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ANZ Premiership LIVE from 4pmAFL won’t reveal outcome of review into Chris Scott’s third-party deal with club sponsor
Sam Edmund • February 17th, 2025 12:48 pm
THE AFL has completed its review of Chris Scott’s third-party deal with a club sponsor.
But the league won’t reveal whether it has forced Geelong to include the sponsorship money in its soft cap.
Scott was late last year announced as the chief of leadership and performance at Morris Finance – a major and long-term sponsor of the club – in a “newly-created” role.
Morris Finance has been a sponsor of the Cats for 14 years and a partner of the premiership coach for the past five years.
The AFL argue that by revealing what decision it had made would mean every player, staff and coach with a commercial arrangement would need to have their club’s cap position publicly stated – a door it does not wish to open.
The league also denied it had launched an investigation into Scott’s deal, as per reports last year, instead saying it routinely reviewed the third-party arrangement like all other proposed commercial contracts across the competition.
The AFL said Scott’s Morris Finance job and the soft cap implications – if any – were a matter for Geelong.
Cats chief executive Steve Hocking would not comment on the financial implications of Scott’s role with the company, but said the club was completely satisfied with the outcome and that the coach had done nothing wrong.
Under rules introduced in 2024, senior coaches can have 20 per cent of their salary paid outside the soft cap.
Speaking in October, Scott said the arrangement had been ticked off between management, the club and the AFL.
It’s understood the AFL initially had serious concerns over Morris Finance’s use of intellectual property after the company used a photo of Scott in Geelong kit to announce the new deal.
All senior coaches, assistants and football staff are paid under the AFL’s cap, which is set at $7.675 million in 2025 – a $400,000 increase from last year.
The Cats take on Hawthorn at GMHBA Stadium from 2 pm today in their first practice match of 2025.
