Outgoing AFL Coaches Association CEO Mark Brayshaw has slammed an AFL clause that allows clubs to sack coaches and only pay out six months of their contract.
The AFL made the move in 2019 for AFL-funded clubs and it kicks in regardless of the length of the coach’s contract.
Brayshaw called it a “disgraceful clause” that bails out “moron boards”.
“I’ll tell you how (the clause) gets through, the AFL says ‘we’re sick of stupid boards, moron boards, sacking their coaches and paying them out’,” Brayshaw told SEN SA Breakfast.
“I used to be on the board at North Melbourne for eight years and have no sympathy whatsoever for any board that extends a contract with its coach and then changes its mind and expects to give them a six-month contract.
“The good clubs don’t do that. The big clubs that don’t need the AFL’s money quite as much don’t allow that to happen and I think it’s shameful and I’ll tell you why. Footy clubs, the good ones, have got trust. They’re built on trust.
“And you say to your coach ‘the good news is we’re going to sign you for three years, but by the way in the fine print if we change our mind we can give you the flick after a six-month notice period.
“That is not trust and I think it is a disgrace and it’s the AFL supporting incompetent boards who recklessly sign or extend their coaches and I have no sympathy for it.”
Clubs have previously had to pay out huge contracts in order to sack their coaches.
Essendon had to give Matthew Knights a $1 million payout to move on from him, while Adelaide did similarly with Brenton Sanderson.