Cameron Mooney and Luke Darcy say maligned Western Bulldog Tom Boyd should take a pay cut to ease pressure
UPDATE: SHOULD the Western Bulldogs’ $6 million man Tom Boyd should consider taking a pay cut? A pair of former AFL stars say it would ease pressure but coaching legend disagrees.
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UPDATE: ALL-TIME coaching record holder Mick Malthouse has slammed the idea of Western Bulldog Tom Boyd taking a pay cut, declaring it won’t do anything to relieve pressure on the forward.
The $6 million man, who was traded to the Dogs from GWS in 2014, was urged by Geelong premiership forward Cameron Mooney and former Bulldog Luke Darcy to take a cut because the pressure on him is “unfair”.
But Malthouse slammed the idea, saying there’s no need for Boyd or his manager to panic or change his contract.
“No, I don’t think the kid’s got any obligation to hand back any money,” he told SEN.
“The relevance is a contract, and even if he did take a cut, it’s not going to relieve pressure. “People will still remember that he’s come from Greater Western Sydney, he is a young man early in his career ... talls do take a lot longer to mature.
“In his case and certainly the manager’s case, they’ve got no need to panic about handing money back or changing contracts.”
Mooney believes Boyd could win over his teammates by making the gesture to help secure banned Bomber Michael Hurley.
Boyd, 20, is one of the AFL’s highest paid players, but is ranked 458th in the league’s official player rankings, formulated by Champion Data.
Twenty-seven of Boyd’s Bulldogs’ teammates are ranked higher.
Western Bulldogs great Luke Darcy also said the club should discuss a pay cut with Boyd for the benefit of the club’s drought-breaking premiership bid.
Mooney said the No. 1 draft pick should offer to drop his $1 million a year salary by about $100,000 a season, helping create some extra salary cap space for another prized defender.
“I do feel sorry for him (Boyd), because there is so much pressure building on this kid and he is still just a kid,” Mooney told the Herald Sun.
“He needs to take some of that pressure off, because I think he has got talent, but how long before we see it consistently?
“He could say, ‘take $100,000 off my contract for the next four years’ and that could help get a fantastic player like Michael Hurley, because they desperately need another key defender.
“And it would cast him in such a great light at the club because it would show that he is thinking more of the club rather than himself.”
But former Essendon captain Tim Watson isn’t so sure.
“The question is, does it help him in some way as a player for him to take a pay cut?,” he said on SEN today.
“It can help the football club financially, because it releases a bit of money in their salary cap, but internally, what he’s going through — and I don’t know the guy — but if it is about the fact that he was the No.1 pick and he’s a highly-paid player ... what difference would it matter if you took $100,000 off him or he gave $100,000 back to the football club?.”
Watson said the system in the NBA and NFL — where young players can only be paid up to a set amount — helps to avoid such pressure being piled onto young guns.
“Tom Boyd (is) one of the highest-paid players in the game, which carries all sorts of responsibilities and pressures attached to it, which I think is unfair for a young player to have to carry,” he said.
Boyd faces a critical month helping replace injured full-forward Jack Redpath in the run home to the finals, but Cats’ premiership captain Cameron Ling has questioned whether the 29-gamer is up to the task.
The Dogs haven’t won a flag since 1954, but have compiled one of the most talented young lists in the competition, under coach Luke Beveridge and list manger Jason McCartney.
Former captain Darcy, who played 226 games at the kennel, said club chiefs should have the conversation with Boyd, if they needed the salary cap space.
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“If you sat him down and said ‘this is going to help the side’, then yes, I think it is something that is worth considering,” Darcy said.
“I’ve always thought you get rewarded by the team success rather than the individual aspect of it all.
“I personally have always admired the sides which have been able to do that over the years and accept a little bit less (money) for the greater good, in team sport.”
Boyd crossed to the kennel after one season at GWS Giants and has averaged 10 possessions and one goal a game this season, amid some serious shoulder problems.
Mooney, who referred to the salary sacrifices made by the Cats in 2007-11 premiership dynasty, said it was a risky decision to recruit Boyd on such big money.
“I don’t think you pay $1 million (a season) on potential,” Mooney said.
“You pay $1 million a season for results and blokes who have got the runs on the board.
“In my view, you don’t reward a kid who may or may not turn into something special.
“It will be interesting to see how they get around that now because they can’t afford to lose any of their other quality young players over this and other clubs will definitely come after them.
“Guys like (Marcus) Bontempelli, (Jake) Stringer, (Jackson) Macrae and (Lachie) Hunter.
“It is arguably the best under-23 list in the competition, and I have been lucky enough to see it up close first hand (as an assistant coach), but they’re still missing a couple of pieces of the puzzle.”
But Port Adelaide premiership forward Warren Tredrea said Boyd should hang on to his whopping pay cheque.
“He didn’t ask for the Bulldogs to offer him $1 million a season and they knew what they were getting,” Tredrea said.
“He has got all of his best football ahead of him and tell me what key forwards come straight into the competition and dominate?
“People said the same thing about Tom Scully and Callan Ward, that they were overpaid in their first few seasons at the Giants and how are they going now?
“Scully has been sensational and Ward is the best player at the club.”
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