GOLD Coast's decision to employ the partner of coach Damien Hardwick has raised eyebrows at rival clubs, which now intend to seek answers from the AFL's integrity department.
Alexandra Crow, Hardwick's partner, recently started with the Suns as a consultant on the club's consumer and commercial strategy projects.
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Crow's employment has prompted some clubs, already agitated over restrictions on football department spending, to ask questions around the Suns' hiring of Crow and whether the wage was to be included in the club's soft cap.
When contacted by AFL.com.au, Suns CEO Mark Evans said: "I know the role and the size of the role and I am certain there will be no issues for the AFL or club on any front."
Hardwick was appointed coach of the Suns in late 2023, just 90 days after he had walked out on a contract with the Tigers citing personal burnout.
Hardwick and North Melbourne's Alastair Clarkson are the AFL's top-paid coaches.
Crow had worked in the administration at Richmond, where Hardwick was a three-time premiership coach.
Last week the AFL concluded a probe into an arrangement between Geelong coach Chris Scott and Morris Finance, with AFL CEO Andrew Dillon saying the deal was "in the realms of the soft cap".
A raft of AFL-ordered financial cutbacks during the 2020 season, the first of two seasons disastrously impacted by the COVID pandemic, led to a severe slashing of the finances able to be spent by clubs on non-playing personnel within football departments.
The soft cap for each club in 2025 is $7.7 million. Twenty per cent of a senior coach's salary can be paid outside the cap.
