Lyon had immediately reported the matter to the club which investigated him and cleared him of wrongdoing. It's understood the woman has not worked since leaving the club. The woman lodged a complaint with Workcover in early 2017. Negotiations between the woman's lawyer and the club ran for several months and a settlement was reached before Christmas. A source close to Lyon said a deal had been struck with the complainant that required non-disclosure of the agreement. The AFL's integrity unit has investigated and was comfortable with the outcome. The Dockers and the AFL had not released the name of the club figure involved after claims of a settlement emerged late last year.

Following The Age's revelation on Monday, Dockers' chief executive Steve Rosich released a statement. “We want to reiterate what we have said previously on a number of occasions and which has been reinforced by the AFL. This was a work place matter that has been resolved by the club and independently investigated by the AFL's integrity unit at the request of the club, the subject of the complaint and with due respect and care for our former employee," he said. “With regard to the requested investigation under the AFL’s respect and responsibility policy, the league completed it some months ago to the AFL’s and the club's full satisfaction and no sanction was imposed. "At the core of the AFL's respect and responsibility policy are guidelines around maintaining and respecting the privacy of all parties, and we will continue to abide by that and will not comment any further.” The Dockers had not responded to multiple requests for comment by phone, text and email from The Age before the story was published.

The AFL also released a statement, confirming an incident at the Dockers had been "referred to the AFL integrity unit at the request of the club and the subject of complaint". "The AFL integrity unit investigated the matter in accordance with the league’s respect and responsibility policy. The matter was resolved following an investigation, which ensured privacy and care and provided full transparency for all relevant parties," the statement said. Amid heightened speculation, Lyon was asked about the incident after the Dockers' round-four match against Greater Western Sydney in Canberra but would only add: "I’m certainly aware of that and I’m aware that the club and the AFL have released a statement and the whole club will reference that statement and no one’s in a position to comment any further." The revelation of Lyon's involvement comes days after the AFL had investigated a sexual harassment claim against Port Adelaide player Sam Powell-Pepper and handed him a three-match AFL suspension. Powell-Pepper was ruled to have touched a woman inappropriately while drunk at an Adelaide nightclub but the Power have stressed there was "no evidence or suggestion of sexual or indecent assault".

Powell-Pepper had initially received a one-match ban by the club for breaking team curfew, then opted to sit out a second match while the investigation continued. The AFL's ruling last week, which came amid criticism from Power chairman David Koch over the way the investigation had been handled, meant Powell-Pepper also missed the clash against North Melbourne but is free to return to the field this weekend. AFL chief Gillon McLachlan said at a media conference in Perth on Friday that the AFL was "entirely comfortable with what's happened at Fremantle". "Our integrity unit has looked at it and ruled out imposing any sanction. Every aspect of the case was looked at ... almost immediately when the complaint came to life," McLachlan said. The AFL chief did not deny the former Dockers employee had received a payment. He said the updated respect and responsibility policy was about "resolving the issue between the complainant and the person who they are making the allegation against".

However, his comments sparked debate and criticism on Saturday that he had endorsed hush money – a point the AFL denied to The Age. McLachlan had added: "It's entirely appropriate and part of the policy for it to be confidential. There's a wide series of options available for getting resolution. There are many cases that are resolved confidentially. "That's one of the core tenets of the policy – where possible and where appropriate, the confidentiality remains because it's resolving the issue at hand between the two parties rather than actually being something for public debate. "I think it's unfortunate when it comes out. Unfortunate for the complainant and the person who is being complained against." Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video