Do the equalisation methods need tweaking?

[blitzer]

Salary cap floor is the single biggest detractor from equalisation under the current system. It is quite simply set at the wrong amount. If it was set at 80% for instance - teams like Melbourne would not still be at the bottom after being down for so long, teams like Hawks and Swans would have lost important players etc.

So remove the salary cap floor or adjust it and over the long term bottom clubs will be able to attract top players and be able to use their 'periods of suffering' to create more of an advantage for the list going forward instead of just hoping and praying that draft picks will save them.
Also there would like be a synergy between getting top draft picks and then being able to recruit a star or two who could then pass their experience onto the draft pick. Would have helped a number of clubs significantly.

 

[Clark G]

Has been discussed before but perhaps the AFL should consider making it harder for the top clubs to recruit free agents.

 

[Mick39]

The NRL seems to have a more even competition.

 

[Demonic Ascent]

Salary cap floor is the single biggest detractor from equalisation under the current system. It is quite simply set at the wrong amount. If it was set at 80% for instance - teams like Melbourne would not still be at the bottom after being down for so long, teams like Hawks and Swans would have lost important players etc.

So remove the salary cap floor or adjust it and over the long term bottom clubs will be able to attract top players and be able to use their 'periods of suffering' to create more of an advantage for the list going forward instead of just hoping and praying that draft picks will save them.
Also there would like be a synergy between getting top draft picks and then being able to recruit a star or two who could then pass their experience onto the draft pick. Would have helped a number of clubs significantly.

I agree - I would make the following amendments to salary cap/player movements;

1) salary floor reduced to 80%
2) rookie contracts set at 2+1+1 years (guaranteed 2 years + club owns the rights to a further 2 year option on the contract to stop rookies walking before they make an impact)
3) free agency qualification period reduced to 6 years in the AFL
4) clubs have the option to franchise tag 2 or 3 players
5) free agency compensation only from second round onwards
6) clubs own a players contract and can trade them without consent
7) third party deals are either abolished or included in the cap - this includes deals to hire family members etc or other non-pecuniary benefits
8) priority picks remain on the table for perennial poor performers but only outside the top 10 picks

 

[Moonwatcher]

Perhaps draft picks should be given out on a schedule rather than to the lowest finishing team. Adelaide has never had a top 5 pick (prior to trading) in it's 25 year history. There is no way Adelaide could compete with a team full of priority and high first round picks. There needs to be equal access to the draft, not just for teams who bottom out.

 

[sherb]

It is bullshit, if they wanted to index all player salaries by cost of living then fine, but to only give it to teams they want to do well is bullshit. We know it's bullshit because they are changing it. Hannenery sold his North Bondi home this year for $2.2m which he paid $1.45m in 2012. That isn't a cost of living, it is an investment opportunity when you live somewhere with an overheated property market.

Good to see a discussion on the COLA, given we haven't had one on BF before.

 

[PonsfordMagpie]

Two teams need to be culled. The standard of football is getting worse every year.

Yes ideally Gold Coast and GWS and revert it back to a 16-team competition.

 

[NaturalDisaster]

get carkson, beveridge, simpson to rotate between teams every two years...

 

[kaiserchief13]

Two teams need to be culled. The standard of football is getting worse every year.

First team to go is the country based team - Geelong.

 

[kaiserchief13]

Hawthorn had finished rebuilding prior to the compromised drafts, the three years of compromised drafts denied the talent that clubs who hadn't finished rebuilding needed, this has seen the lack of any real contender arising that was caught in the comprised draft window.

I think West Coast have benefitted from yo-yoing from good team to a terrible team every few years, it results them in getting easier draw this year and also helped them to sneak in and pick up Gaff at pick 4, and Darling with a priority pick they didn't deserve during the compromised drafts. They didn't get a whole lot out of the other compromised drafts, but did pick up a fair bit of talent just prior to those compromised drafts.

Eagles are probably 2 class players short of where they would have been and other clubs that didn't suck bad enough to get priority picks and or look Melbourne-esque at times are probably 3-4 players short of better quality talent.

