Club Focus Sydney 2021 - Ladhams, Sheldrick, Roberts, Warner, Rankin

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Slingshot Footy

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Oct 10, 2018
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Hannebery wasn't homesick, Swans wanted him off their books.
Not the case, he had a messy break up with his partner and after the Saints sounded him out he took the chance for a fresh start back home. Granted, the Swans weren't going to pay Hannebery what the Saints were offering and so they gave him their blessing. A rare case where it worked out for everyone (except St Kilda) but If Hannebery was fit I'd still have him in my team any day of the week.

Richards wasn't homesick either.
As far as I'm aware, Richards wanted to go back to Melbourne because he thought he could easily get a similar contract to the one that the Swans offered him. It's still one of the most bizarre situations to pan out in the professional era but honestly I don't think he was madly in love with footy or the club.
 
Sep 3, 2018
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A contract they're entitled to give, entitled to renegotiate at any stage during the contract (as is true with literally every single one of the hundreds of other players on multi year deals), and entitled to trade around and not get trade banned for.

The lack of outrage then and now still puzzles me.

Perhaps the AFL’s response was because a side at the top of ladder competing in grand finals, who just happened to have a salary cap 10% higher than everyone else managed to take two key forwards in back to back years on $1m a year contracts. There are very few teams that have had the ability - at any stage in their history or position on the ladder - to pay $1m for a recruit. Let alone doing it twice in two years
The Swans were taking the piss and got slapped for it


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Perhaps the AFL’s response was because a side at the top of ladder competing in grand finals, who just happened to have a salary cap 10% higher than everyone else managed to take two key forwards in back to back years on $1m a year contracts. There are very few teams that have had the ability - at any stage in their history or position on the ladder - to pay $1m for a recruit. Let alone doing it twice in two years
The Swans were taking the piss and got slapped for it


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Classic misunderstanding of how COLA worked. 9.8% loading on each and every contract - it couldn’t be stockpiled. The base contract amounts still had to fit within the standard salary cap, then COLA was applied on top.
 
Oct 5, 2009
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Bwahahahaha. Nice try. So they didn’t just pay a heap of players 6/7% less so they could pay 1 or two players 30/40% more to bring them in?

righteo.

Ahhhhhhh.... no.

Surprisingly people do not just accept 6-7% less itherwise they would change employers... or in this case, clubs.
 

ABAB

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Classic misunderstanding of how COLA worked. 9.8% loading on each and every contract - it couldn’t be stockpiled. The base contract amounts still had to fit within the standard salary cap, then COLA was applied on top.
Clearly that's not how Sydney used the COLA with the AFL very suspicious when you signed Tippett on $1M and then Franklin on $1M the following year which forced them to remove the COLA, they must have gotten all the players on the Sydney list and compared whether you were doing this, i.e. you offer players on less wage compared to the competition and they apply the 9.8% on top of that.
 
Classic misunderstanding of how COLA worked. 9.8% loading on each and every contract - it couldn’t be stockpiled. The base contract amounts still had to fit within the standard salary cap, then COLA was applied on top.

9.8% on top of the AFL average wage, or 9.8% on top of the individual player's wage? I don't know the answer to this question, I'm genuinely asking. But if it's the latter, I'm sure I don't need to tell you that a 9.8% loading on a million dollar contract is a hell of a lot more than 9.8% loading on a $50k contract.
 

Established1870

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9.8% on top of the AFL average wage, or 9.8% on top of the individual player's wage? I don't know the answer to this question, I'm genuinely asking. But if it's the latter, I'm sure I don't need to tell you that a 9.8% loading on a million dollar contract is a hell of a lot more than 9.8% loading on a $50k contract.



With the COLA, the Club is required to pay an additional 9.8 per cent of the salary cap to all players to compensate for the higher cost of living in Sydney. Our estimates suggest the true cost of living disparity is closer to 15 per cent and there is no shortage of evidence to support this. An October 2012 report by Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC), titled Cities of Opportunity, indicates that Sydney is the second most expensive city in the world after Tokyo.

A major point of contention is the suggestion that we have ‘stored’ the COLA and used it to recruit players, such as Kurt Tippett. That is simply incorrect.

Every player contract at the Sydney Swans stipulates that the COLA must be paid in addition to the agreed contract figure. Every player has a manager, and every one of those managers is aware the Club has the COLA. The COLA is also added to the standard contracts of rookie listed players. Like all Clubs, each contract that is signed is reviewed by the AFL.


Brisbane and GC getting COLA was welly and truly for them being able to pay overs to keep players but for the Sydney clubs it was (and still is) entirely justified that they had it in the first place.
 





Brisbane and GC getting COLA was welly and truly for them being able to pay overs to keep players but for the Sydney clubs it was (and still is) entirely justified that they had it in the first place.
That link really doesn't answer my question at all.

I understand that every Sydney player benefits from COLA, I understand that there is a good reason for COLA to exist. My question is whether the Sydney players benefit 'equally' in dollar terms or in percentage terms. Because if it's the latter, someone like Buddy would be getting roughly $140k of COLA this year, whereas a rookie drafted player wouldn't even be getting $10k.
 
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Established1870

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That link really doesn't answer my question at all.

I understand that every Sydney player benefits from COLA, I understand that there is a good reason for COLA to exist. My question is whether the Sydney players benefit 'equally' in dollar terms or in percentage terms. Because if it's the latter, someone like Buddy will be getting roughly $140k of COLA this year, whereas a rookie drafted player wouldn't even be getting $10k.

Every individual Swans contract had to fit within the regular AFL salary cap. Then COLA (9.8% loading) was applied afterwards to said contracts. A rookie on 80k would get 9.8% just as someone on 500k would.
 
