South Morang recruiting pushed to limit by NFL salary cap penalty
South Morang coach Gary Hall has expressed his frustration at the NFL salary cap after the Lions were hit with further penalties, saying it was making the competition a feeding ground for other teams.
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South Morang coach Gary Hall has vented his frustration at the Northern Football League’s salary cap.
The Division 3 player payments limit was cut to $80,000 for 2020 but Hall revealed the Lions will be restricted to a limit of $65,000.
The club was also docked $15,000 last season, making its run to the grand final even more impressive.
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Hall said it made recruiting and retaining players long term extremely difficult and Division 3 was in danger of becoming a feeding ground for Division 1 and 2 clubs.
“The league has made it really hard for Division 3 as a whole, they’ve put the cap down to $80,000 this year, and our cap is actually $65,000,” Hall said.
“It just kills you as a club, just makes things really hard, hard to retain players.
“We’re just going to continue to lose players and there’s not much you can do about it really.
“That’s the nature of it now, you’re pretty much just a breeding ground for the other two divisions. The league really needs to look at it.”
The NFL confirmed South Morang’s salary cap restrictions were a financial penalty.
“The salary cap reduction was enforced due to the club not being financial with the league at the conclusion of trading last year,” the statement read.
With recruiting difficult, South Morang will again rely on its youth pathway to bolster the senior side.
Young guns Mitch Kalpakis, Nathan Bell and Rohan Buzzini were breakout stars last season.
The trio featured in the Lions’ senior Division 3 grand final team before starring in the club’s 107-point Division 2 under-19s premiership victory over Mill Park the following week.
“We’re lucky. I feel for some of the clubs that don’t have juniors, at least we can fall back on them,” Hall said.
“Last year, I think I played 15 under-19s through the seniors, so at least they’ve all got some experience.
“We’ll be competitive … we’ve taken a hit, it will be difficult, but I think we’ll be around the mark.
“It’s up for grabs with Panton Hill not there and no one coming down, so we’ll be there when the whips are cracking.”
South Morang begins its 2020 campaign away to Reservoir.
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