The AFL has written to all clubs warning them about salary cap rorts and under-the-table deals on the eve of the trading season.
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The league has put all clubs on notice that they will be scrutinised over a range of issues that could be an abuse of the player trading system or the salary cap.
Ken Wood, the AFL official responsible for policing player payments, wrote to all clubs and player agents this week about side deals for players and their families.
The warning comes while several high-profile players, including free agents Patrick Dangerfield, Matthew Leuenberger and departing Bomber Jake Carlisle, are being pursued by a range of clubs in what is expected to be an extremely busy post-season.
The warning about possible breaches if a club or an affiliate of the club employed a player or his family member came as Eddie McGuire was moved to deny rumours that he had agreed to hire the girlfriend of departing Greater Western Sydney player Adam Treloar, who wants a trade to Collingwood.
In a memo marked "urgent", Wood said clubs or club affiliates could hire players or their family members or associates but the AFL had to be informed.
He said if any payment was considered to in any way relate to a player joining a club or refusing to join another club then it would be deemed a football payment to the player and included under the salary cap.
The warnings came from the man policing the salary cap. The AFL's integrity department can also investigate matters that aren't related to player payments.
Wood warned that all agreements with players or their associates needed to be declared.
"Put simply, this means that all agreements with a player must be "on the table" and disclosed in full to the AFL. This includes all details of payments and all contractual terms whether informal or formal," Wood wrote.
He gave an example of a player made a two-year contract offer with the promise of a further two years after that. He said the promised extra two years also needed to be declared.
Wood also wrote that free agency exchanges needed to be in isolation and could not be tied to any other trade between clubs.
Clubs were reminded they could enter agreements with players from other clubs only after that player's club had played their last game for the season or final or in the case of free agents only in the free agency period.
