Max Gawn among AFL stars to give evidence in Ricky Nixon’s alleged football fraud case

AFL premiership players are witnesses in a court case involving allegedly fraudulent signed footballs.

Former player agent Ricky Nixon, 62, is representing himself as he fights four fraud charges over footballs he allegedly sold as signed by Melbourne premiership players after their historic 2021 win.

The team’s captain Max Gawn, and teammates Trent Rivers, Jake Lever, Steven May, Tom McDonald and Christian Salem were all called as witnesses while Nixon contests the charges at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court at a hearing which began on Tuesday.

Nixon has been accused of selling footballs, purporting to be signed by the 2021 premiers with certificates of authenticity on Facebook, for $595 including $20 postage.

Three victims of his alleged rort told the court they found Nixon advertising the footballs via Facebook advertising.

Each of them messaged Nixon themselves to buy a football, which he arranged to be posted or delivered to them.

Warwick Weir, a Melbourne fan for more than four decades, said he saw the Facebook post after a friend tagged him in it and Nixon had dropped the ball off himself on October 3 with a signed certificate of authenticity.

“We just had a conversation about the Melbourne Football Club, them winning a grand final, how great it was,” Weir told the court,

“I wanted a piece of memorabilia from that grand final, something to cherish.”

He said they also discussed signed football jumpers Nixon might have coming up for sale and Weir told him he would be interested in buying one of those too.

After Nixon left, Weir noticed Gawn had signed the football with 13, instead of 11 which was his player number.

Weir sent a photo of the mistake to Nixon as he thought Gawn might have had a “brain fart” after a big win and written the wrong number.

Nixon replied to Weir and said he had “just spoken with Max”.

“Max had apologised, didn’t realise that ball was going to make it into circulation,” Weir said Nixon told him.

Weir said Nixon arranged for a replacement ball to be delivered to him about a week later and he believed it to be genuinely signed by the Melbourne team.

He was then tagged in a Facebook post claiming the signatures were fake and contacted Nixon for a refund.

“For what? A legitimate ball you have?” Weir said Nixon replied.

Another victim of Nixon’s alleged scam, Tim Holt, said he bought one of Nixon’s $595 footballs as a wedding present for his best friend.

When he saw a news article that the ball’s signatures may have been fake, he asked Nixon for a refund.

“Players and club have confirmed they have signed the ball ... If you want to believe media bullshit, go ahead,” Nixon replied, Holt said.

Three of the allegedly fraudulently signed yellow Sherrins were handed to the court and shown to former Melbourne player Charlie Spargo.

Spargo, who now plays for North Melbourne, said the signature was not his handwriting on each of the balls.

“I use a cursive running writing style, it’s in print ... it’s not the way I’d write it,” he told the court.

“It’s not my handwriting, I didn’t write it.”

Gawn also told the court the signature the balls did not look like his own handwriting.

“It doesn’t look like how I normally do it, but it could be a rushed one,” he said.

“It looks like none of my previous ones.”

Outside court, Spargo told media he was disappointed for Melbourne fans who paid money for the signed merchandise.

“It’s just frustrating for the fans and the football club,” he said.

The hearing continues.