Heidelberg coach Danny Nolan confident salary cap cuts won’t impact club
Danny Nolan hasn’t had the chance to lead Heidelberg due to the COVID-19 cancelled season but is confident his young group is well placed to avoid any salary cap squeeze and fire in 2021.
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Re-signed Heidelberg coach Danny Nolan doesn’t believe the halved salary cap will have a major impact on the club in 2021.
The Northern Football League, together with four rival metropolitan leagues, will reduce its top flight competition’s salary cap to $100,000 in 2021 and potentially beyond in the wake of the COVID-19 cancelled season.
Had the 2020 season gone ahead, the cap limit would have been $200,000.
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Nolan is confident his club will be able to cope with the changes due to the age profile of its list.
“Our group is pretty bought it,” he said.
“We’ve got a young group, probably not in the older bracket that are looking to buy houses and set themselves up if money is an issue.
“It’s a massive challenge but a challenge for all clubs, so we’re all in the same boat.
“We’ve had a little chat about it but that’s the most challenging thing because you can’t sit down with anyone.
“I don’t think talking about salary caps is the right thing to do over the phone.
“I think we’ll have a universal (pay cut) approach because everyone will have the same attitude.”
The Heidelberg great also doubts there will be a frenzy of player movement over the summer.
“With no season, no one missed opportunities or didn’t get the opportunity they wanted, you’d think it will just move forward and start again,” he said.
“Obviously, there’ll be players move for work or family or education reasons but I can’t see a lot of players movement.”
Nolan hasn’t had the opportunity to lead his beloved Tigers due to the cancelled season.
The five-time Division 1 premiership star took the coaching reins in November after Frank Raso was forced to step away due to work commitments.
He was excited by the club’s potential heading into 2021.
“We’ve got a young group, all in that ripe age around the 20 to 22 mark, which is exciting,” he said.
“We lost a few older guys, which allowed our younger guys to step up and we were looking forward to some guys take a big leap.
“A lot of them are going to be thrown into key roles, on-ball roles and key position roles.
“At that age and with 50 games that’s where the big development jump can happen, so it was all lining up for us.”
Heidelberg finished second last season before crashing out of the finals in straight sets.
Brody Tardio (North Heidelberg), Nick Richards (Wangaratta), Josh Onderwater (Apollo Bay), Josh Smith (Greenvale), Matt Smith (Strathfieldsaye) and Kieren Parnell (NT Thunder) were the Tigers’ major off-season arrivals.