Hawthorn Has Lowest Player Payments in League

Building a dynasty

Jake Niall | May 22, 2008

HAWTHORN paid its players nearly $2 million less than Sydney in 2007, according to the AFL's figures. The Hawks made the finals, yet ranked 16th for player payments, marginally below Carlton, the only other club that outlaid less than $8 million when all the extras were taken into account.
Winning the wooden spoon for player payments is a significant achievement given that the Hawks finished fifth. The disparity between first and 16th also suggests that, despite the greater cost of those harbour views and Paddington rents, the Swans are a tad generous.
By reaching the second week of the finals, Hawthorn paid an extra $114,700 in finals match payments. Thus, in real terms, it was clearly behind even the Blues, who were bad enough to win just four games and receive a priority pick.
The Hawks managed to pay the least, despite having two veteran-list players in Shane Crawford and Ben Dixon, only half of whose salaries counted in the total player payments. They were substantially below 100% of what was allowed. This was good management, not luck.The ruthless offloading of older players Nathan Thompson, Jonathan Hay and Peter Everitt, and the retirements of Joel Smith and now Dixon has given Hawthorn a much younger list than the usual premiership contender. A young team is a cheap team, because Lance Franklin at 27 would receive far more dollars than a 21-year-old Buddy, even if he's no better.
Young players tend to be more willing to sacrifice some short-term return for the sake of success and camaraderie. An older player is prone to think of his family and what he owes the bank, or his bookie. Home-grown — read drafted — players also come cheaper than imports.
The younger profile of the list is a significant advantage that the Hawks enjoy compared to Essendon's team of 2000-2001, which gradually ebbed into mediocrity despite predictions of world domination. The Dons lost Damien Hardwick, Blake Caracella, Justin Blumfield and Chris Heffernan due to salary-cap pressures. Heffernan and Blumfield didn't fire a shot after 2001, but Hardwick and Caracella went on to play in premierships elsewhere.

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HBF said:

Pretty good list management there by the Hawks.
Also, pleased to see that my club isn't throwing money around willy nilly.

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THRILLHOU said:

And we have our middle aged players in croad / hodge / mitchell who want to be known as one club players and are prepared to sacrifice a bit of salary to stick with the team we have built

Good times ahead. So much for everyone who though we were going to explode due to salary cap pressures in the next couple of years.

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HBF said:

Pretty good list management there by the Hawks.
Also, pleased to see that my club isn't throwing money around willy nilly.

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rangermcdee said:

Kinda hard for Trent Croad to be a one club player these days....

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telsor said:

Those figures were for 2007.

Which isn't to say Hawthorn haven't doing an excellent job in this regard, and it certainly gives them plenty of room to grow, but I doubt they'll be at the bottom any more.

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THRILLHOU said:

And we have our middle aged players in croad / hodge / mitchell who want to be known as one club players and are prepared to sacrifice a bit of salary to stick with the team we have built

Good times ahead. So much for everyone who though we were going to explode due to salary cap pressures in the next couple of years.

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Toxic Avenger said:

Your right, they won't be at the bottow but they will be a long way off the top even after signing new contracts this year for Mitchell, Hodge, Lewis, Roughead and Buddy (to name some of the bigger signings). Most the increase in these guys contracts would have come from the Dixon, Smith and Vandenburg retirements, so there will still be plenty of room to move in the next couple of years.

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GALON said:

I can't speak highly enough of our administration at the moment.

2004 was a long time ago.

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THRILLHOU said:

And we have our middle aged players in croad / hodge / mitchell who want to be known as one club players and are prepared to sacrifice a bit of salary to stick with the team we have built

Good times ahead. So much for everyone who though we were going to explode due to salary cap pressures in the next couple of years.

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MalceskiFan said:

LOL!

Croad a one club player eh?

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JeffDunne said:

I'm struggling to see the significance of this.

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AndyLucimitis said:

Yet Carlton have to re-contract one player in Fevola and apparently our cap will be blown to smithereens.

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AndyLucimitis said:

Yet Carlton have to re-contract one player in Fevola and apparently our cap will be blown to smithereens.

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Mitchell Madness said:

I think by one club player it is where that player wants to be. He didnt ask to be traded to be traded, the club traded him for a few draft picks, and then, he came back.

If he had of asked to leave our club back in 2001, then I dont think he owuld be included as a "one team player"

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Mitchell Madness said:

I think by one club player it is where that player wants to be. He didnt ask to be traded to be traded, the club traded him for a few draft picks, and then, he came back.

If he had of asked to leave our club back in 2001, then I dont think he owuld be included as a "one team player"

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kevieyang said:

Chris Judd would blow the player payments for this year up a bit.

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btdg said:

Yet we've also taken Koutoufides, Whitnall and Lappin off the cap. Plus the cap has increased. Those three players would have been on a comined $700k ($400 for Kouta, divided by 2 for veteran list, $250k for the other two). The cap increase is $300k; and from the looks of it, we had about $1.1m in space.

Even if Judd was on $1.2m per year, and we upped Fev by $200k on his current amount, we'd still have $700k a year to spend! That could be enough to target Jonathon Brown, or another big-name out of contract player. Or, 2-3 lesser players who fill gaps. Fantastic position for the Blues to be in!

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btdg said:

Yet we've also taken Koutoufides, Whitnall and Lappin off the cap. Plus the cap has increased. Those three players would have been on a comined $700k ($400 for Kouta, divided by 2 for veteran list, $250k for the other two). The cap increase is $300k; and from the looks of it, we had about $1.1m in space.

Even if Judd was on $1.2m per year, and we upped Fev by $200k on his current amount, we'd still have $700k a year to spend! That could be enough to target Jonathon Brown, or another big-name out of contract player. Or, 2-3 lesser players who fill gaps. Fantastic position for the Blues to be in!

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