SUNRAYSIA Football Netball League (SFNL) clubs will have less money to splash on players in 2021.
The release of the new salary cap by AFL Sunraysia this week has seen some clubs’ total player payments cut by up to $30,000.
The cutbacks are designed to help clubs, post-COVID-19, better manage their expenditure, a sensible approach given I don’t think any of us really know what next season will bring.
Player payments have and will continue to be a much debated topic.
There are those who will welcome the cutbacks and some who won’t.
It’s a fine line when it comes to placing a value on a player’s services.
Unfortunately, because of our location, clubs in this region are often forced to pay over the odds to attract quality players.
It’s just a fact of life, if you are going to attract talent from outside the region, you have to pay for it.
It just makes sense that if someone living in Adelaide can get $500 a week to play for a team in the Adelaide Hills, they will want more to come to the SFNL.
I don’t think anyone would question that logic.
But as clubs will tell you, it is becoming harder and harder to entice players away from their home towns, unless big dollars are involved.
With the cap cutback, this will mean club recruiters are going to have to be a lot smarter with who they target and how they distribute the money they have available to them.
Nowadays, $20,000 to $30,000 doesn’t seem like a lot of money, but when you consider it is a reduction of about 23 per cent of last year’s cap for teams like Merbein and Red Cliffs, it’s a fair whack.
Whether clubs like it or not, they are not going to be in a position to pay some players the amounts they had been getting.
My only concern is how it will affect clubs like Robinvale Euston and Ouyen United.
I know these two teams have been given extra in the cap, $20,000 more than last year’s grand finalists, Imperials and Irymple, because of their location.
But is it enough?
When you consider what it costs for travel, particularly if players are coming from interstate and flights are involved, it doesn’t leave much left over.
It’s one of the reason why I’m not a fan of the salary cap in this area.
Like any business, if managed poorly, it inevitably will fail, football clubs are no different.
Let’s face it, the people running our clubs are all successful business people.
I’d be pretty confident having Dennis Mitchell, Chris Sharman, Mal Crothers or Phil Lamattina looking after my finances.
I know there are people who will argue it allows the league to control what clubs spend on players and helps provide an even playing field.
I’m not arguing it doesn’t help stop clubs spending more than they can afford, but as far as evening up the competition, I think it does little.
The points system is the best leveller we have, managed properly it creates an even playing field with the more successful clubs having less points and the least successful the most.
It’s a great system and what I like about it most, is it has integrity and can’t be manipulated.
If you have 38 points, that’s all you can use on players, no under-the-table payments, a simple clean way of providing an even playing field.
