PLAYING coaches will be able to be paid up to $20,000 per season without impact on a club’s salary cap under a model being utilised by AFL Goldfields.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Courier has seen the Player Salary Cap Framework, which outlines a system that will be implemented throughout the region as a pilot during 2016.
The document clearly states the framework has been compiled to ensure that the aspects used as part of the pilot will mirror the statewide salary cap being rolled out in 2017.
Under the model to be used next season, the coaching element of a playing coach’s salary must be specifically identified in their contract. This figure must not exceed 50 per cent of their total remuneration - to a maximum of $20,000 - with the remaining money to be included within the club’s salary cap.
Only one senior playing coach is allowed to have a component of their payment sit outside the cap. All other playing or assistant coaches who play will have their full payments in the cap.
Payments made to a non-playing coach or coaching staff will not form part of the salary cap.
Ballarat league clubs will be allowed a maximum spend of $150,000 under the cap, with Central Highlands $110,000, Riddell District $120,000 and Maryborough Castlemaine District $75,000. The cap is to apply to all player payments, incentives and awards provided to senior and reserve footballers selected to take the field throughout each season.
Sign-on fees are bared under the system, which will not be enforced or result in sanctions if breached during the 2016 trial.
The cap is designed to narrow the gap over time between high-spending and low-spending clubs by limiting growth at the top end.
It will be used in conjunction with a player points system – to be introduced in full next season – to help curb escalating player payments.
In an email to clubs, AFL Goldfields general manager Rod Ward describes the measures – which come under the AFL Victoria Community Club Sustainability Program - as “the biggest structural reform ever seen in community football across Victoria”.
“One of the key objectives of the CCSP is to assist in the equalisation of competitions,” Ward wrote.
“It is recognised that competition leads to interest, which leads to bigger crowds, which leads to stronger clubs and competitions.”