EFL: Wantirna South’s plan to handle salary cap cuts in 2021
After a fruitful off-season delivered a long list of key signings, Eastern league outfit Wantirna South has turned its attention to 2021 as clubs prepare for salary caps to be slashed.
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Eastern Division 1 outfit Wantirna South is confident it can keep its list together for 2021 amid proposed statewide cuts to total player payments for next season.
The club recently announced the re-signing of senior coach Steve Cochrane and has now turned its attention to retaining its squad.
The Devils were one of the more active clubs on the recruiting front in Division 1 last off-season, with a swag of recruits headlined by Knox premiership forward Marcus Jordan.
Ex-Vermont talent Hamish McGowan, Patrick Wallis, Charlie Young, James Krikas, Brook Kainey and Nick and Cal Mendes also joined the fold, along with VFL-listed Footscray midfielder Robbie McComb.
While salary cap figures for next year are yet to be confirmed by AFL Victoria, Eastern league Division 1 clubs have been told there will be an $80,000 ceiling on player payments for the league’s second tier of competition.
“We expect to retain every player and we had to make sure of the coach (Steve Cochrane), and everything’s cascaded into place after that — all the assistants and all the other people in place,” Wantirna South president Steve Draper said.
“We’re currently re-engaging with (the players) now, but there is a proposed salary cap reduction, which I think is reasonable and sensible and very likely.
“But until that’s in place, then we can’t really say here’s your new offer.”
But Draper said the Devils were well-prepared for the changes afoot, with the club having worked hard to implement a larger employment network in recent seasons.
“It’s a difficult scenario — none of these guys came on big numbers, but the reality is we got them jobs,” he said.
“We were trying to mimic other successful models, but we found that we don’t have the market to sell enough products at the games through memberships and so forth to compete at that level … (for the recruited players) it was about jobs and playing in the main game.”
Draper said Cochrane had “unfinished business” at Walker Reserve, as he looks to lift the club up the ladder after narrowly avoiding relegation by two points in his maiden season in 2019.
The club hasn’t featured in finals since it played off in the decider in 2016, subsequently finishing sixth, seventh and ninth in the league’s second tier.
“We thought 2020 was going to be (a promising year), so that’s why it feels like a long off-season,” Draper said.
“He’s (Cochrane) in it for footy, he loves footy and he’s a footy nut — that’s the sort of guy that works well at our footy club.
“He wants to leave us in a better position than when he arrived.”