Changes To The Salary Cap = Sanctioned Cheating

[LordLucifer]

The on-field salary cap will be upped to $10.07m in 2015 and $10.37m in 2016. In 2017, the veterans allowance will be scrapped.

The AFL will also introduce a new "banking mechanism" for the salary cap, allowing clubs to exceed the cap for a season if they spent below the limit in any of the preceding two years.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-luxury-tax-aims-to-keep-footy-fair-20140604-zrxs2.html#ixzz33eiyRKhH

I can understand the rationale behind having some increases in the total amount a club can spend but this new clause whereby a club can actually go over the cap absolutely stinks !!

The league is going to sanction breaches of their laws now even though we got right royally reamed for doing so in the past. This inconsistency is not only silly but it muddies the waters way too much.

 

[HARKER]

Clearly the AFL have thought about it a little harder than I have but this salary cap "banking mechanism" seems to be fraught with danger.

Feels as though it allows a catapult of sorts to clubs whereas they can hold back for a couple of years and then launch when they see a window of opportunity available to them.

Wonder what AFLPA thinks about this?

 

[exe ex machina]

Yet another AFL fiasco and a shambles

 

[LanceRomance]

Clearly the AFL have thought about it a little harder than I have but this salary cap "banking mechanism" seems to be fraught with danger.

Feels as though it allows a catapult of sorts to clubs whereas they can hold back for a couple of years and then launch when they see a window of opportunity available to them.

Wonder what AFLPA thinks about this?

I see this as a way to keep people at GWS

 

[Robco]

Seems like a brewing pot for under the table payments as clubs will want to minimize their salary payouts for a year or a few years in order to attract stars.

 

[ESKIE]

Can't they just leave the game alone..

 

[pepalenko]

I'm on the precipice with the afl

 

[Chism]

Clearly the AFL have thought about it a little harder than I have but this salary cap "banking mechanism" seems to be fraught with danger.

Feels as though it allows a catapult of sorts to clubs whereas they can hold back for a couple of years and then launch when they see a window of opportunity available to them.

Wonder what AFLPA thinks about this?

Exactly.

Teams that bottom out and only pay 90-95% of the Cap for example for a few years because they know they are crap with no real premiership window open can effectively " Bank" these savings and then go all out for 2 years and pay over the Cap when the window does open as they did not use the whole amount beforehand.

It is a bit like working on an RDO for example. Your 8hrs gets banked to use whenever you want as long as you give reasonable notice and then spend those hours ( take a day off ) when you see fit.

I personally don't like it and why the hell can the game not be left alone???

 

[Aphrodite]

Sydney like this!

Just leave the game alone and get rid of that farcical COLA!

 

[HARKER]

It may add another level of management to things......Give more cause to bottom clubs quitting their better players to save a mil or two for a couple of years and then.............bang.

This management side of things is what may come back and bite.

 

[HBF]

Agree with the other posters on here about the banking mechanism.
Although not the worse idea in theory, what wouldn't stop someone like a St.Kilda who probably haven't even bottomed out to only pay 90-95% of the cap then to storm up the ladder by paying over the cap. Just doesn't sit right with me.

 

[HBF]

Sydney like this!

Just leave the game alone and get rid of that farcical COLA!

Even the rental allowance to lower paid players is a joke.
The AVERAGE wage in AFL is something like $250K, so if they can't find rent out of that they are kidding themselves.
I get it for first and second year rookies having to move up there, but why not make that across the board. Renting in Melbourne has to be about the same level as renting in Sydney.

 

[prisoner777]

Clearly the AFL have thought about it a little harder than I have but this salary cap "banking mechanism" seems to be fraught with danger.

Feels as though it allows a catapult of sorts to clubs whereas they can hold back for a couple of years and then launch when they see a window of opportunity available to them.

Wonder what AFLPA thinks about this?

Yes this could be an issue but would require clubs to get lucky with their new players. History suggests that in itself is problematic.

 

[prisoner777]

Even the rental allowance to lower paid players is a joke.
The AVERAGE wage in AFL is something like $250K, so if they can't find rent out of that they are kidding themselves.
I get it for first and second year rookies having to move up there, but why not make that across the board. Renting in Melbourne has to be about the same level as renting in Sydney.

Swans been in Sydney for over 30 years now. More than enough time to get their financial arrangements (AFL-sponsors) well in order given their particular circumstances. Enough is enough.....I don't mind providing some $$ assistance to struggling clubs but not to long established clubs with a successful on-field track record in the past decade!

 

[prisoner777]

Sydney like this!

Just leave the game alone and get rid of that farcical COLA!

YES!!!!!!!!

 

[prisoner777]

Even the rental allowance to lower paid players is a joke.
The AVERAGE wage in AFL is something like $250K, so if they can't find rent out of that they are kidding themselves.
I get it for first and second year rookies having to move up there, but why not make that across the board. Renting in Melbourne has to be about the same level as renting in Sydney.

Plus so many of them share together and therefore save on costs.

