Geelong are expecting to be sanctioned with a fine for discrepancies in some of their third-party payments after an audit conducted by the AFL.

Caroline Wilson revealed on The Agenda Setters in March that the league was running a fine-tooth comb over the books of the Cats, and other clubs, as part of a competition-wide audit.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Geelong set to cop fine after AFL audit.

At the time, a spokesperson for the AFL played down suggestions it was a specific crackdown on Geelong, despite eyebrows being raised when a deal between Geelong coach Chris Scott and Morris Finance, one of the club’s major sponsors, emerged last year.

“The AFL conducts regular salary cap audit activities across a number of clubs every year as part of our annual salary cap compliance process,” the spokesperson said at the time.

“We do not provide commentary on the conduct or progress of any of these activities and the only time we release any information publicly is if we determine there has been a breach of AFL rules.”

Now, it appears the audit has turned something up. But nothing, Wilson was at pains to say, that suggests cheating or a breach of any kind from Geelong.

“The audit is virtually finished,” she said on Monday night’s episode of The Agenda Setters.

“Results have been slowed down by the fact that Geelong COO Marcus King has been away, I think studying actually at Harvard.

“He’s back, and my belief is that Geelong are expecting a fine, or there will be a fine from the AFL over the coming weeks.

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“Geelong have been adamant, from the word go, that there is no smoking gun here, that nothing untoward was going on at the Geelong Football Club in terms of any attempt to hide third-party payments.

“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.”

Wilson said those in the know are remaining tight-lipped on the extent of the fine.

“I can’t tell you exactly how much the fine is going to be, no one’s talking about it,” she said.

“But Geelong are expecting a fine, and the AFL is expecting that to happen.”

In 2017, Brisbane were fined $10,000 for incorrect lodgements, which was explained as an administrative error that resulted in a discrepancy with their salary cap information.

“We’re not saying that there was any cheating, (or) there was any attempt to cheat the salary cap,” Wilson added.

“What it will lead to — and the AFL have told Geelong and other clubs this — is that there’s been a loosening of management issues at many clubs, and a warning will be given to all clubs.

“There’s going to be a crackdown on third party payments, and this has been led by what’s happened at Geelong.”

It’s understood Scott is not part of the fines.