Salary Cap vs Player Loyalty

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Club Legend
Jan 24, 2000
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The Pub.
After reading that story about Essendon, and how they will supposedly have difficulty keeping many of their up and coming stars (ie johnsons, caracella, ramanauskas etc etc), I was wondering about where this situation is headed for the AFL.

When you look at other sports around the world (esp american) the salary cap ( as much as I agree with the principal of it) has created a situation where fans of clubs, are looking at totally different player groups on their teams, after each pre-season, because clubs are making player decisons with money as the main consideration rather than performance. Its not a problem of any proportion now in the AFL. You may lose a Barry Young or whatever.
But in years to come, will AFL fans be faced with having their best players swapped and traded around on a yearly basis ???

Right now- players stay with their teams, often out of loyalty. And they take a pay cut compared to what they could be earning elsewhere. Fans like us get to know all the players on our team over a number of years, and the team you watched last year, is pretty likely to resemble what you see this year.
Im just worried that in years to come, the free agent- trade system will change this comfortable state of affairs.

anyway- ill leave a link to an article by James Brown of fox sports, which talks about the situation currently in NFL in the US, which I think is pretty relevant to the AFL.
(i know alot of you hate gridiron and anything american- but the article shows what we as AFL fans may have to put up with in years to come).

If your interested.

Arch.
 
Back in 1997 after the Kangaroos won the 96 premiership, (reserves and seniors) most senior players were given pay increases, as deserved for winning the Premiership.

However this had a terrible effect on our depth as more then half of the reserve squad were sacrificed to pay for the increases.

We at North have never regained that lost depth and now only have kids in the reserves.

So it depends on how you handle it, but in the end it promotes an even competition, one way or another.
 

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I used to take great interest in American Football but have dropped off the last couple of years. Is that Bruce Smith still playing?

Anyway, I think what James was alluding to was the need for a veterans list. Which is what we now have in the AFL isn't it?
 
Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, St Kilda, West Coast have all lost players to the salary cap. S&DON is not in an unusual situation.

If S&DON go for draft picks then maybe they'll benefit in the future
 
Essendon don't have any draft picks do they? Are they allowed to trade for 'em? Can't remember what the stipulations of their breach of salary cap punishment was.
 
essendons salary cap penalties were for last year
we did the crime and have now paid the price although we did really well considering
i think if essendon were fortunate enough to win the premiership then there shouldnt be a problem keeping all players if they dont then we'll see what happens
 
Perhaps the AFL should look at a reward for Premiership teams.

Maybe a 15% salary cap increase for the year following a premiership. Clubs should be able to afford it from their extra sponsorship after winning.

If they dont win the following year they revert back to the general cap.
 
Re Servo's idea,
The increase in the salary cap for winning a premiership just wouldn't be fair. It is the salary cap's job to make sure that teams don't dominate the competition for a few years. Take for instance, essendon, who should win the premiership with a vastly superior side to the rest. If they get an increase in the salary cap, they'll be able to keep that side for a few years as well as being able to afford it. Give the poor bottom sides a chance!

On the other hand, as an Essendon supporter, it wouldn't bother me if the salary cap was increased after the premiership!
VIVE LA BOMBERS......
 
i think the salary cap goes up every year (but correct me if im wrong there).
I dont think giving the premiers a cap increase is the right idea at all (for reasons outlined above).

Rather than keeping the comp even, my main point about the cap was how it might make the AFL a busy trading floor for players, where fans cant get used to having the same basic team over a number of years.
Maybe breaking up the cap, so each side has a seperate salary cap for a) Rookies b)Vets c) "Franchise" players d) evryone else.
That way, teams would have to decide on which rookies, vets etc etc to keep under each individual cap, rather than having to cut a rookie to keep a veteran player. if that makes sense (hopefully).
A Franchise player can be a guy who is considered a "core" player of his club, the stars- maybe give each side 6-8 franchise players (ie hird,mercuri, fletcher, lloyd type players) and a "franchise cap" under which all these players must be signed on long term deals.
anyway- just an idea.(which hopefully made sense)

comments ???
:)
A.
 

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