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AFL explores drastic list cuts to save costs and address mental health, rolling footy news for Monday March 23, 2020
The size of AFL lists could be the next area of the game to feel the pinch due to costs stemming from the coronavirus crisis. But it's not just the extra cash that could see roster number reduced.
The AFL has raised the prospect of cutting list sizes by as much as 25 per cent in coming years to help reduce costs and address the game’s mental health problem.
Clubs have more than 40 players on each list as part of the $13 million salary cap.
But AFL operations manager Steve Hocking spoke with senior figures on the eve of the season about the idea of reducing list sizes to 30-35 players.
As part of the overhaul, clubs would pay its list of 30-35 players normal season-length contracts, and match payments for any players called up from the VFL or state leagues as top-ups.
The specific rules around elevating and dropping players from the list in-season is yet to be determined.
The economic crisis currently facing the game has dramatically increased the need to significantly slash club costs, including the amount of money it spends on players.
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A 25 per cent reduction in list size could save each club about $1 million - $2 million each year, and between $20 million - $40 million across the whole competition.
But the move may take several seasons to introduce as players already have multi-year contracts.
The league is in the midst of standing down up to 80 per cent of its workforce in the AFL break, which could cost the competition as much as $500 million if football does not resume again this year.
The move to reduce list sizes is tipped to also help address players’ mental health issues for those players regularly missing senior selection.
It is believed cutting the list to 30-35 players would lower the expectations of players not on an AFL list and therefore ease some of the angst and disappointment at missing weekly selection.
The proposal has received support from some key figures in the game, and will continue to be explored in preparation for next season.
Footy cuts mean we won't see crowded coaches boxes
Jon Ralph
Malcolm Blight won two premierships for Adelaide 20 years ago with a single assistant, a fitness boss called Neil Craigand football manager John Reid.
Two decades later, football’s arms race has reached such epic proportions that there is a paid position for every conceivable job title.
One strong Melbourne-based club has 181 full-time, part time and casual employees on its list of staff. It includes 13 assistant and development coaches under its senior coach and head of football.
There are three football analysts, three club doctors, three physios, 30 total staff in its medical and conditioning fields,seven in its recruiting fields. The next generation academy has a manager, a co-ordinator and a senior coach. In all there are 64 officials in the men’s football department and 36 in the women’s section.
Football departments have grown in size like all AFL areas - media, players, managers and AFL House staff.
Blight says the game will survive with less staff even as he feels for those who could potentially be left without roles incoming years as the football cap shrinks from $9.7 to $6.7 million.
“Footy is an arms race and it’s a copycat business, and in the final analysis today’s players don’t know any better so if it goes back to six assistants someone will eventually do it better and it will become seven again,” he said.
“I was at the Gold Coast Suns and there were defence meetings and senior player meetings and fitness and strength and so many messages. But in the end someone will still hold up the cup.”
AFL clubs hired so many staff because they could, looking for tiny incremental gains from every conceivable area of growth.
Will clubs in future be able to afford Irish jaunts to recruit the latest hurling sensation, or to scout every high-level junior game live with stripped back recruiting teams?
Players might be provided with less one-on-one feedback if there are less development and assistant coaches on staff.
The cacophony of voices you heard on the field with no crowds illustrates how well coached and drilled players are for everyoccasion, but would less structured football be a less attractive game?
All of these questions will confront clubs under the worst financial crisis the game as soon as they remodel pared-back football departments in coming seasons.
Updates
Luckily Nat Fyfe has a couple of months to recover from this … ouch
We assume GWS players had permission to do this …
Before heading home for an enforced break from footy, players including Lachie Whitfield, Josh Kelly, Phil Davis and Nick Haynes dismantled the club's gym and took equipment home with them.
It's either ingenious planning for when the season resumes or pure opportunism. Either way, we love it.
Check out these cracking photos by Phil Hillyard.
Giants players clean out club gym
We assume GWS players had permission to do this …
Before heading home for an enforced break from footy, players including Lachie Whitfield, Josh Kelly, Phil Davis and Nick Haynes dismantled the club's gym and took equipment home with them.
It's either ingenious planning for when the season resumes or pure opportunism. Either way, we love it.
Check out these cracking photos by Phil Hillyard.
JON RALPH
AFL players will be paid for their employment in March as 80 per cent of AFL House and club staff prepare to be stood down for up to two months.
Only one in five of all AFL officials will remain working – many on reduced salaries – in coming months as their colleagues stand down without pay.
The Herald Sun revealed today that 70 per cent of staff across the industry would be stood down, but AFL sources confirmed today they had been informed the figure was 80 per cent.
Amid reports AFL players have been told they will not be paid next month, the Herald Sun understands all AFL players will be paid for the latest month of employment.
Most players are to be paid on March 27 or in the days around it as they go on months of holidays before a potential return to football later in the year.
Talks continue today between the AFL executive and player union on what potential cuts look like in months ahead.
AFL House executives and staffers will be able to take accrued leave when their pay finishes on Easter Monday but will then stand down until the end of May.
