Geelong coach Chris Scott says people shouldn't "jump to conclusions" regarding an AFL audit into third-party payments at the club.
Scott says he's "broadly" across reports this week that the AFL is auditing third-party payments at the Cats.
Asked on Friday if he had full confidence Geelong had acted within the rules during his tenure, Scott replied: "I'm not across the reports.
"Broadly, sort of I'm across it, but I have no visibility over whether the reports are accurate, and it's just not a part of our operation that I'm privy to.
"Other people, I'm sure, could answer that question where I can't. It's a pretty easy one for me to answer - I'm not a part of it.
"So yes, I'm perfectly confident that I don't have anything to add to that conversation.
"But again, it's the way it's been relayed to me, is sort of talking about speculation upon speculation, and then it sort of gets to the point where I'm like: 'I don't even know sort of what's real and what's not'.
"But I wouldn't jump to conclusions if I were you."
Scott's leadership consulting role with club sponsor Morris Finance has previously come under scrutiny.
He was asked if speculation over Geelong recruit Bailey Smith's long-standing sponsorship deal with Cats backer Cotton On was unfair.
"Is it unfair? I don't know whether it's true or what the speculation is," Scott said ahead of Smith's club debut against Fremantle at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday.
"What I do know is, the first I heard of Bailey Smith's connection with Cotton On was when I was driving, probably sitting in traffic on Citylink, and I saw him on a billboard. And that was a few years ago now.
"Now I'm not sure how much we had to do with that."
Scott was expansive when asked whether senior and assistant coaches were underpaid.
"The industry should reward people, let's focus on the players as an example, in proportion to what they do within the game," he said.
"Over time, what you'll get is this lack of proportionality, and some people will be elevated and some will be unfairly limited - and we run the only elite competition that I'm aware of in the world where you have a limitation on the football department - you know, a salary cap, a draft and a soft cap.
"So there's this huge limitations on certain cohorts and I think the players are finally, in my mind, getting closer to where they should be.
"I still think they should be paid more relative to other parts of the industry.
"Is it right that administrators get paid much, much, much, much more than the best player in the comp? Probably not."
Scott said it was "irrefutable" soft cap cuts had driven good coaches out of the industry and rebranding COVID-19-enforced cuts as competitive balance was "clearly not right."