That is the problem with the draft as the talent distribution tool, when you manipulate the distribution of talent too much, you **** the system up. Father son, Free Agency and FA compensation are other factors pushing talent further way from clubs that were in a window to push out the old guard of Geelong, Hawthorn and Swans.

They just do not have the top-end cattle, they have been denied their fair access to the talent pool by the AFL playing god with expansion and allowing the teams on top to access FA at no cost, of course you are going to have good quality players who want to have a shot at a flag towards the end of their career.

The AFL has created this monster, they handed out so many priority access of talent to Hawthorn and the Swans and they have been difficult to dislodge from the top, and they have denied the rest the same kind of access, of course they are not going to push them, we are waiting for their players to retire or get hurt, that isn't a functional system.

How has the draw helped pick up Gaff at pick 4? Eagles should've had pick 1 that year and taken Bennell

 

[Rabbit of Caerbannog]

Teams would rise and fall with more regularity without the salary cap floor. The competition would be far more interesting. It's soul destroying being at rock bottom (forced to pay your dogshit list the same as the premiers) with nothing to do but go through an arduous draft rebuild.

Bad teams should have cap space available so they can use intelligent recruiting to aid their recovery. The draft alone is still a lottery even though professionalism in this area has improved.

It's compounded even more in our sport because lists are so large. It takes an eternity to turn over a terrible list. Rugby and soccer are half the size. A basketball team can literally turn their entire fortunes around with 1 player. It takes a number of years in the AFL even if you're nailing draft picks left, right and centre.

 

[Rimmer]

It will never be able to allow for players willing to play for unders to achieve the ultimate personal and team success, a premiership. Hawks of the 80s and now, Geelong when they were in full flight in recent years. The best players from these clubs turned their backs on bigger offers to move between clubs because they believed they were in the best place. They also attract good players from other teams looking for success and without necessarily needing to offer them the kitchen sink. Too many variables for any system to be perfect.

Savour every win your club has, 19 times this season Hawthorn supporters have been happy (ecstatic just at the moment) .... 15 times this season I have been happy, with every Richmond win. Only one team gets the cup but all of us get to have our moments or we would not love this game.

 

[Buckley00]

Get rid of the draft and salary cap. otherwise have the perennial circular argument running in your heads that the problem with socialism is not enough socialism.

I totally agree crows fan, the draft and salary cap is crap.

 

[AstonSouffle]

Increase the cap and remove the floor? Then the AFLPA can also start by demanding that clubs pay their players more not that the AFL is obliged to indirectly pay players.

 

[NathanMX]

Think the draft is fine, think development is key here, would Mitchell at 36 in the draft have been such a success at Melbourne instead of Hawthorn? Every team had several shots at Dane Swan too before he hit pick 58.Does not matter how many top 10 picks a team gets if they are not developed properly bar the few superstars who I think would be talented any place like Chris Judd, Nick Riewoldt and Luke Hodge

 

[Mitchell54]

I think you misinterprated his post. He is saying that Carlton should not have to spend 95% of the cap on the list they have. Average players are getting overpaid to fulfil the requirements of spending 95% of the cap each year

Yep, i reckon they should be able to pay the players whatever they like. It's ridiculous that teams like Carlton and Essendon have to pay their players the same amount as the players at Hawthorn and West Coast.

 

[Demonic Ascent]

It will never be able to allow for players willing to play for unders to achieve the ultimate personal and team success, a premiership. Hawks of the 80s and now, Geelong when they were in full flight in recent years. The best players from these clubs turned their backs on bigger offers to move between clubs because they believed they were in the best place. They also attract good players from other teams looking for success and without necessarily needing to offer them the kitchen sink. Too many variables for any system to be perfect.

Savour every win your club has, 19 times this season Hawthorn supporters have been happy (ecstatic just at the moment) .... 15 times this season I have been happy, with every Richmond win. Only one team gets the cup but all of us get to have our moments or we would not love this game.

