NTFA: How struggling Roos and Magpies plan to use cap concessions

Deloraine and Scottsdale have had their say on how they plan to use cap concessions to improve their Premier League fortunes as they endure early lopsided results. Get the latest here.

New Deloraine coach Nick Milbourne. Picture: Jon Tuxworth

They’ve been given some extra salary cap room, but Deloraine coach Nick Milbourne says it’s critical the club avoids loyal players becoming disillusioned by splashing cash at mainland stars.

After some lopsided early results in the new Premier League, the salary caps of four of the six teams has been increased.

The Kangaroos and fellow battlers Scottsdale received the biggest increase, from $80,000 to $100,000, with player points increased from 38 to 53.

Milbourne said if the club opts to find the extra money and pursue mainland players, it’s vital they’re committed to helping build the club’s culture and competitiveness.

“Everyone’s saying to me it’s nice the NTFA is giving you that extra money but they’re not. We still have to raise that money ourselves, we’re just allowed to spend more,” he said.

“It still doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed A-grad footballers, you still have to find them and convince them that what you’re trying to build to get on board.

“It’s a double-edged sword. You can say to people this is what we can offer, but they might look at some results of previous games and see there’s a pretty big difference between the top sides and us.

“But you can also sell what we’re trying to do is build a club from nearly the ground up coming into a Premier League, and trying to turn a country club into a top end league team. There’s a chance to help build something, not just jump on board when everything’s easy and all the hard work’s been done, and a club is at the top of their game already.

“It’s an extra challenge you can offer blokes that it’s going to be tough, but hopefully you’re the calibre of person who can see the challenge of improving the football club and feeling like you’ve made a difference in how a footy club goes about it.

“It’s definitely a bit easier if you can find guys originally from Tassie. But you could also unearth some guys who might want a sea change, who have grown up in the city and might want the country lifestyle.”

Milbourne said another challenge is competing with strong country clubs in NSW and Victoria with the capacity to throw big money at players.

“It’s a bit hard when you have competitions in those areas who are throwing a lot more money out there,” he said.

“But also you want to be careful the quality footballers you’ve got at your footy club, you don’t want to keep offering them low amounts and throw big dollars at these guys.

“You don't’ just want to get them in for 12 months, because you can start fracturing your club internally with guys who have stuck fat and put in the work, then realise we’re getting guys who won’t be here long term. There’s a balance you need to strike as well.”

Milbourne said some incentives could be built into deals to ensure recruits strive to play at their best.

“I’m a big believer in best and fairests or a few best on grounds or making rep sides, it would be fantastic if we put incentives in place so you’re getting the most out of them,” he said.

“At least they’ve got something to strive for, to tack on a little bit more money onto that and be rewarded (if they reach those goals).

“There’s going to be some teething issues the first couple of seasons. We’ve addressed it early enough (with concessions), but you still need to get the right calibre of people on board.

“You’d like people to come down for a couple of years minimum to begin with. You might look at a fly in, fly out (arrangement) if everything came together and it was right for the club. But ideally you’d like them on the ground and in the community, to take that next step with professionalism and training together.

Milbourne and Deloraine president Anthony Clayton believes measures should be taken to make it easier for families to get juniors to games.

“There’s a strong belief from me that the biggest problem I find when I talk to parents is they have to take little Jonny to Bridgenorth, and then little Harry to East Coast or St Helens,” Clayton said.

“They play at different places because there’s too many of these junior clubs popping up everywhere, it makes it difficult.

“(Previously) If we play Launceston (in seniors) on a Saturday, the juniors play on Sunday. “We need to get back to those days otherwise you’ve got people zigzagging across the countryside. They don’t like it, and I think it’s a big reason these kids aren’t playing.”

Milbourne added: “There’s definitely room for improvement to get clubs who have their under-18s, reserves and seniors on the same day, so you’re not stretching clubs so thin with help.

“It’s OK to have to get the players on the ground, but without the off field people you can’t play games without them.

“There’s things to tweak and the NTFA is aware of it, which is really good.”

NTFA: How struggling Magpies will use cap concessions

Scottsdale will use salary cap and player points concessions to try and entice mainland-based “playing assistant coaches” to the struggling Premier League club after they were humiliated by Launceston.

The salary cap of the Magpies and fellow battlers Deloraine has been increased from $80,000 to $100,000, while Longford and South Launceston were given $10,000 extra to help bridge the gap between them and former State League sides North Launceston and Launceston.

Scottsdale was belted by 302 points by Launceston last week, with injuries also forcing them to blood a number of under-18 players.

They have a percentage of less than 13 and while they are still talking to players about joining this year, coach Rickie Dolliver said it’s far more realistic recruits wouldn’t arrive until next season.

The Magpies and Roos have also been given 15 extra player points, while the Bulldogs and Tigers were allocated eight extra.

Dolliver said they’re targeting players who would live and work in the region over a more expensive ‘fly in, fly out’ arrangement, where players also wouldn’t train with the team as often.

The NTFA has made it clear the money is to be used to recruit mainland-based talent, not from fellow Tasmanian clubs.

Asked how tough it will be selling the club to potential recruits, Dolliver said: “That’s the difficulty, there’s no doubt about that.

“South Launceston and even North and Launceston have enough points to recruit guys, so why would you go to Scottsdale and not Launceston?

New Scottsdale coach Rickie Dolliver. Picture: Jon Tuxworth

“We’ve got a bit of work in the area so we’re targeting two or three guys we think we can get to actually live in the town, rather than fly them in.

“We’d need at least three marquee players to match it with at least Longford and South next year, then go after the best two teams the year after.

“We certainly think it (concessions) will help with the equalisation. We’re in the situation where $20k extra in the cap will be of benefit, but that won’t happen until next year. It’s probably something which should have been looked at before we started, because we knew there was a couple of sides going to be a long way behind.”

Dolliver said they’re in talks with a couple of former Launceston-based players plying their trade on the mainland, who are keen to return home.

“We’re talking to playing assistant coaches that could bring another three or four players with them,” he said.

“They’re the guys we’ve reached out to and maybe make a couple of announcements sooner rather than later, even if we don’t get them until next year.

“We spoke to numerous players and numerous clubs about trying to get them down for the rest of the year, but most will persevere with the club they’re with.

“But we’re still trying. We’ve spoken to a couple of players over the last few days and still waiting on answers, but I don’t expect them to jump ship and come across at this stage of the year.”

Dolliver knew the job would be tough initially, but admitted it has been more difficult than anticipated to lure recruits.

“I realised it was going to be difficult, but I didn’t realise how difficult to get guys, even from Launceston,” he said.

“The teams in the second and third tier, there’s still some areas in that which can improve I think, to encourage the best players in division one for instance to play Premier League. I don’t know how we do that.

“A lot of them have, in my opinion, taken the easy way out. I don’t know how we get around it but it’s something the league should be working on, to encourage those guys to play Premier League.

“We’re really happy with our following still, even though the results are poor. The community knew how far we were coming back from, so they’re still right behind the club in terms of getting to the footy.

“The 100k salary cap is sufficient, in my opinion, to get the right people if you look around.”

Deloraine hosts Scottsdale in this Saturday’s Premier League fixtures.