Troubled player manager Ricky Nixon's future will be decided on Thursday, just when the AFL wants the spotlight to focus on the coming season.

Lawyer David Galbally, who has been investigating Nixon's inappropriate dealings with a teenage girl, submitted his report to the AFL players' association (AFLPA) on Wednesday.

While that report will not be made public, a four-man assembly of the AFLPA's agent accreditation board will meet on Thursday afternoon to consider it.

The board, which intends to publicly air its complete findings, will announce its decision after that meeting.

That could involve stripping Nixon of his right to represent AFL players, which would be an unprecedented step.

Alternatively, they might present Nixon with the case against him and offer the high-profile agent the chance to provide reasons why he should not be punished.

Either way, it will cast a shadow over simultaneous events designed to promote the coming AFL season, which begins next week.

While the accreditation board is meeting, captains of the 17 AFL clubs will be giving their predictions for the season ahead.

The skippers will then all front the media, an event that could overlap with the AFLPA announcement on Nixon.

That will be followed by the AFL's official season launch on Thursday night.

Galbally has been investigating Nixon's relationship with Kim Duthie, the teenager at the centre of the St Kilda nude photos scandal, which embarrassed several of the players Nixon manages.

Nixon last week admitted himself to a rehabilitation clinic, acknowledged he had a substance abuse problem and stepped down indefinitely from player management.

The 47-year-old has admitted to acting inappropriately with Duthie, but denies her claims that they had a sexual relationship or that he used drugs in her presence.

A video released by Duthie that purported to show him on her bed in a hotel room dressed only in his underwear is believed to have been examined by Galbally.

She has also claimed the pair used cocaine and alcohol in the room.

Nixon's dealings with Duthie are among a series of off-field dramas which have dogged the AFL in the off-season.

They include nude photos of Saints players being publicly circulated in December and four other Saints being suspended and fined by the club for misbehaviour involving the misuse of prescription drugs at a camp in New Zealand in January.

That was followed by star forward Brendan Fevola's sacking by Brisbane in February after an alcohol-fuelled tangle with police on New Year's Eve.

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