“They’ll struggle to pay their mortgages, that’s a reality,’’ says Crows midfielder Brad Crouch
Adelaide’s Brad Crouch says some players won’t be able to pay their mortgages as AFL wages are slashed following the league’s COVID-19 shutdown.
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Crow Brad Crouch says some of his teammates “won’t be able to pay their mortgages’’ as AFL players are asked to take significant pay cuts because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Players have offered to take a 50 per cent pay cut while clubs are out of action, with the competition on hold until at least May 31.
But the AFL is pushing for a bigger cut – understood to be as much as 80 per cent – if the season is delayed further, which appears likely.
“There are definitely players out there that won’t be able to pay their mortgages,’’ Crouch said.
“I know players who have bought houses recently who are pretty geared up in terms of how much they’ve borrowed.
“When you go to buy a house you think your (pay) deal is set in stone.
“But now they’ll struggle to pay their mortgages, that’s a reality. There will be people like that all over Australia.’’
Ace midfielder Crouch, who is out of contract at the end of the season and had been linked to a $1 million-a-season offer to join Gold Coast, said players were “really worried’’ about the financial hit they might be forced to take amid claims from AFL great Leigh Matthews that they had become greedy.
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“There are a lot of young players who are really worried because it hurts them a lot,’’ Crouch told FIVEaa.
“With so much unknown, it makes it hard on everyone.’’
Crouch, who says he is prepared to take a pay cut in these difficult times – “we understand because everyone is struggling,’’ he said – has expressed a desire to stay at Adelaide.
But player contract negotiations have been put on hold as clubs deal with the fallout of COVID-19.
“You wouldn’t have thought all this stuff would happen, so that’s gone to the back of my mind at the moment,’’ Crouch said of his contract status.
While the players contemplate taking further pay cuts, former AFL chief executive Wayne
Jackson has slammed them and the AFL Players’ Association for having too much influence on the game, leading to costs skyrocketing.
He said a positive that might come out of the coronavirus pandemic is the lowering of football costs.
“I just hope very much that the football industry takes this opportunity of taking costs out of the industry, looking at what’s essential and what’s not,’’ Jackson told Sportsday SA.
“When things get back to normal maybe we can get back to a lower cost base than we currently have.
“I think one of the most challenging, if not dangerous, things that AFL footy has now is the players and the players’ union.
“They have far too much influence on the game and the costs of having that union is just horrific.
“I have just read the AFL annual report and I think the AFL contributes $37m a year to the AFL Players’ Association.
“The players have far too much influence at the present time and I hope the current climate we are experiencing might bring some balance back into that.’’
Jackson said the industry had “far too many costs’’, pointing to the number of coaches at each club.
“When you’ve got seven, eight or nine coaches in a footy team, that’s just too many, it’s ridiculous,’’ he said.
Originally published as “They’ll struggle to pay their mortgages, that’s a reality,’’ says Crows midfielder Brad Crouch