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.

A snapshot of the Essendon coaching box at a game in 2019.

“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.

Originally published as AFL explores drastic list cuts to save costs and address mental health, rolling footy news for Monday March 23, 2020

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