How much room do we have?

[WAG]

So all this talk of Ablett going to GC for an exorbitant amount of money, and the fact that every uncontracted player from every club is being linked with GC and GWS at inflated prices, and now the rumours about Bock, Thompson and Dangerfield (among others), it got me wondering about the Crows philosophy of player payment, and Craigy's timely comments that there is more to money in keeping our players.

Apparently (and correct me if I'm wrong) we have 15 players out of contract including Nathan Bock, Scott Thompson, Patrick Dangerfield, Ben Rutten, Chris Knights, David Mackay and Richard Douglas. Assuming we want to keep them all, how much room do we have in our salary cap to keep them?

I've tried to do a search on current player payments, however the information is hazy at best. With the retirement of Goodwin and Edwards, and with several others more than likely to follow (Mcleod, Burton, Hentschel, Doughty), I was wondering how much cash this would release for us to use where it's needed? I'm assuming Burton and Trent weren't on pumped up contracts due to injury, however did/do Goody, Macca and Tyson have large contracts?

My other wondering is if we will have enough money to attract the type of player we would want to trade for. I'm not talking about guys like Shultz or Nash, but more like Griffen (just an example).

Thoughts?

 

[FlyingCrow]

I reckon we have a fair bit of room. We have never been a club to pay over the odds for players.

Not to mention there are a few "business advisors" helping our players build little empires outside of footy.

Would like to see us poach a big name player, or at least make it so rewarding to stay with us the players dont want to go anywhere. We are a big club act like one.

 

[King Elvis]

A large difference between junior and senior player payments is the structure of them, generally;

Senior Players are on salaries, the amount of games they play per year has very little or zero impact upon their income (although B&F positions and the like are often in as bonuses).

Junior Players are generally on a smaller salary, plus match payments (often with the above B/F stuff, but also certain criteria re games played etc for bonuses).


If we're smart with the way we structure our contracts, and the way we load them (front/end), I think we should be pretty safe. Probably our biggest issue is the possibility that in a year, we might not have anybody eligble for the veterans list, so we can't deduct some of their income; but, again, if we structure up right, we shouldn't be hurt by this.

Dunno why I made this post.

 

[WALL-e]

Player payments in the AFL has always been sketchy.

They don't freely release this information like a US sport does, or they don't have the leak of info US sport has.

2 of our vets, likely McLEod and Goodwin would have been on the VEterans lists, halving their allocation to the cap. So technically only half their salary will come off.

That said, they probably were being paid a nice coin, being a couple of our better performing vets. Edwards will come off and having a solid 09 he's sure to be on good coin. But Burton and Hentschel were likely given performance based (especially Hentschel) contracts loading up games played and giving low base payments, not to mention they would have taken a contract with low cash just to extend their career.

So there'd be a bit of cash, though not enourmous off the books.

BUT.

Davis, McKernan, Sloane and Young will come off their rookie contracts, and Davis having the only decent contract, they'll all be looking for more. Not big amounts, but increases.

Also, we have Douglas (career year), Dangerfield (a must), MacKay (another MUST), Bock ( a GC possibility), Thomo (underated structure wise), Truck (seriously, who's FB if he goes, Young and Talia need 1 more year) coming off as well. Of them, you imagine Danger Dougie and D Smooth will receive substantial increases.

We would also, considering our young talent, would want to pay close to the minimum (92.5% I think) of the Cap to allow for future contract increases. Lets not forget you'll see 30% or more of your list out of contract every year, so we can't just go all out this year and neglect the future.

I'm sure they'll be all over this anyway.

 

[dylan123]

2 of our vets, likely McLEod and Goodwin would have been on the VEterans lists, halving their allocation to the cap. So technically only half their salary will come off.

But we will be able to add another two players onto that list cutting half of their salary which should save another chunk of money (do we have more players eligible to go onto the veterans list other then Mcleod, Burton, Doughty?)

 

[TheLeftFist8]

Lindsay Thomas having a brilliant season, obviously highlighted by last nights effort.

Would perfectly fill a hole in our team.

What would it take?

 

[jackster83]

Lindsay Thomas having a brilliant season, obviously highlighted by last nights effort.

