A former AFL player agent has been convicted for selling footballs fraudulently claimed to be signed by premiership players, after several players testified against him in court.

The court heard that Ricky Nixon, aged 62, spent approximately $18,000 in cash to acquire over 40 footballs, allegedly signed by Melbourne’s 2021 premiership team, from a man operating out of a truck in a car park. This information was presented at the Melbourne Magistrates Court.

Nixon proceeded to sell these footballs on Facebook in early October 2021. He managed to sell them to three customers, each paying around $595 for a ball.

Nonetheless, the authenticity of the signatures came into question when seven members of the premiership team appeared in court on Tuesday. Each member testified that they had not signed the three yellow Sherrins in question.

Max Gawn, the captain of the Melbourne team, stated that although the team had signed a significant number of items following their historic 2021 grand final win—breaking a 57-year drought—they had only signed about 40 to 50 footballs prior to the event.

He was shown three balls sold by Nixon and said one of his signatures had a weird mark that he would not usually use and another “doesn’t look like what I normally do”.

Asked about his relationship with Nixon, Gawn said the former player agent would text him sometimes to tell him he played a nice game and they exchanged a “jovial” phone call in the weeks after the fraud.

Former Melbourne player Charlie Spargo said all three footballs signed with his name were not his handwriting.

“I use a cursive running writing style, it’s in print … it’s not the way I’d write it,” the North Melbourne forward said.

Fellow 2021 premiership players Christian Salem, Tom McDonald, Trent Rivers, Steven May and Jake Lever also gave evidence they either did not sign the footballs or did not remember signing them.

Three victims of Nixon’s scam gave evidence about their dealings with him, including that Nixon had denied the signatures were fake and refused to refund them.

Warwick Weir said he saw Nixon’s Facebook advertising the 2021 premiership footballs for sale and the former agent had dropped one off to him in Geelong on October 3 for $595 with a certificate of authenticity.

“I wanted a piece of memorabilia from that grand final, something to cherish,” he told the court.

But he said Gawn had signed the ball with a 13, instead of his player number 11, and asked for a replacement.

Nixon told Weir he spoke to Gawn about this and “Max had apologised, didn’t realise that ball was going to make it into circulation”, texts read to court claimed.

But Gawn told the court he had never signed a football with a number 13.

Magistrate Brett Sonnet found Nixon had lied about this to Weir as he found him guilty and convicted him on Tuesday afternoon, fining him $4500 for the offending.

“From at least this point in time he must’ve known the footballs were fake or fraudulent,” he said.

Nixon was found guilty of four charges, including obtaining property by deception and deceptively use false document.

The magistrate said it was “indisputable” the signatures on the balls he sold to three men did not correspond with real signatures from the Melbourne premiership side.

“I am satisfied all charges are found proven and to the criminal standard,” Sonnet said.

He ordered Nixon pay back the three customers $595 for the fraudulent scheme.

Outside court, Spargo told media he was disappointed for Melbourne supporters who paid money for the signed merchandise.

“It’s just frustrating for the fans and the football club,” he said.