Disgraced AFL player manager Ricky Nixon will fight claims he knowingly sold fake premiership memorabilia.
Nixon, 61, is accused of selling footballs he claimed were signed by Melbourne Football Club players after their 2021 AFL premiership win.
He has been charged with 10 counts of obtaining property by deception after allegedly receiving $595 per football in October 2021.
Nixon is also charged with making or using a false document in relation to authentication certificates sent with the footballs.
It’s not disputed that the signatures were fake but the defence claims Nixon was not aware of that fact, Melbourne Magistrates Court was told today.
The question of whether Nixon knew the signatures were false before selling the footballs will be the focus of a contested hearing in February.
Three civilian witnesses and the police informant will be called to give evidence during the two-day hearing.
Earlier this year, Nixon’s lawyer Jasmine Taleb flagged calling Melbourne captain Max Gawn as a witness.
The names of the selected witnesses were not read out in court today.
But the prosecutor noted one of them was “not playing ball” with producing a statement.
Nixon’s summons was extended to the February court date.
The 61-year-old is serving a community corrections order after he was found guilty in June of unlawful assault and discharging a missile.
Magistrate Vincenzo Caltabiano determined Nixon punched and kicked an Australia Post worker at his Port Melbourne home on March 10, 2022, before throwing a package at the man.
