AFL makes call on salary cap relief for clubs after forced medical retirements such as Angus Brayshaw’s

The league is expected to release guidelines around potential salary cap relief for players who are forced to retire due to repeat concussions.

Angus Brayshaw leaves the field on a stretcher during the Qualifying Final match between Collingwood and Melbourne. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

The AFL has indicated clubs will be able to get salary cap relief if players are medically retired through concussion, with Melbourne’s Angus Brayshaw returning to a match-day role on Sunday.

Chief executive Andrew Dillon said across the weekend the AFL would release a set of concrete guidelines about concussed players having their deals exempted from the salary cap.

He said the hope was the policy would not “unduly penalise” clubs when their players were medically retired.

Dillon said the hope was that those guidelines would “stand the test of time” given more players are retiring but the clause would only be for head knocks and likely only for players medically retired by the AFL.

Brayshaw’s contract will be honoured by Melbourne but Dillon said the league needed a policy that did not have loopholes as the AFL gets closer to releasing those guidelines.

“We don’t talk about specific player contracts or instances but what I can say is we have been working with the clubs in relation to players who retire as a result of concussion and there have been unfortunately a few of them over the last couple of years,” he said.

Angus Brayshaw leaves the field on a stretcher during the Qualifying Final match between Collingwood and Melbourne. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

“We are in the process of putting together guidelines which will deal with payouts for the contracts and how they interact with total player payments because it’s really important players make the call that is right for them from a health and welfare point of view. We want that to have primacy and so we also want the clubs to be able to look after players but not unduly penalise them so we have just got to work through the guidelines on that.”

A ruling that helped Melbourne exempt Brayshaw’s $3 million salary until 2028 would allow them room to move as they attempt to replace the star midfielder.

It would also hand them cap space to offer swingman Harry Petty a vast pay rise as they attempt to keep him from asking for another trade to Adelaide.

He comes out of contract in 2025, but Adelaide will come hard again after offering a five-year deal on $800,000 a season and Petty does eventually want to return to South Australia with his partner.

Dillon said the guidelines would only refer to concussion, rather than other long-term injuries given the sensitivities around head knocks and ongoing damage to the brain.

“That is right, as we work through guidelines in relation to dealing with contracts it would be concussion specific only. That is why we are taking our time with it and making sure whatever guidelines are put in place, they will stand the test of time and be fair for all the players and clubs as well.”

Sydney chairman Andrew Pridham told this masthead on Friday he believed players who decided to retire from head knocks but were not medically retired should also have their contracts exempted from the cap.