You make some excellent points. Can definitely see that if it all went to poo for North, they would get a financial bail out, sent a top coach and football manager a la Lions and finally a whole host of recruiting concessions / high drafts. If we threw the house at Horse and it went bad for us, the AFL would just say you deserve everything you get and if the supporters don't like it or the club folded, they can go support their love child, GWS.
I really don't think paying a coach a few hundred K per annum more than you'd like to is going to send our club (or any club) into
some kind of death spiral. Most clubs probably feel that way about a quarter of their playing list. I'm certain the Swans will offer Longmire
an amount that's not dissimilar to the North offer. Why? because they can. All the clubs have the same cap for this type of spending.
And because they want to. But if the bloke still wants to go, then let him. Why would you want a coach that doesn't want you?
I'd be extremely surprised if Longmire left to go to North Melbourne.
If GW$ can survive with a supporter base of two dozen fans and their pets in a region that prefers thugby, I’d say an Aussie Rules made state will do just fine. Sponsorship dollars can come from Australia (or world) wide. Tassie is an hours flight from Melbourne. If they needed to, a gun marquee player could commute by plane from Melbourne for training and match days should they not wish to live in Tassie. Kids these days spend more time travelling for under age footy in the hope of being drafted.
A Tassie team would have more long term viability than GW$ and the GC$.
In fact, if they guarantee that there would be no further concessions given to a new Tassie Team, just merge GW$ and GC$, relocate them to Hobart & call them the Tassie Tigers.
I tend to doubt the $1.8 million figure that is being claimed. Or for that matter, the $1.5 million that was being claimed earlier in the day. Both seem to be just speculation, with no evidence or attribution provided. Just to check, how those figures compare with other coaches salaries, I tried to do a bit of research; but it seems that these salaries aren't released. The largest figure that I could find, was a claim that Roos was on $1.5 million per year at the Demons. However, this also seemed to be evidence free speculation. Counter to this, was a Leigh Matthews article from a couple of years ago, which argued that coaches shouldn't receive over $750,000. While another article claimed, that the top coaches would be on around $1 million.
So, when considering the soft cap of $9.5 million, I suspect that the lower estimates are correct. Especially when taking into account what that cap covers: assistant coaches; fitness, medical and IT staff; player welfare programs, etc. So, to me, $1.8 million is likely to be just a journalist making crap up, or at best, a vested interest, such as Liam Pickering, inflating the numbers involved in the hope of a starting a bidding war.
Can anyone enlighten me as to how the soft cap works?
I think even the lower-tier coaches are getting considerably more than that ($350K is only slightly higher than the average AFL player
salary) and guys like Longmire and Clarkson will already be getting more than $1M. Paul Roos reportedly was paid $1.5M a year to
coach Melbourne. I understand these are all big numbers, but it is relative, and there will just be a rough going rate for a very senior
& successful coach, just like there is for all jobs. It's just a bigger number. There is a cap, so it's not like any club can go completely
crazy really. Maybe just take Pridham at his word, he said Longmire can coach the Swans for as long as he likes. And check out
what Pridham does for a day job, believe me he's not going to get all flustered just because Glenn Archer and Wayne Carey had a beer
with a "footy journo" one night in Melbourne.
Last edited by KTigers; 26th June 2019 at 02:41 PM.
Longmire is the 2nd most in-demand coach in the league. We know he can coach. Regardless of team performance going forward, I can't see Longmire being blamed, even if we go into a poor patch. It probably wouldn't be his fault anyway.
The Swans can offer him a long term deal for just about as long as he wants. I don't think NM can do the same, even if they might offer more money over the next 4 or 5 years.
Once you're making a million a year, other factors kick in and become more important, like uprooting your Sydney family and moving to Melbourne. I'm sure his kids want to stay in Sydney.
I'm also sure that he would like to honour the last year of his contract, which would put him out of contention for a new job next year.
I also feel that Longmire is emotionally invested in bringing on this new group of young players that shows so much promise and take this group to another premiership. It would truly be his team; one he built himself. And if he did, he would be considered among the greatest coach of this era. It's his legacy on the line as well. He doesn't have any investment in the North playing group.
Considering all these factors, a move to North Melbourne looks only a slim chance.
Out of interest, what do you think nick Blakey would be worth on the open market right now. In thinking upward of $600k p.a.
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