Every individual Swans contract had to fit within the regular AFL salary cap. Then COLA (9.8% loading) was applied afterwards to said contracts. A rookie on 80k would get 9.8% just as someone on 500k would.
So then it's not at all fair to say it didn't help them attract big players. A player on a million dollars a year getting an extra 9.8% on his contract is entirely different to a player on 100k a year getting an extra 9.8% on his contract.

COLA should have been 'it costs you x more dollars to live in Sydney than Melbourne, therefore every Sydney player gets an extra x dollars'.
 
Oct 18, 2015
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So then it's not at all fair to say it didn't help them attract big players. A player on a million dollars a year getting an extra 9.8% on his contract is entirely different to a player on 100k a year getting an extra 9.8% on his contract.

COLA should have been 'it costs you x more dollars to live in Sydney than Melbourne, therefore every Sydney player gets an extra x dollars'.

So Bud and a rookie both get what exactly? $50,000 for the rookie is a nice little bump but 3/5 of FA for Lance. Percentage makes the most sense.
 
So Bud and a rookie both get what exactly? $50,000 for the rookie is a nice little bump but 3/5 of FA for Lance.
Yeah. That's the point.

Millionaires don't need a cost of living allowance to live in Sydney. Teenagers trying to get by on a rookie salary do.
 

Established1870

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So then it's not at all fair to say it didn't help them attract big players. A player on a million dollars a year getting an extra 9.8% on his contract is entirely different to a player on 100k a year getting an extra 9.8% on his contract.

COLA should have been 'it costs you x more dollars to live in Sydney than Melbourne, therefore every Sydney player gets an extra x dollars'.

Guys like Buddy and Tippett getting COLA was a crock of s**t but for the players on bottom tier contracts, Sydney would've been a nightmare and that's why it was important to have COLA around.
 
For the purposes of this board the only relevance of the old COLA policy that was dumped years ago is whether it is needed now with Sydney’s interstate players wanting to go home (also taking into account covid border closures as a motivating factor and the offset effect of the northern academies).

Regarding the acquisition of Buddy and the contracts of Mills and Heeney, the question is about Sydney’s list structure in 2022 and how that influences their 2021 off-season.

Please do not use this as an opportunity to troll or there will be thread bans and infractions.
 
Guys like Buddy and Tippett getting COLA was a crock of sh*t but for the players on bottom tier contracts, Sydney would've been a nightmare and that's why it was important to have COLA around.
Agreed. That's exactly why COLA being calculated as a percentage was a rort. The players who needed the most help received the least help.
 
My question in particular is whether the loss of Hewett and Dawson is enough of a relief to the Swans’ salary cap to allow the re-signing of Parker (done), Witts (imminent) and others? Or are there others that may still take unders to stay or choose to leave?
 
For the purposes of this board the only relevance of the old COLA policy that was dumped years ago is whether it is needed now with Sydney’s interstate players wanting to go home (also taking into account covid border closures as a motivating factor and the offset effect of the northern academies).

Regarding the acquisition of Buddy and the contracts of Mills and Heeney, the question is about Sydney’s list structure in 2022 and how that influences their 2021 off-season.

Please do not use this as an opportunity to troll or there will be thread bans and infractions.
This discussion started on the back of a Sydney supporter bringing up COVID in the Jordan Dawson thread and was moved here by another mod. If this is an inappropriate place to discuss this topic, remove the posts entirely and have a word with whichever other mod moved them here.

Nor do I think I've said anything in here that constitutes trolling.
 
This discussion started on the back of a Sydney supporter bringing up COVID in the Jordan Dawson thread and was moved here by another mod.

Nor do I think I've said anything in here that constitutes trolling.
I am the mod that moved it and I am the one who decided not to delete the lot outright. I am asking you to keep the discussion civilised and relevant to the board we are on, or I can always change my mind about letting it run.

And the point about trolling isn’t that anyone is doing it atm - but that if anyone is tempted there won’t be second chances.
 
I am the mod that moved it and I am the one who decided not to delete the lot outright. I am asking you to keep the discussion civilised and relevant to the board we are on, or I can always change my mind about letting it run.

And the point about trolling isn’t that anyone is doing it atm - but that if anyone is tempted there won’t be second chances.
Well my answer to your question would be that yes, COLA had a place, but the implementation was terrible and that's why there was so much outcry over it.

If COLA was brought back in a way to give a Will Gould type (or whoever else is in a similar position, Gould was just the first one that came to mind) an extra allowance to cover the costs of living in Sydney as opposed to Adelaide while he tries to build a career for himself, I'd have absolutely no issue. But any system where Buddy Franklin would be getting over $100k more in COLA payments than Will Gould when Gould needs that money much more than Franklin does is fundamentally flawed.
 
Oct 18, 2015
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Yeah. That's the point.

Millionaires don't need a cost of living allowance to live in Sydney. Teenagers trying to get by on a rookie salary do.

I would have been fine if they set a threshold and once you hit that (say 500k) you didn't get it but for those under that, it still needed to be a % rather than a set figure.
 

The Tilt

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I would have been fine if they set a threshold and once you hit that (say 500k) you didn't get it but for those under that, it still needed to be a % rather than a set figure.
This is exactly right. The proper approach is to have a COLA loading component on individual contracts, where the % loading gets phases out to nothing at a certain contract level (since higher rents are not likely to impact a player's thinking if he's on $1m per year).
 
Oct 18, 2015
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This is exactly right. The proper approach is to have a COLA loading component on individual contracts, where the % loading gets phases out to nothing at a certain contract level (since higher rents are not likely to impact a player's thinking if he's on $1m per year).

Yep, probably makes more sense. Rookies get 15%, 100-200k get 10%, 200-400 get 5% etc.
 
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