Because the salary floor means the offers they get from clubs down the bottom aren't significantly better than what they might get at a top club. If it's a difference of $100-$200k a year they may not go but if it's $400-$500k a year over 4 or 5 years players will start to move.

 

[Royal Flush]

Too many clubs has meant the talent pool is scarce. It takes forever to rebuild, if you make a mistake, it takes longer.

Since 07, only 4 clubs have won flags. In the EPL in that timeframe, 4 clubs have also won titles.

Yes but we have unique cultures here, St.kilda could have won a flag had the ball bounced differently , the Bulldogs could have won one had they got passed their hoodoo of not making Grand finals. Freo had their chance in their most dominant era. 2 of these could have and perhaps should have, and had they then we wouldn't be having this conversation. If only Richmond could win one final....


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Lsta062]

Good management does play a role in this, but let's be honest and recognise that the introduction of the expansion teams and the free agency system at the same time frame is a reason why the turnovers have slowed.

Yes, good management could have nullified the effect of these introductions, but without them, averagely managed teams could also have also done good, causing less teams to become challengers.

The issue that we see now was compounded by introducing both the expansion teams and the free agency system at the same time.

 

[Stevi_Tigers]

free agency helps the better sides use frawley for example say carlton offer him 700k over 5 hawks offer him 500 over 4 after being at a shit side he is going to jump at the chance of being able to play in a flag

 

[Lifes a Beach1]

There are a number of factors at play, Mimimun Salary Cap and Free Agency are involved but a major factor is the failure of the Draft to get the best players to the bottom clubs. Mostly the clubs themselves are at fault but the system assists them in their failure.The dream player for the current game is Nate Fyfe and he was taken at 20 nobody questions why all the clubs get this so wrong, the reasons lay in poor recruiting systems, the age is too young , a lack of understanding of mental and physical development of young men. A lack of complete understanding of the 10,000 hours needed by human beings to master skills, the AFL has closed the market of players at the bottom end and freed it up at the top end ( free agency) it needs to free the market up at the bottom end as well, more ways of getting on a list.

 

[bugalugs213]

I love how people conveniently leave out who the hawks have lost through free agency yet bang on and on and on and on and on and on and on about getting Frawley.

No O'Rourke wasnt a free agent.
Burgoyne isnt a free agent.
Gibson wasn't a free agent.
Lake wasnt a free agent.
Macevoy wasn't a free agent.

 

[legend166]

I agree the salary cap floor is too high and needs to be lowered. I think that's the reasoning behind the new rule that allows you to spend over the cap if you were under it the year before.

I do think you need to be a little careful on that front though. A floor that is too low will encourage fire sales at teams who realise they're in for a rebuild and we could get some really crappy, early-GWS/GC teams popping up. And of course that would be advantageous for the wealthy clubs who can afford a could of years at the bottom.

The floor is mainly in place to appease the AFLPA but it's also there to encourage teams to be competitive each and every year.

I am hoping that as the salary cap rises and player salaries increase there will be less players willing to take 'unders' for the lure of success. If the average salary is $500k, the difference between a 3 or 4 year contract can start becoming fairly significant. Of course you're always going to have this - the real solution is to make a competition that allows every club the opportunity to be competitive and rebuild towards a flag.

And this is where my draft proposal comes in, although no one has commented on it yet.

 

[MadMaxx]

get carkson, beveridge, simpson to rotate between teams every two years...

Who is this carkson fellow.

 

[mcgarnacle]

I raised this in thread discussing the importance of the HAW vs WCE GF n terms of AFL premierships.

The recruiting procedure for the expansion clubs, COLA, minimum salary floor, priority picks, ridiculous procedure for net loss FA compo (I.e., first round), not being able to trade future picks, and other restrictions and manipulations to the general recruiting system has helped good teams stay good and bad teams remain bad.

I didn't even watch yesterday's game. As soon as Hawthorn made it, I decided to keep my Saturday arvo shift at work. Hawks at home and their experience..... It was a fait accompli.