 

[HBF]

Swans been in Sydney for over 30 years now. More than enough time to get their financial arrangements (AFL-sponsors) well in order given their particular circumstances. Enough is enough.....I don't mind providing some $$ assistance to struggling clubs but not to long established clubs with a successful on-field track record in the past decade!

And just to add to this - pretty sure clubs still use host families for kids that have to move interstate.
No way they're paying full tote to stay at these host family houses either.

 

[zeeCFC]

We were clearly ahead of our time

 

[Chism]

It is going to make good list managers and the treasurers of clubs who handle player payments/Salary caps very sought after. As there are lots of ways to manipulate the system and use it to a clubs advantage legally by savvy and cunning thinking people in this role.

Identify the list and where it currently is $$$ wise in relation to the Cap compared to the clubs immediate premiership window then adjust payments accordingly so while the club is not currently in the race for a flag paying close to 100% of the Cap is stupid. So then you bring the kids in paying a low % of the Cap and banking the savings while they mature and are naturally getting better and then go BANG later down the track when you feel the time is right to overpay legally when the window is open and go after free agent guns with the extra money you saved when the team was not up there a few years ago.

 

[Dramoth]

Even the rental allowance to lower paid players is a joke.
The AVERAGE wage in AFL is something like $250K, so if they can't find rent out of that they are kidding themselves.
I get it for first and second year rookies having to move up there, but why not make that across the board. Renting in Melbourne has to be about the same level as renting in Sydney.

living in Shitney, earning 250k/year... even if you were paying rent of $1000/week, that still leaves you with 198k... a good tax lawyer will have all the schemes lined up so that the players pay a minimal tax rate anyway.

Here is the quick way of doing it. Incorporate yourself, get your salary paid to the corporate entity who pays you minimum salary/month (lets say 40-50k/year). At the end of the year, get your corporation to pay you a directors bonus of the remaining salary in the bank account. Boom... dont have to pay tax on 200k-210k.

After all, you are a contractor to the football club...

 

[Sector 7G]

Even the rental allowance to lower paid players is a joke.
The AVERAGE wage in AFL is something like $250K, so if they can't find rent out of that they are kidding themselves.
I get it for first and second year rookies having to move up there, but why not make that across the board. Renting in Melbourne has to be about the same level as renting in Sydney.

While the average wage s $250K, the median wage (which is effectively the wage 50% earn less than) would be much lower given the top half dozen players take a disproportionate amount of the salary cap (especially in the case of Sydney). What they should do is have a $20K allowance for the first 3 years that a player is drafted to a team from state not of their origin.

 

[Doro]

It is going to make good list managers and the treasurers of clubs who handle player payments/Salary caps very sought after. As there are lots of ways to manipulate the system and use it to a clubs advantage legally by savvy and cunning thinking people in this role.

Identify the list and where it currently is $$$ wise in relation to the Cap compared to the clubs immediate premiership window then adjust payments accordingly so while the club is not currently in the race for a flag paying close to 100% of the Cap is stupid. So then you bring the kids in paying a low % of the Cap and banking the savings while they mature and are naturally getting better and then go BANG later down the track when you feel the time is right to overpay legally when the window is open and go after free agent guns with the extra money you saved when the team was not up there a few years ago.

This. Encourages prudence and honesty about a list. Player x is only worth this amount, sign or GTFO. The only reason to be upset at a change like this is a lack of trust in one's organisation.

 

[serenityNow]

This league is a dead set joke.....you can now break a salary cap if you were below it the year prior??? Sydney players still going to receive something others don't in rent assistance??

leave the ****ing game alone ffs......i swear these clowns must sit in a room daily and just think up shit to change for the worse.....game is so hard to watch these days too.

i'm getting to the point where i may walk away from it........over it.

 

[James_Blues]

Is there some kind of ceiling on the ability to go over the top of the cap? Or will you be able to spend as much as you like provided you were under the previous two years?

It will lead to a massive shift in the way player payments are organised though, clubs will make changes to the way they backend contracts though having lower salaries in the first year or couple of years of a contract and then increase it significantly in the year where they exceed the cap.

 

[Scodog10]

Just my two cents, but for mine these measures work in the favour of your club.

From the outside looking in a re-shaping of the list looks imminent, however with a number of experienced players on the list it means you can take a minor hit for two years and then go whooshka in the third year.

The measures are coming in next year so for example losses of Waite, Judd, Carazzo and Scotland could leave you paying towards 95-97% for 2015-2016. This means you can go very hard at a 2016 FA and afford to pay 103-105% of the cap in 2017 to get them over the line (in a $'s term the difference is about 750k-$1 million).

We'll say that 2016 FA is Hannebury who in conjunction with a core of Thomas, Murphy, Gibbs, Kruezer, Henderson, Docherty, Menzel, Yarran, Buckley and top 10 picks in the 2014-2016 drafts makes for a decent list composition in the space of less than 3 years.

The only concern is that clubs like my own and Hawthorn are only paying 95-97% this year so will likely have big room to maneuver in 2014-2015. It's a measure that's exploitable by the smart clubs which appears to be everyone except Sydney who have committed close to 10% of their salary cap to one player for the next 8 years...