An AFL investigation into Hawthorn's dubious handling of complaints from a number of upset First Nations footballers and a staffer is expected to recommend that the club "make good" on paying out a sizeable financial settlement.

Former Hawks Cyril Rioli, Carl Peterson, Jermaine Miller-Lewis and Indigenous club liaison officer Leon Egan, in addition to wives Shannyn Ah Sam-Rioli and Montanah Miller-Lewis, will attend at a hearing on December 16 to come to terms with the club.

But most of the cash compensation from Hawthorn will be delivered to several other men at the centre of cultural insensitivity accusations.

The hefty payout, according to The Age, is expected to cost the club millions of dollars.

Four-time premiership coach Alastair Clarkson and football manager Chris Pagan will be compensated for damage to their reputations and the costs they incurred.

Clarkson and Fagan are also believed to have asked for a public apology on the impact the doomed cultural safety review have had on their lives this 12 months, anonymous sources told the Melbourne newspaper.

The figure for the current AFL coaches and ex-welfare manager Jason Burt, who apparently still all face significant legal expenses, could be in excess of $1 million combined.

The damage to Clarkson was compounded over serious allegations that he pressured a First Nations player and his partner to terminate a pregnancy.

Two of the sources had also confirmed the under-siege club was prepared to negotiate agreed terms with the Indigenous claimants that would mitigate a potential financial penalty imposed upon the Hawks over the handling of the cultural safety review.

Hawthorn president Andrew Gowers confirmed the club was preparing to financially settle with nine respondents involved, including six First Nations people.

"That's always been my intention," the past 89-game Hawk, from 1988 until 1994, said.

"What that (the compensation) looks like is tricky and it's complex, but I'm confident that we will reach a resolution, and that is adequate and acceptable."

A share of the damages could also possibly stretch to past Hawks chairman Andrew Newbold, now an AFL commissioner, in what would be an extraordinary run of events considering a pecuniary payout would be based on an AFL report.

But Gowers would not confirm whether compensation would be directed to Newbold.

"I don't think it's appropriate for us to delve there," he added.

AFL general counsel Stephen Meade was said to have conducted his review from hundreds of emails between Hawthorn officials and its directors, the Aboriginal footballing families, and also Binmada report author Phil Egan.

Meade's investigation was established earlier this year to determine whether the club should be charged with misconduct for bringing the game into disrepute.

Gowers previously said once the AFL review was announced that the club should not cop a sanction after it had "acted in good faith" with the club's Indigenous community.

The outcome of any kind of settlement could also influence separate claims currently being pursued with the Australian Human Rights Commission.

The AFL has not formally told Hawthorn of its findings.

"We are involved in productive discussions with the AFL and we have got the Human Rights Commission matter still alive and there is a series of people who were involved with us who have faced some challenges on both sides," Gowers said.

The Binmada report was introduced to investigate the club's internal review into a list of grievances from the three players and their families, only for Egan to unearth a number of egregious claims from 2008 until 2016 that he heaped scorn on the Hawks.

The Riolis initially brought on the investigation from the Richmond great of the 1980s following the Tiwi Islander star's estrangement from his old club.

The AFL administration cleared Clarkson, Fagan and Burt of any wrongdoing midway through this year under its own rules while announcing a separate investigation into Hawthorn's internal review and the Binmada report.

Clarkson, Fagan and Burt have always denied any wrongdoing.

Burt, who this year headed Caulfield Grammar's coaching and high performance, had joined Clarkson and Fagan in taking a leave of absence from their jobs.