AFL Coaches association call on lawyer to give guidance to concerned coaches
An employment lawyer has given the AFL’s brigade of nearly 200 coaches advice and guidance with brutal cuts on the way. It could see up to 40 per cent of football department staff out the door.
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The AFL’s brigade of nearly 200 coaches consulted an employment lawyer in a Zoom conference amid fears for their short-term futures as well as an imminent coaching purge.
AFL Coaches Association chief executive Mark Brayshaw confirmed to the Herald Sun that employment lawyer Luke Connolly had given the coaches advice and guidance.
Many coaches worry they could soon be made redundant as the AFL mandates a football department head count of only 25 as clubs prepare to return to the game.
Heightening their concerns is a potential football department cut of 30-40 per cent next year which could see 50-60 of those assistant coaches cut by clubs.
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There is no such thing as a standard payout for an AFL coaching contract but many have payouts of only four, eight or 12 weeks of pay.
It means assistant coaches with large mortgages and school fees are suddenly faced with a future where they could in coming months be made redundant with few vacancies to be available next year.
“We have used an employment lawyer on and off and we recorded a Zoom conference with him,” Brayshaw said.
“We went through 15 questions the coaches had sent us over the previous 48 hours and they ranged from redundancies to pay cuts to JobKeeper to a fistful of miscellaneous queries.
“Our message was it’s a complicated environment. The JobKeeper involvements runs until the end of September but in some cases there could be redundancies and in others there may not be.
“There is uncertainty about the headcount. Is it a short-term thing? Some coaches have contracts for next year and some don’t. It was a wide-ranging exercise to give guidance who feel they need it and we anticipate some will go to their own lawyer.”
AFL clubs are this week deciding which football staffers they need to include in the 25 people who are allowed inside their clubs when training resumes.
Other staffers might be able to work off site as the AFL keeps costs down but also ensures strict biosecurity measures.
“The coaches are acutely aware the head count is to minimise the risk of a COVID outbreak as well as because of the financial crisis,” Brayshaw said.
“As soon as the vaccine is in place, the requirement for a headcount from a health and safety standpoint is finished and then the only thing left is the financial consideration.”
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Originally published as AFL Coaches association call on lawyer to give guidance to concerned coaches