Audits, deals, and jobs: The Cats’ third party payments storm
A string of incidents leading up to an audit into third party payments at the Cats has raised eyebrows across the league, but what is really going on?
Geelong
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On the third Wednesday of October last year, rain poured on Kardinia Park.
It seemed apt, the club was licking its wounds following a crushing preliminary final loss a month earlier, Tom Hawkins and Zach Tuohy had hung the boots up, and it felt as though a number of ageing superstars would follow in the coming years, potentially missing their final chance at a cup.
But up the highway, in the bowels of the Marvel Stadium, a closed roof ignoring the outside storm, the club’s future was frantically being sorted.
Renowned for their shrewdness, general manager of football Andrew Mackie and co were wheeling and dealing, on their way to securing superstar Dog Bailey Smith.
The deal was a long time coming, other suitors had been suggested, but none had been taken seriously.
Smith to the Cats had been a forgone conclusion in the eyes of many since the beginning of the year.
But why did the most marketable man in the AFL choose Geelong?
Smith, at the time, cited the club’s well documented work-life balance, as well as the people already at the club in an interview with AFL.com.
Despite these reasons, it was Smith’s deal with the Cats elite level sponsors Cotton On that drew the ire of footy fans.
Third party payments have long been a controversial topic, persistent dark clouds on the horizon in AFL circles.
In 2012 the league reviewed its rules around them in part due to a lucrative $200.000 a year deal between Carlton superstar Chris Judd and club sponsor Visy struck four years earlier.
Since then, these payments have been scrutinised by league officials with fine tooth combs.
Essentially, the rules now mean that any arrangement where a player or coach performs work for a club sponsor must be lodged with and approved by the league, which must be satisfied that it is a bona fide commercial deal where the work genuinely warrants the payment received.
Earlier this year, it was revealed the Cats would be subject to an audit, with Seven’s Caroline Wilson revealing this week the fines were expected following “discrepancies” regarding third party payments found in said audit.
“The audit is virtually finished,” Wilson said.
“The AFL accepts this, but there have been discrepancies, there have been lodgements that should have been noted that weren’t, and they will lead to several five-figure fines, whether they go beyond five figures, I can’t tell you.
“I do know that one major lodgement issue was a car to a senior AFLW player that wasn’t lodged. And I think there might be a couple of other things as well.”
While there’s no suggestion from media circles the club has cheated league rules a string of incidents over the last year don’t seem to pass the pub test for many AFL fans.
Smith’s Cotton On deal was the first.
While some argue it may seem dodgy, others would argue Smith’s profile as the game’s most marketable player validates the deal.
Before ‘Bazlenka’ came to Geelong, he had already collaborated with the clothing company on multiple occasions.
But according to reports earlier this year, the deal raised eyebrows at his old club, the Western Bulldogs.
Bailey Smith was even pictured at the Cats’ 2024 losing preliminary final sitting with Cotton On owner Nigel Austin’s business partner Ash Hardwick and Hawkins, still contracted at the Bulldogs.
Cotton On’s affiliation with the club runs deep, the club has a decked out corporate box at Kardinia Park and their North Geelong headquarters has merchandise dotted throughout.
The connection was even mentioned as a key reason Smith might choose the Cats by Jon Ralph as far back as July last year, months before trade period.
Earlier this week Bailey Smith directly addressed the Cotton On deal on the Real Stuff podcast.
“And they (people) throw around this sponsor Cotton On thing, they haven’t paid me any extra, they haven’t done any of that sh** which is what pisses me off,” he said.
“I’ve chosen to go just for bigger reasons and stuff that’s not tangible.
“It’s not any money, it’s just the way that it makes me feel.”
More furore came when, in the same month, it came to light Smith’s new coach, the legendary Chris Scott, was appointed as elite sponsor Morris finance’s chief of leadership and performance.
There was no indication that the arrangement was not legitimate, in fact it had apparently been ticked off by the AFL two years earlier.
But it’s understood the league took issue with some of the club’s intellectual property being used.
An investigation came and went with the AFL refusing to reveal its findings.
In December, another story broke.
Sy Giang Nguyen, one of the two men accused of defrauding disability provider genU, reportedly proposed a loan arrangement to superstar ex-player Joel Selwood in 2013.
It’s understood Mr Selwood was named in a contract as the lender of $100,000 to Sy Giang Nguyen, it’s unknown if the transaction was ever completed.
Newtown man Sy Giang Nguyen, 57, and 74-year-old Keith Roger Greenwood, of Lara, as well as Mr Greenwood’s company Ryrie Office Machines, are being sued by genU.
Ryrie Office Machines were a corporate sponsor of the Cats as of December.
Again, there is no direct implication that Selwood, or the Cats for that matter, did anything wrong, but tongues wagged nonetheless.
According to Wilson, the audit is now essentially finished, the storm has all but passed.
While it’s understood Geelong are expecting a few fines, there will be no “smoking guns,” or significant punishment for that matter.
Scott alluded to that on Thursday.
“If the AFL have shared some information with journalists that they haven’t shared with us, we’d prefer it happened in the reverse order but we certainly haven’t heard anything that gives us any cause for concern,” Scott said.
“And when I say any, I mean as close to zero as you can imagine.”
Originally published as Audits, deals, and jobs: The Cats’ third party payments storm
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