The league expects to know by the start of April whether it needs to take a more extended break from football.
Collingwood's football department has been stood down while Geelong's players were set to meet with the club at 3pm to assess the leave period.
It has not yet been confirmed but clubs are expected to be told their players cannot practice together while they are on leave.
The player union and clubs are set to be issued with a more concrete list of guidelines for players as they leave their football clubs, many returning to their own states before borders close tonight.
Players will receive pay cheques next week
JON RALPH
AFL players will be paid for their employment in March as 80 per cent of AFL House and club staff prepare to be stood down for up to two months.
Only one in five of all AFL officials will remain working – many on reduced salaries – in coming months as their colleagues stand down without pay.
The Herald Sun revealed today that 70 per cent of staff across the industry would be stood down, but AFL sources confirmed today they had been informed the figure was 80 per cent.
Amid reports AFL players have been told they will not be paid next month, the Herald Sun understands all AFL players will be paid for the latest month of employment.
Most players are to be paid on March 27 or in the days around it as they go on months of holidays before a potential return to football later in the year.
Talks continue today between the AFL executive and player union on what potential cuts look like in months ahead.
AFL House executives and staffers will be able to take accrued leave when their pay finishes on Easter Monday but will then stand down until the end of May.
The league expects to know by the start of April whether it needs to take a more extended break from football.
Collingwood's football department has been stood down while Geelong's players were set to meet with the club at 3pm to assess the leave period.
It has not yet been confirmed but clubs are expected to be told their players cannot practice together while they are on leave.
The player union and clubs are set to be issued with a more concrete list of guidelines for players as they leave their football clubs, many returning to their own states before borders close tonight.
Michael Randall
Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson has pleaded with Australians to take coronavirus seriously.
As news filtered through of the AFLâs decision to postpone the season until May 31, Clarkson launched a passionate address after the Hawksâ 28-point win over Brisbane at the MCG, urging people to take social isolation seriously.
âThe whole worldâs hurting at the moment, weâve tried our best as an industry to soldier on and try to provide some hope, but we got the call today that the powers that be think itâs best we donât continue to do that,â Clarkson said on Fox Footy.
âWeâve been through plenty of crises before as a country but Iâm not sure weâve had to face one as significant as this as a global civilisation."
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL STORY
Clarko's passionate coronavirus plea
Michael Randall
Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson has pleaded with Australians to take coronavirus seriously.
As news filtered through of the AFLâs decision to postpone the season until May 31, Clarkson launched a passionate address after the Hawksâ 28-point win over Brisbane at the MCG, urging people to take social isolation seriously.
âThe whole worldâs hurting at the moment, weâve tried our best as an industry to soldier on and try to provide some hope, but we got the call today that the powers that be think itâs best we donât continue to do that,â Clarkson said on Fox Footy.
âWeâve been through plenty of crises before as a country but Iâm not sure weâve had to face one as significant as this as a global civilisation."
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL STORY
How coronavirus chaos stopped AFL in days
In this current coronavirus climate, the saying âa week is a long time in footyâ has become a massive understatement.
Following the AFLâs decision to shut down the season after just one round at empty stadiums, itâs incredible to think that only 15 days ago that a record Aussie crowd for a female sporting even packed the MCG for the Womenâs T20 World Cup.
Since then the coronavirus threat has rapidly escalated to the point where nearly every major sporting code or event across the globe has been suspended or cancelled.
The landscape was not only changing daily, but hourly, and it quickly became inevitable the AFL competition would also be hit.
Hereâs how the chaos unfolded:
March 8: Australia wins the Womenâs T20 World Cup final against India in front of 86,174 fans at the MCG.
FULL TIMELINE: https://bit.ly/2WACUVF
Clubs to run on skeleton staff for months
JON RALPH
An AFL industry-wide shutdown will see clubs operating on skeleton staff for months or more as the leagueâs football bosses were this afternoon briefed by the AFL.
Clubs will not be involved in pay negotiations for their players despite false reports today that clubs had already told their players they would not be paid in coming months.
But across all 18 clubs the league has made clear today that only a handful of staff will remain at clubs in the medium-term future, with the rest likely to stand down without pay.
Some staff will take leave entitlements or long service leave but others will have no choice but to return to their families without being paid.
If an employer is forced to stand down employees under the Fair Work act they are not entitled to pay them.
One of the reasons that can be given under current provisions is a âstoppage of work for any cause for which the employer cannot reasonably be held responsibleâ.
The league believes if it cannot dramatically slash its labour costs at a time of no incoming income it will in financial jeopardy.
Gold Coast has been reported as telling its staff it would stand them down without pay as it told some staff to consider their options.
In fact the Suns only spoke to staff about the nature of the industry shutdown and the potential tenure of the stoppage.
They spoke to them about the option of being stood down and what that will functionally mean for their staff.
Like all clubs, the Suns will meet with staff in the next 24-48 hours to review what the coronavirus means for them individually.
Across the board at all 18 clubs there are likely to be retrenchments, job sharing, restructuring of programs and football departments which in the future will shrink under a $3 million slashing of the football department cap.