Don’t know about Hepburn, and Springbank don’t have that sort of money. They are in Central Highlands League anyway, and I mean Ballarat League much closer to where I live.
OK. I thought you had made reference then moved on from the BFL team.
I heard Hepburn were paying their former full forward a shitload and Id heard Springbank had sponsors renovating one of their key players house a few years back.
Top local footballers get a few perks too by the sounds of it.
I heard Scott Lucas* on the radio last year talking about player payments. He said only about the top 10 players at each club are on a “fixed” contract the rest are all on a base rate plus game payments. I can’t remember the exact figure but the base rate for a young player was really low, something like $60K and the game payments were $4K.
*Just on a side note - Scott Lucas seems to have dropped completely out of the media this year. Shame because I really liked his views and commentary.
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I miss Scott Lucas doing the weekly stuff for Essendon and his radio work. Expert comments from him are as good as anyone.
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He probably felt he didn’t meet the criteria of being a complete gobshite
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Geez, some of these numbers for ‘amateur’ footballers are crazy, especially when you add on their full-time jobs. No wonder Muscles Marigliani didn’t want to Schlep it on the rookie list.
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As an aside - I also miss Lucas’s insights & comments
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we will prob need him vs Tiges. now that Hooker will be questionable at best, Stewart should be putting his hand up… would be great if he could kick a few, let alone beat the best FB since colour TV
One of the very few I enjoy listening to.
Unfortunately, the days of talking straight-up footy without bullshiit songs and dances and manufactured back-slapping hype are fading away.
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Is Lucas media decline purely his focus on player management?
Here are the facts with some examples given how much people have been talking about player salaries.
These are 2017 salaries of AFL players (2018 went up a lot)
191 players are paid under 200k
512 made 200k plus
McNiece
Lavender
Mynott
Mutch
Clarke
McGrath
Begley
Ridley
Houlahan
Draper
Zerk Thatcher
McKernan
Guelfi
On average each club has a little under 11 players paid under 200k. Ive named 13 essendon players that are candidates for earning all under 200k. This is an overestimate.
So on balance all others are 200k plus.
That includes
Hartley, Long, Brown, Dea, J. Merrett, Green.
Edit - @SplitRound has pointed out that the AFL excludes rookies from this data. Therefore my hypothesis on the examples are wrong.
Rather than backpeddle/ delete, the right thing to do is to acknowledge my mistake. Thanks again split round
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How are they facts? Sounds like you’re guessing which players
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And he’s wrong.
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Thanks for the info @Laverde2Langford. A few things I’d point out:
- In addition to @SplitRound’s feedback, these stats are likely further distorted by the changes in 2018, as rookies are now able to be on more than base rookie wages.
- Even without the new info, you could not categorically say that naming 13 Essendon players was an “overestimate”. The 11 players per team is an average, some teams would be more, some will be less. Essendon might have a higher share than other clubs of players earning under $200k.
- Ignoring rookies, players likely to be less than $200k in 2018 would be: McGrath, Ridley, Begley, Mutch, Clarke, Houlahan, Guelfi, Zerk-Thatcher, Long, Jerrett, Green, Dea, Brown, Hartley, Ambrose and Redman. Those are all players who are either/and still on rookie contracts, not locks for our best 22, DFA, etc. So there are a lot of candidates.
- 2018 salary cap increases may have been spent on SSS.
So overall, it does back up the view on the trade boards that delisting this “depth” is unlikely to result in major salary cap savings.
I’m interested to see that Stewart hasn’t looked like being given a peek at Senior selection since being dropped. Started the year well. Did better as the year went on last season. I get the perception that “he is being asked to concentrate on aspects of his game”. Is it that he isn’t defensive enough?
Poor leading patterns / resetting which Brown is very good at.
Lack of physicality. He’s much stronger specimen than Brown but doesn’t really use it.
With JD and Smack back won’t be room for either of them in fwd line next year though IMO unless Stringer does genuinely transition to full time midfield which don’t think will happen.
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Brown certainly doesn’t look the physical specimen that Stewart does but he certainly has gained respect this year for his work rate.
Your last point is what makes this year so hard to evaluate.
Still reckon Stewart as a wingman (roaming between the 50’s) is worth a look. He has good hands, and (for his size) is quick, mobile and good at ground level.
What he doesn’t do well is lead to the right spots or exert his physical size. For that reason, he gets completely lost as a stay-at-home, first (or even second) string forward.
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Very much doubt Long would be gettING more than McGrath!
We’ve got so many others to play wing, e.g. Zaka, McGrath, Guelfi, Redman, Conor