Gold Coast CEO Mark Evans has admitted his club has had to overpay for players at all levels to keep them around.
Evans said the club has tried to create greater salary cap flexibility in recent years after mistakes made in the past.
“One of the parts that people don’t understand of the strategy is that we’ve had to clean up our player payments. For a whole lot of reasons, some at the Gold Coast’s hand and some not really from the Gold Coast’s decisions,” he told SEN’s Crunch Time.
“Our salary cap had got way too tight and was over full and we had some back-ended contracts. Because of the position we were in last year, we decided to very progressively change that up so we can get the cap into a better position to then build something for the future.
“One of the reasons why the cap was under such stress is I think we’re probably forced to overpay for players at all levels. Young players, guys who are genuine stars that you’re trying to hold onto, and if you’re trying to attract a player from another club, it came with a bit of a premium.
“That comes down to our strategy and how hard do we go on those things, whether we try and come up with some internal protocols as to how we manage that.
“But it is real, I know other clubs have felt it in the past and we certainly feel like if you’re outside of Victoria and towards the bottom of the ladder, that’s one of the ways you’re solving contract discussions - by paying a premium.”
Evans believes when the club turns the corner, players will want to stay on less money in order to be part of a successful culture.
“When clubs are successful, people will take a haircut just to stay. Success is more important than the money to those players,” Evans said.
“But it ends up being an individual negotiation with each agent around each player, and sometimes I think we’ve probably had to fend off others.
“Eventually you do want the playing group saying ‘I’m staying here because I’m committed to this program, and I can see it’s going to deliver the things I need as a player. I’ve got good coaching, mateship and a good chance of success’.”