A formal AFL investigation into the circumstances of dynamic forward Eddie Betts’ now-controversial signing with Adelaide seems unlikely to proceed.

As it stands, there is no formal investigation, however the league will be asking some informal questions of key stakeholders “in the next couple of days”.

AFL spokesman Patrick Keane told InDaily: “We’ll make the inquiry with a couple of people just to find out whether we need to do a proper investigation under our rules.”

There appears no trigger for such an examination.

In 2013, Betts was a restricted free agent, meaning Carlton always had the final right of refusal on his contract. So it would not be possible for him to be “stitched up” by the Crows, without the Blues having the right of veto.

There is nothing in the AFL rules to prevent players talking to other clubs before coming out of contract; indeed, it’s common knowledge within the league Betts’s management also spoke to Melbourne and Geelong during 2013, a scenario that seems at odds with a player already committed elsewhere.

Ousted Carlton coach Mick Malthouse put the Crows in an unwanted spotlight yesterday with what turned out to be a parting spray, suggesting on Melbourne radio that former Adelaide – now Carlton – CEO Steven Trigg told him the Crows had “stitched up” Betts 18 months before he left the Blues.

Trigg responded that his comments were heard by “eight people sitting around the list management table” and they related to “what Carlton needs to do in terms of its database and its analytics”.

“I’m just hoping it was a slip (by Malthouse) … an error of terminology,” he said.

The Crows, as yet, have had no official contact from league officials on the matter.

A spokesman said: “Neither the chairman, the CEO nor the head of football have received any phone call from the AFL as it stands, and they’d be the ones who’d likely receive any inquiry.”

But league sources suggest that since Carlton had “last rights to (Betts’s) services”, media suggestions of another Kurt Tippett-esque finale, with suspensions, life bans and draft sanctions doled out like candy, seem monumentally farfetched.

The Crows last night “categorically denied any inappropriate dealings” regarding Betts’ signing to a four-year contract reportedly worth around $500,000 a season.

“We are extremely disappointed by comments made to the contrary … The Carlton Football Club and Betts’ manager have also publicly refuted any suggestion of wrongdoing by our Club,” the Crows said in a statement.

The reaction among Melbourne pundits has been mixed. Former St Kilda coach and now outspoken football critic Grant Thomas tweeted last night that Trigg was “squirming like a snake … how he can be appointed as a club leader beggars belief”.

But the Herald Sun’s chief football writer Mark Robinson surmised on FoxFooty’s influential panel show AFL360 that the matter would be a “one-day story”.

Livewire forward Betts has been in career best form thus far this year, with 29 goals from his eight games – two more than he managed in his last season with the Blues.