Would perfectly fill a hole in our team.

What would it take?

Sadly we've missed the boat there.

Could try to poach Alwyn Davey, Matty Campbell or Wonna as all three are from SA/NT and haven't played many games recently due to injury. They can play but would be a risk due to being so injury prone. Personally I would be looking at Goldsworthy or Summerton from the SANFL.

 

[crowralph]

according to the below from the afl site, i think all of burton, edwards, goody and macca would be veterans and therefore only half their salary would be under the cap. maybe doughty as well. so losing the them all at the end of this year may not free up a huge amount of space. as mentioned, hentschell is probably on performance based, so his departure may not free up a heap either. a way to create space is to delist cloggers on medium salaries and replace with draftees who are on fixed + match payments, this could releast about $100k per player. risky in the event of a poor injury year or poor form for expected best 25 players. but looking at our list, i doubt we'd have many of these players. doughty maybe, but he probably hits the vets list. stevens, but may still be important. other than out of form 'stars' ie vince or porpoise, we don't seem to be carrying potentially overpaid mediocre footballers.

Veteran Players
Under AFL player rules, each club may nominate or list any number of what are called Veteran Player’s.

• In order to be eligible for classification as a Veteran a player must have been the age of 30 as at September 30 in the relevant AFL season and be on the primary list of the AFL club for at least 10 years or in the case of Port Adelaide since the inception of the club.
• From 2006 there is now no limit on the number of veteran players a club can list, as long as the player meets the required classification

 

[WALL-e]

Lindsay Thomas having a brilliant season, obviously highlighted by last nights effort.

Would perfectly fill a hole in our team.

What would it take?

Buying into a boomin market.

Get em while they're down.

 

[TheLeftFist8]

Buying into a boomin market.

Get em while they're down.

Fair call

 

[WALL-e]

Did play a rippa' though

But we've got to look at guys who are waiting to bust out and have a big one.

We may pay a little over in what they've currently done, but big unders in what they could do.

 

[dylan123]

according to the below from the afl site, i think all of burton, edwards, goody and macca would be veterans and therefore only half their salary would be under the cap. maybe doughty as well. so losing the them all at the end of this year may not free up a huge amount of space. as mentioned, hentschell is probably on performance based, so his departure may not free up a heap either. a way to create space is to delist cloggers on medium salaries and replace with draftees who are on fixed + match payments, this could releast about $100k per player. risky in the event of a poor injury year or poor form for expected best 25 players. but looking at our list, i doubt we'd have many of these players. doughty maybe, but he probably hits the vets list. stevens, but may still be important. other than out of form 'stars' ie vince or porpoise, we don't seem to be carrying potentially overpaid mediocre footballers.

2 players on the veterans list means 50% of their payment is taken care of.
3 players means 33%
4 players means 25%

We do know that our veterans took a pay cut this season so we could keep them all on the list so I guess we cannot assume they are making big bucks but it should still free up so cash.

Veteran Players
Under AFL player rules, each club may nominate or list any number of what are called Veteran Player’s.

• In order to be eligible for classification as a Veteran a player must have been the age of 30 as at September 30 in the relevant AFL season and be on the primary list of the AFL club for at least 10 years or in the case of Port Adelaide since the inception of the club.

I am probably wrong but I thought if the player had played for the club for 10 years they could be put on the veteran's list even if they were not 30?

 

[Vader]

A few points here...

• McLeod and Goodwin are the only players we currently have on the veterans list.
• Burton & Doughty are both eligible, as was Edwards prior to his retirement. None of these are currently on the veterans list.
• Stevens started his career with Sydney, being traded to Adelaide at the end of 2003. This means that he won't meet the 10-year requirement until the start of the 2014 season. It's almost certain that he will be retired or delisted before then.
• The 30-year rule remains in effect. It will be removed in 2012 when free agency comes into effect.
• It is highly likely that we will have no veterans on our list in 2011 - unless Doughty decides to play on. Once the 30 year rule is removed, Johncock, Reilly, Bock and Rutten would all be elgible in 2012 - all having achieved 10 years of service.

 

[WandallBone]

didn't we break the bank for Tippett?