Clubs want larger caps

Pressure on AFL to lift limit on staff costs

AFL clubs are hoping for a boost to their football department caps of at least $500,000 next year, as the league continues an ongoing review.

Clubs have made strong submissions to AFL executive Travis Auld, as he makes a round of visits consulting across the 18 teams about the effect of a $6.2m hard cap.

Sydney coach John Longmire recently warned about a staff exodus if the cap remained at its current limit, saying staff were overworked, burnt out and likely to move out of the industry.

Collingwood’s excuse that COVID-19 cuts led to the unauthorised use of mobile phones in Optus Stadium’s change rooms last weekend has formed part of its defence against a mammoth fine.

And while the players should have known better, across the industry many clubs are keen for an easing of the stringent cap.

Some clubs with lower cost bases believe a $500,000 rise in the cap would allow them to overturn significant pay cuts to staff and hire some more staff across critical areas.

But not all clubs are pushing for huge cap rises, given many believe lower costs bases will allow them to make a profit this year, after cutting staff.

Bigger clubs hoping for a rise in the cap to as much as $7.7m – up $1.5m – are certain to be disappointed, given the league’s determination to reduce its costs long-term.

The league refused to comment as Auld assesses the football department cap and a new collective bargaining agreement for players beyond 2022.

Longmire said last month that the league needed to be careful about the fallout from its desire to slash budgets and pay back its $100m loan as quickly as possible.

“The AFL has done a good job keeping the competition going, but there is a people element to this as well,” he said.

“History tells you that when people make decisions about the bottom dollar and don’t invest in your people, whatever business that trouble.”

AFL chief executive Gillon Mclachlan told News Corp’s Mark Robinson in the pre-season the league was consulting clubs, but had many areas to fund, including AFLW and community football.

The league will meet on May 12 to discuss potential expansion of the AFLW.

“At the moment with the clubs, there is a diagnostic sitting with them for their feedback on soft cap, TPP, club is, you get into funding,” he said. “And we are looking at other areas of our industry, such as AFLW.

“So as we get back to the normalising and looking ahead with the new broadcast deal, we are looking at where we invest. Clearly, there is the footy departments and the soft cap, but there will be multiple areas putting up their hand.

“That’s the balance. Ultimately, we will work with the clubs to make a decision which gets us the right settings across the board. Soft cap is one, players are one, there’s also community football, women’s football. There’s a lot of areas which need investment.”