The AFL has launched an investigation into whether Richmond breached the salary cap by offering former Tiger Ben Holland incentives on top of his playing contract.

Holland has issued a writ in the Victorian Supreme Court alleging he is owed $530,000 by Richmond and the club's former president Clinton Casey over what he claims are unpaid payments.

The defender, who now plays with Melbourne, claims he was offered incentives on top of an $800,000, three-year contract he signed with Richmond which included a $180,000 block of land and the right to work as a podiatrist at an aged care facility owned by Casey.

Holland claims the offers were made in October 2001 and designed to counter an offer of $1.33 million over three years made to him to join Adelaide.

Holland issued a writ, with Richmond and Casey as the defendants, in October last year and has until October this year to begin legal proceedings. A date for a court hearing is yet to be set.

Richmond said the claims were "without foundation", but asked their lawyers to investigate the matter.

Tigers chief executive Steven Wright said the club would "vigorously defend" itself if the matter went to court.

"At the moment they are allegations and the preliminary advice we have received is that they are without foundation and we will vigorously defend those allegations," Wright said.

AFL investigations manager Ken Wood also began inquiries, as league boss Andrew Demetriou admitted there were parts of the claim that surprised him.

Demetriou said if Holland's claims were true, then the Tigers could be in breach of the salary cap rules.

"Yes it would be, you can't do that," he told Fairfax radio.

The AFL has the right to impose major penalties found guilty of breaching the salary cap.

In 2002 the league fined Carlton more than $900,000 and stripped them of early picks in two national drafts for salary cap breaches during the 2000-01 seasons.

Demetriou said he met with Holland and then-Richmond chief executive Mark Brayshaw in 2002 in his previous role as AFL football operations general manager, to discuss how Holland could be paid.

Demetriou thought the issue had been resolved, and said he had not been aware of any discussions involving land, other property development opportunities and work offers.

"The issue back then was, was there a way that, under the rules of the salary cap, whether Richmond Football Club could pay him any more - and the answer was no," he said.

"(They were) the rules and that was the AFL's position as it would (be) for any player."

Holland, who left Richmond for the Demons after the 2003 season, has claimed the offers were made to him in a combination of written, oral and implied forms, but were never met.

Wright refused to respond to questions over whether Richmond had breached the salary cap.

"I'm not going to get into hypotheticals on salary caps," he said.

"Our information is that we'll be defending the allegations and if we defend them successfully there's no issue."

Holland's lawyer Greg Griffin said in a statement that the player had written to Casey and Richmond in 2004 wanting to resolve the dispute without litigation.

"Each of Richmond and Mr Casey has however denied any liability to Ben which has necessitated the issuing of these proceedings," the statement said.

"Ben has had discussions with Mr Casey after the exchange of correspondence between the respective solicitors but no resolution has been achieved."

Griffin said Holland remained willing to discuss the matter with Richmond and Casey through a dispute resolution procedure in conjunction with the AFL Players' Association.

Casey was Richmond president from 2000-05 and is overseas at the moment.

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