EDFL: Aberfeldie president gives update on playing list, salary cap
Aberfeldie president Brett Williamson discusses cuts to the salary cap for 2021, his club’s playing list and coach Adam Potter’s future.
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Aberfeldie president Brett Williamson says AFL Victoria’s salary cap cuts were “inevitable” as community clubs look to regain their financial footing.
The Essendon District Football League powerhouse has qualified for the past seven Premier Division grand finals, but keeping its talented playing list intact is its next task after the season was canned.
The player payments limit is set to be $100,000 for the next three years in top-flight suburban competitions.
Williamson said he understood the need to slash salary caps, with several clubs suffering a collapse in sponsorship amid the coronavirus pandemic in addition to being barred from holding their usual fundraising events.
“Financially for everyone involved – including sponsors, all our members – I think it was an inevitable thing. The environment’s definitely changed as a result of this situation,” Williamson said.
“Will it have an effect on the type of competition we have? My understanding is it’s being introduced statewide so it will be a level playing field for all competitions.
“We’ll have to manage that with the players and their expectations about what their value is now compared to what it used to be.
“No doubt, it will be challenging, and we may get a few early retirements, but who knows?”
Abers landed three significant signings over summer after coming up short against rival Keilor in the 2019 decider, with ex-Williamstown VFL pair Nick Meese and David Fahey putting pen to paper, along with former AFL-listed player Peter Faulks.
Williamson said the trio had been “fantastic” acquisitions over the pre-season period.
“They’re really good personalities and fitted in really easily,” he said.
“They were training with us every night … and definitely had a positive influence around the group.”
With the EDFL yet to decide on its salary cap for next year and the uncertainty of the health crisis, Williamson said the recruits were yet to re-sign after committing to one-year contracts.
“We’ll go back to the drawing board and start again, but early indications are they’ll stay with us. They’ve got no plans to go anywhere else at this stage,” he said.
“But I guess we’ll see when it comes to negotiations I suppose.”
Aberfeldie was poised for a changing of the guard in 2020, with Luke Blackwell, Mitch Andrews, Jacob Craven (all retired), Jaryd Cachia (Golden Square), Jean Luc-Velissaris (Maribyrnong Park), Josh Pound (PEGS), James Peters (Essendon Doutta Stars) and Jorden Braddy (Rupertswood) among the departures.
But the perennial contender boasts an impressive stable of youth.
Anthony Horomidis, Clay Mullins, Callum Symons, Jack Arceri, Jack Middleton, Jacob Martin and Mark Gregory made their senior debuts last season and were set to play a more significant role this year.
“Having a very successful junior section puts us in a really good position to look after our homegrowns. There are some terrific kids obviously having a crack at NAB League level and VFL,” Williamson said.
“We stay in touch with them to make sure they’ve still got a connection to our club and let them know they’re always welcome back.
“We’re relatively confident, because of our junior section, that we’ll have some good kids coming up to the seniors over the next couple of years.
“It will be a focus for us with the changing environment. You can’t go out and recruit heavily, not that (player) points have been an issue for us for a while. We’ve had a stable senior team.
“We think we’ve got a fairly bright future, it’s just a matter of holding on to them and keeping them engaged.”
Three-time premiership coach Adam Potter is also out of contract at the end of the this year.
“I have started talks with him in regards to extending, but we’ve still got a little bit to work through,” Williamson said.
“Obviously his employment has changed a little bit (taking over as a principal at Williamstown High School), so he’s weighing up his options there, but it’s all relatively positive at this stage that he will continue on.”
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