AFL Coaches Association CEO Mark Brayshaw has commented on the significant gap between the pay cut that is being taken by the players and the coaches.
The AFLPA confirmed last week that players would take a 3.5 per cent cut in 2021, while list sizes have come down by only one or two depending on the team.
By contrast, club soft caps will be cut by 37 per cent, down from $9.7 million to $6.1 million.
This will have a significant impact on club officials, including coaches, with teams making cuts across the board to get under the cap.
“It certainly hasn’t escaped our notice,” Brayshaw told SEN Afternoons when asked about the 3.5 per cent pay cut offered to players for 2021.”
Brayshaw wonders whether they will adjust the heavy soft cap cut given the better financial position the league now finds itself in, with Australia mostly ridding itself of COVID-19.
“I think it’s an interesting consideration because the league and all the chief executives were in lockstep that we were facing a financial wipe-out and so we have to concede that the mighty job the industry has done … the losses are nowhere near what they thought they were going to be,” he said.
“I think that’s in part because the league put in place draconian cost-cutting measures and I don’t think anybody can be critical of that.
“The question I’ve got now is, in light of the fact that money looks as though it’s going to be cheap for the next few years and the red ink isn’t as bad as we all thought, what does the future look like and how quickly can the clubs expect to bounce back?
“Because on balance I think there’s been about a third of the coaches that have left, those that have remained in the job have had to take significantly bigger pay cuts than the players.
“Having said that, there’s a certain sense that the players remain the star acts in the game and so three quarters of our coaches used to be players and they don’t need to be reminded that the game is about the players.
“I don’t begrudge the players and where they’ve got to, it’s going to be interesting to project the next few years in light of the fact that the losses aren’t anywhere near as bad as we all feared.”