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SWANSBEST
10th April 2003, 07:53 AM
PATRICK SMITH
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Clubs' self-interest drives the Lions' cap relief debate

April 10, 2003
NOW the AFL has made it clear that it is determined to allow Brisbane extra money outside the salary cap to ensure the club's long-term competitiveness, the issue is hot to the touch. White hot.

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire is adamant that to give Brisbane and Sydney the opportunity to spend outside the salary cap, be it for retention purposes or a cost-of-living salve, is tantamount to fixing the competition. Cheating, to put it bluntly.

McGuire argues strongly that fans will drop away from football if they believe their club doesn't have exactly the same opportunity to access players ? be it in the draft or through salary cap relief ? as the rest of the competition.

It is also an argument run by Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy in his column in The Australian. Sheedy's point is exactly that of McGuire. If the fans think a fix is on, they will walk away.

Collingwood announced yesterday that they are marching towards a record number of members. Up by 6500 on last year's figure, the Magpies passed 36,000 on Monday. They are well on their way to recording the highest membership of any Victorian club in history.

That is a direct result of McGuire's energy and vision, Mick Malthouse's coaching and a savvy administration run by chief executive Greg Swann. They need to be congratulated, for they inherited a club that was uncompetitive on the field and in the market place.

On Anzac Day, Essendon, whose membership has all but tipped 30,000, play Collingwood. On Tuesday, the AFL said the match was all but a sell-out and that only restricted viewing seats remained available. Even with the MCG crowd squashed to 72,000 because of ground redevelopment, that is a mighty figure. And it is a figure big enough to suggest that if the fix is on, it hasn't quite got through to the masses just yet.

Nobody should criticise the fury with which McGuire and Essendon chairman Graeme McMahon go about the business of protecting their clubs. It is the very reason they were elected; to work with a passion to ensure the clubs have every chance to succeed.

It is for that reason that if either man was in charge of Brisbane or Sydney, then he would argue vehemently for the retention allowance and cost-of-living relief. Both elements are seen as critical to their long-term success. In 2002 the local content on the Sydney and Brisbane lists was roughly about 26 per cent. No other club fell below 55 per cent. It is indisputable that the northern clubs, in their developing markets, are vulnerable to players being wooed back to their home states.

It is instructive to see how the AFL and the clubs have gone about assisting Brisbane in developing their list. They have always had some development relief.

In 1997 when the Lions finished eighth under John Northey, the club was given $300,000 above the salary cap to retain players. That was when the salary cap was sealed at $2.9 million per club. So the Lions were getting more than 10 per cent relief.

In 1998, the Lions finished last and received a $200,000 concession on a salary cap of $3.28m. Astonishingly given their performance, that was further reduced the following year to $100,000 on a salary cap of $4.28m. The Lions finished fourth under Leigh Matthews.

In 2000, the concession was lifted to $400,000 on a salary cap of $4.75m and Brisbane finished fifth. In the first of their premiership years the Lions kept the concession of $400,000 to a $5.19m cap ? considerably less than 10 per cent.

Yet off the back of the premiership, an AFL sub-committee, comprising representatives from Collingwood and Essendon, recommended that the concession be set at 10 per cent. So Brisbane won their second consecutive premiership with a concession of $556,000. Some jump. They have set off this year in search of a hat-trick with a concession of $594,000.

The fluctuations of the Brisbane concession since 1997 defy logic. A mere $100,000 when they finished last, then 10 per cent in bullish salary cap conditions and off the back of a premiership.

Such vagaries suggest the clubs couldn't have cared less what was happening in Brisbane while they merely plodded along. Only when the Lions became frighteningly successful and a long-term threat did retention become an issue and a permanent 10 per cent ceiling a good idea. It is an argument driven by self-interest alone.

And it is the very reason Australian football has an independent commission. Soccer should take copious notes.


http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,6261401%255E12270,00.html

penga
10th April 2003, 10:13 AM
patrick smith certainly has his head well and truely screwed on, im glad to see that his vic roots dont sway his opinions at all

Mike_B
10th April 2003, 10:18 AM
IMHO he's the best AFL journo going around - credibility second to none. He tells the story like it is, as an impartial viewer, rather than making baseless claims like some others...