AFL probes Tigers' property dealings
Damian Barrett | February 18, 2009
THE AFL has opened an investigation into former Richmond president Clinton Casey's financial dealings with Tigers players.
After the Herald Sun last week revealed three senior Richmond players were considering legal options against Casey, the AFL's investigations manager Ken Wood decided to step in to analyse whether the issue constituted a breach of the club's salary cap.
AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou confirmed the league's football operations department was investigating the Tigers.
"It is a football operations issue," Demetriou said.
"If anything untoward was to come out of it, it would have to come before the (AFL) commission, and I would have to be one of the determinants of it.
"I don't know what's going on there, other than I do know Adrian (Anderson, AFL general manager football operations) and Ken are looking into it.
"Ken said he was obligated to look at it."
The Herald Sun last week revealed Matthew Richardson, Nathan Brown and Kane Johnson were plotting legal action against Casey over deals relating to Torquay properties bought from a Casey-controlled company.
The players claim they were promised financial returns that have not materialised.
"It is now with Adrian and Ken. I have no visibility on it, and I don't know where it is going to go," Demetriou said.
"I am on the (AFL) commission, and if it ever comes across the commission table, I have to distance myself from it."
It has been widely discussed in football circles that the vast land holdings of Casey, president of Richmond from 2000 to 2005, were used by the Tigers to retain key players and lure others, raising suggestions of salary cap breaches.
Casey last week denied the deals with the three players constituted a breach of the salary cap.
He said the matter was a "private issue".
Richmond president Gary March also was confident the club was not exposed to a salary cap infringement.
"This is like a number of other player deals relating to third party property deals," March said.
"It is an issue the players are trying to resolve themselves, in relation to some property they own."
The action by the three Tigers against Casey comes recently after the club settled out of court a dispute involving former player Ben Holland.
Documents lodged in the Supreme Court revealed Holland was seeking more than $500,000 from Casey and the club, claiming investment and business opportunities, pledged in contract negotiations, were not delivered.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25070688-19742,00.html