Wayne Carey says he told his former agent, Ricky Nixon, to work within the rules on contract negotiations after Nixon’s claim that his dealings saw Carey given an extra $400,000 outside the salary cap at North Melbourne.

Speaking on the Real Footy podcast, Carey was responding to Nixon’s claims that he worked around salary cap rules to supplement Carey’s playing salary from the club. Carey’s superstardom was a key to Nixon’s rise as a player manager, their partnership was one of the first to leverage an AFL player’s high profile with creative marketing-based deals.

Wayne Carey. Credit:Joe Armao

“So I requested Wayne’s intellectual property and it was owned by Wayne Carey Pty Ltd and he licensed it to me for $2 so I could sell it to North Melbourne for marketing rights of $700,000,’’ Nixon said on a News Corp podcast.

“He was getting paid $300,000 from North Melbourne and $700,000 went to me and I gave Wayne $400,000. People said it was cheating, but it was absolutely within the rules.