By JOSH RAKIC and CAROLINE WILSON – Sydney Morning Herald

The Melbourne Rebels this morning will announce the immediate departure of Brian Waldron as chief executive as the AFL prepares to re-open investigations into alleged salary-cap evasion at St Kilda under Waldron’s stewardship from late 2001 to 2004.

The Rebels board – which is chaired by Australia’s largest media buyer, Harold Mitchell – met within hours of David Gallop’s press conference and acted swiftly in asking Waldron to stand aside.

Waldron, the Melbourne Storm CEO of five years, stands accused of being the mastermind behind the NRL club’s A$1.7 million salary-cap rort. The Sydney Morning Herald understands he has agreed to stand down from the Rebels.

The board is expected to meet again this morning before holding a press conference about noon. The Rebels last night made sure of their legal position before announcing Waldron’s departure as CEO after just six weeks in control of the fledgling Super 15 franchise.

Mitchell refused to comment, other than to say he did not expect the NRL controversy to affect his franchise’s reputation. Coach Rod Macqueen said he had not been in contact with Waldron since claims of his involvement in the Storm’s scandal were aired by News Ltd CEO John Hartigan.

”Obviously it’s a bit of a shock to everyone, I don’t think just us,” Macqueen said. ”It’ll be interesting see what comes out of it over the next couple of weeks. I haven’t had any discussions with Brian Waldron. I’m sure he’s pretty shocked about everything. I haven’t seem him.

”As far as we’re concerned it’s a rugby league matter and it certainly hasn’t got anything to do with rugby union or the Rebels. From our point of view, it’s business as usual.”

Former Waratahs and Manly rugby league chief executive Pat Wilson is favoured to replace Waldron at the Rebels.

Meanwhile, the AFL will investigate St Kilda players’ contracts during Waldron’s three-year stewardship of the club. The Herald understands investigator Ken Wood interviewed Waldron in 2003 over the Saints’ departed ruckman Peter Everitt, who demanded more than $100,000 from his former club as he tried to recover money from his old contract.

Everitt welcomed a review of the matter, last night instructing lawyers to contact the AFL in an effort to retrieve the missing money.

”The deal with me was I had a back-ended deal – they couldn’t afford to pay me much money in my first year so they upped my salary each year and the big one was the fourth year and they got rid of me – so when I left to Hawthorn they should have paid the difference, which they never did,” Everitt said.

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His wife, Sheree, added: ”Now that we think about it, unlike all Spida’s other deals his dealings with Brian were never at the footy club. They were always in a coffee shop or something, and one time we met him at a Christmas party. Not until something like this happens do you stop and think about things like that.”

Wood, now on leave, and football operations boss Adrian Anderson are expected to approach the Saints in a bid to clear any possible discrepancies which might have taken place during Waldron’s time as CEO.

The former Melbourne Storm boss worked at St Kilda with acting Storm CEO Matt Hanson, who was yesterday sacked by the NRL club after being found to be involved in the salary-cap rort.