In the final chapter of the long-running saga which started six weeks ago, Lake Wendouree has finally relented and will release its best and fairest winner from last season.

Dicketts will line up alongside older brother Mark for the first time in their senior careers in the Tigers’ crunch clash against Wangaratta at the Albury Sportsground.

After a frantic day of negotiations between the two clubs, Lake Wendouree advocate Ivan Pyke announced the club would reluctantly release Dicketts.

“We don’t want to keep him out of footy any longer,” Pyke said last night.

“We certainly could have done that.

“But in all essence that achieves nothing for anybody.

“It could have gone on for another week, two weeks, whatever, but what does it achieve?

“There comes a point where we either don’t clear him full stop and he doesn’t play footy or we get on with life.”

Lake Wendouree conceded Dicketts would not play for the club again after a last-chance meeting with the player last Sunday night where he declined an offer to play the next three matches in the Ballarat league and then be granted an automatic clearance to Albury.

Dicketts was originally cleared to Albury by a Ballarat regional appeals board, but the decision was over-turned by the VCFL on the grounds the player had a “binding, valid and enforceable contract” with Lake Wendouree.

“As our player and as a contracted player we were looking to try and get what we could have got out of him in terms of what he agreed to,” Pyke said.

“It was not as if it was done under duress or anything like that.”

Pyke said the terms of the settlement between Lake Wendouree and Albury would not be disclosed.

Albury president David Kefford said last night: “We are pleased it’s all over.

“We were starting to get a bit fed up because it’s been going on for six weeks now.”

Kefford said the Tigers were prepared to explore legal avenues to secure Dicketts if he was not cleared by Lake Wendouree.