Veterans may be squeezed out of AFL
IN AN extraordinary financial sacrifice, Geelong premiership coach Chris Scott will forgo his entire salary while the league is shut down.
News Corp has learned that while Scott will continue working as part of Geelong’s skeleton staff, he will do so without being paid.
Geelong sources confirmed his decision at a time when the future of many staff is uncertain.
He reportedly told the club he did not want to be paid while his battery of assistant coaches were stood down without pay.
Most AFL coaches are paid up to a million dollars, but most have mortgages and school fees to pay – so it is a significant gesture from Scott.
Most of Geelong’s football department will be stood down on no pay until footy’s resumption, with 10-14 officials at the club likely to keep working.
The AFL’s senior coaches volunteered early on in the coronavirus crisis to take a 20 per cent pay cut, but now they are going above and beyond.
Brisbane senior coach Chris Fagan will reportedly take a 50 per cent pay cut while football is stood down.
Geelong’s management has been blown away by a chunk of their players who offered to take pay cuts to save staff.
Some staff have even offered to stand down to save other staff members who have mortgage obligations.
Scott told Fox Footy on Monday night that clubs had endured a brutal day of stand-downs.
“It (was) one of the hardest (days) I’ve ever had in footy,” he said Scott on AFL 360.
The news from Scott has come
WEST Coast forward Josh Kennedy concedes there may not be room for him on the club’s roster next year even if he wants to continue his AFL career.
The AFL landscape has changed dramatically amid the coronavirus pandemic, with the league initiating brutal cost-cutting measures in a bid to stay financially viable.
Players have agreed to pay cuts, and staff at league headquarters and at individual clubs have either been let go or placed on unpaid leave.
The competition is on hold until at least May 31 and there is no guarantee another game will be played this year.
With Kennedy in the final stage of his decorated career, there was a chance the 32year-old would have retired at the end of this season anyway.
But if the shortened, or abandoned, season leaves him fresh and wanting to play on in 2021, he’s not sure if there will be room for him, given the AFL may drastically cut list sizes next year to reduce costs.
“Who knows where the industry is going,” Kennedy told Perth radio station 6PR.
“There’s been a lot of cuts this year in terms of jobs and money. The years after are going to be hard to get it back up to where the AFL was. “They might cut list sizes. “All those things will come (into my decision) and it just depends where the football club sees me and a lot of the guys in that situation.
“But for now we can’t think about it – that’s way too far ahead. We are just trying to make sure we stay healthy and do the right thing by what the government is saying.”
Veteran players at other AFL clubs could find themselves in the same position as Kennedy.
Justin Chadwick