Interesting ramifications for a number of Club administrators. The affected Essendon players will be under contracts that presumably will have to be honoured, irrespective of whether they are able to take the field in 2016. So they should be entitled to be paid as per the terms of their individual contracts. Those payments, of course, roll into the Club's annual salary cap. However, the EFC will need to engage at least 12 new players to cover for the ones now suspended. This begs the question of whether the salaries of those new players will cause the Club's salary cap to blow out. If it does, would the AFL give Essendon some form of dispensation to exceed it's mandated salary cap for the 2016 season. I'd imagine the remaining 15 Clubs would have a view on that.
It's basically a similar situation for the other Clubs that have signed affected former Essendon players except that, at worst, only 2 players are involved. Again, whether the Ryders or Carlyles get paid for the season will be determined by the terms of their contracts. A smart Club administrator would have included a contingency clause in those players' contracts to waive payments in the event of the current CASA decision. That would leave the door open for the players to take legal action against the EFC to recover their contracted money. Otherwise, the possibility of a salary cap blow out also exists for these Clubs who could be expected to seek a one year exemption from that cap from the AFL. They could also be expected to initiate Court action against the EFC to recover any monies paid out to players banned from the 2016 competition.
Can't wait for the next exciting development.