the breaches that led to the fines.

Clubs are required to detail any benefit to players or officials worth more than $1000 that they receive via a club associate.

Relevant club associates were also interviewed in the audit led by the AFL general counsel, Stephen Meade, GM of clubs and scheduling David Grossman and head of salary cap and soft cap compliance Jennifer Macmillan. EY Australia supported the process with external forensic expertise.

The audit took in the period when Jeremy Cameron, Isaac Smith and Bailey Smith were recruited to the club, and found no wrongdoing in relation to player movement or the total player payment rules.

The AFL acknowledged that fact in its statement released on Wednesday.

“The extended audit found, on the basis of the information obtained and reviewed by the AFL, that the club did not breach the AFL TPP limit nor the AFL player movement rules in any season within the timeframe assessed,” the statement said.

“In respect of the AFLW program, the non-disclosures identified were found to be administrative errors and do not amount to material breaches of the TPP rules or player movement rules,” the AFL said.

As part of its findings, the AFL ruled Geelong would have to complete additional compliance requirements, such as maintaining active registers of arrangements with club associates and third parties, expanded disclosure procedures involving club associates and improved internal governance protocols.

Such tightening of requirements are expected to spread across the competition as a result of the lessons learnt through the audit.

The audit of the Cats was initially announced in March this year amid industry speculation about the club’s recruitment of players, including when St Kilda coach Ross Lyon made comments at a function late in 2024.

The Cats also came under scrutiny when an existing deal between club sponsor Morris Finance and their coach Chris Scott was looked at and cleared by the AFL. Smith also has a marketing deal with Cotton On, which he signed while playing for the Western Bulldogs.

The league’s player payments team audits clubs every season.

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