Geelong Advertiser | LOCAL footy clubs will be hit with crippling punishments if they attempt to cheat their way around the incoming salary caps and points systems.
That was the blunt warning from AFL Barwon boss Lee Hartman yesterday after AFL Victoria unveiled its long-awaited equalisation plan to curb skyrocketing player payments.
Sanctions for breaches range from heavy fines, loss of premiership points, suspension from finals and even banishment from competitions in extreme cases.
The groundbreaking changes, which are in a testing phase until the end of this season and will be tailored for each league across the state, come into effect next year.
AFL Barwon is aiming towards a salary cap of $135,000 for Geelong Football League clubs, $100,000 for Bellarine clubs and $80,000 for GDFL teams.
Those figures, along with the points cap for each local league, will be confirmed by the end of the home-and-away season.
“We’ve done our homework, we haven’t just plucked numbers out of the sky,” Hartman said.
AFL Barwon came to the figures based on what clubs claimed they paid their players, what clubs suggested would be a good cap limit and what their annual reports declare about their player payments.
“We know clubs pay above that and we know clubs pay below that, so we’ve come to a set of figures that clubs can work towards,” he said.
“By putting a figure in, we’re capping the top end so the ones who spend below know they have got a ceiling they can go up to.”
Players will be made to sign standard statewide contract declaring every dollar they earn. Sign-on fees, match payments in finals and payments while injured will be banned.
Playing-coaches can have half their wage sit outside the salary cap to factor in the off-field component of their role.
Match-day cash incentives and other financial inducements must also be declared in the cap.
Clubs will be allowed to help players find employment, but jobs such as “paying players $10,000 to run the bar on a Thursday night” or “$1000 a week to mow the president’s lawn” will not be allowed.
Integrity officers will be employed to audit clubs and whistleblowers will be protected.
“The first club that gets caught — look out, because they will get whacked,” Hartman said.
“As I said to our presidents, you don’t want to be getting up in front of your club and saying ‘we’re playing for no points’, because you won’t be able to recruit anyone, the players you’ve got might want to leave and it will actually set your club back for a long, long time if you’re willing to cheat the system.
“To stand up and tell people, ‘sorry, we tried to cheat the system’ is not a thing you would like to do as a volunteer.”
In addition, points systems are seen as the most transparent way to equalise a playing list.
Under the statewide framework, players will get a score between 1-6 — one point for a homegrown player and six points for a player fresh out of the AFL system.
Players returning to their junior club will receive the lowest points, while recruits who stick with their new club for several seasons will be rewarded with a lower score.
Players who switch between clubs within a 36-month period will have their points total jacked up.
“Each club has about 35 players who play senior footy and we think half of those would be one-point players — either home players or those who have given more than five years’ service,” Hartman said.
“Although it looks onerous, apart from the one-point players, there’s only about 10-15 other players who need to be looked at.
“We’ve done our research with transfers and there’s only about three to eight players coming in each year (who play senior footy), so on a year-by-year basis it’s only those players you have to worry about.”
AFL Victoria player points system
6 POINTS
Played at least one AFL game in past
three seasons.
5 POINTS
Played at least five VFL, SANFL or WAFL matches in past three seasons.
4 POINTS
Played at least five TAC Cup, NEAFL, TASFL matches in past three years.
Premium community player — top five in club best-and-fairest, top 10 in league medal, or club leading goal kicker in past three years.
3 POINTS
Senior community player — played more seniors matches than reserves matches in past three years.
Transferred junior — a junior who does not meet ‘home club’ criteria.
2 POINTS
Development community player — played more reserves than seniors matches in previous season.
1 POINT
Played 40 or more games at junior level for that club, has played at that club their whole junior career, is returning to their junior club or has not played anywhere in three years.
Points deduction:
Recruits will have one point deducted for every year of service at new club.
Players will have more points added if:
They switch between more than two clubs in a three-year period or drop from a club in a premier league to a non-premier league.
*This is a statewide points system but local leagues will set their own caps.