An acrimonious financial dispute between retired AFL champion Dustin Fletcher and his former manager became the subject of an arbitration hearing after Fletcher took his grievance to the AFL Players Association.
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AFL players boss Paul Marsh has been compelled to intervene in the dispute between Fletcher and former player agent Michael Quinlan in what has become a highly sensitive series of negotiations after Quinlan failed to pay the former Bomber a sizeable portion of licencing money.
Quinlan, who until recently also managed Richmond coach Damien Hardwick and dual premiership coach Mark Thompson, is also embroiled in a financial fall-out with another former client, retired Demon Brad Green.
He told Fairfax Media on Monday: "It's been sorted out. I'm dealing with it. I'm working on a scheme of arrangement."
However it is understood Quinlan's issues with his former players remain unresolved despite a payment order being made last year after the arbitration hearing involving the AFLPA Agents Accreditation Board.
Quinlan no longer manages any AFL players after handing in his agent's licence and moving into work in another industry. The delicate dispute comes as the AFL is moving to wrest control of player agents from the players' union.
In a push being resisted by the AFLPA, the AFL wants a new structure to control player agents after recent complaints from a number of clubs regarding a small group of managers.
One of the most vocal pushing for change has been the league's newest club, Greater Western Sydney, unhappy with player managers' respective handling of troubled Cam McCarthy, who has stood out of football this season for personal reasons, and Adam Treloar, who crossed to Collingwood at the end of last season but underwent surgery without the Giants' knowledge before the Magpies' trade was secured.
AFLPA chief Marsh, who is currently negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement with the AFL, refused to comment.
A significant amount of the money owed to Fletcher involves publishing payments from his ghosted autobiography, Fletch, released last year on his retirement from the AFL at the age of 40 after 400 games and two premierships with Essendon.
Since retiring, Fletcher has been denied a number of income streams due to being suspended for the 2016 season for banned for taking banned substances as a result of the Bombers' 2012 drug program.
Fletcher could not take up a coaching role in 2016 after offers from various Victorian private schools due to his ban handed down from the international Court of Arbitration of Sport.
Green played 254 games for Melbourne and retired in 2012. He now works at North Melbourne as an assistant coach. His demand for income earned outside of playing is also being handled by the AFLPA.
Once boasting a stable of close to 50 players, Quinlan's Top Dog company also managed coach Denis Pagan. Hardwick parted ways with Quinlan late last year, moving to the higher profile and influential manager Paul Connors before negotiating his most recent contract extension with Richmond.
Quinlan worked in Essendon's football department during the 1990s and took over the management of a number of Bombers when departing including premiership players Hardwick, Dean Solomon, Jason Johnson and Mark Johnson. More recently he managed Port Adelaide star Robbie Gray.
