There is a storm brewing between coaches and the AFL over the payment of coaches.
SEN’s Tom Morris understands there is dissatisfaction amongst senior coaches, assistant coaches and football department staff.
In 2019, 63 per cent of the AFL’s 160 coaches felt they were well regarded by the AFL. As of a few months ago, just 19 per cent of coaches felt they were well regarded by the AFL.
These figures are according to surveys conducted by the AFL Coaches’ Association (AFLCA).
This dissatisfaction has two elements. One relates to the payment and workload. The other relates to the pay comparison with players and how the players’ salary are projected to increase quite sharply, coinciding with the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
Put simply, coaches are doing more work for less money.
This has reached boiling point in recent weeks following Gather Round with the AFL set to give each club $200,000 to use for their football departments.
Morris reported the following on SEN Breakfast: “I’ve spoken to more than half the clubs over the past week, and they are using this money in different ways.
“Some are dividing it among coaches, others are dividing it among all footy department staff, and some haven’t decided.
“But one thing is pretty consistent: They see it as a token gesture and not nearly enough.
“This does not mitigate the fact that since COVID, there has been a 37 per cent drop-off in money for coaches and that has only just started to come back now.
“That’s why assistant coaches, senior coaches, all other football department staff are very frustrated with the AFL. There seems to be no clear vision to pay coaches what they were earning even five or six years ago, let alone what they should be earning in five or six years.
“The soft cap - which is an equalisation measure imposed on clubs - was $9.7 million before COVID. It sits just below $7 million now and there is no prospect of it returning to its pre-2020 figure, even with the upcoming lucrative pay deal now locked in.”
While there was only $200,000 for the football departments, each of the clubs were given $500,000 towards their salary cap, which former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley describes as an “oversight”.
“So you’ve got $500,000 that goes towards of the each of the playing groups and you’ve got $200,000 that’s gone to each of the football departments,” Buckley said.
“I know the players are putting the show on, but the football departments have got equally as many people in their number as the players do.
“It’s a massive oversight in the investment in the game. If you are asking young players to be at their best and to maximise their talent, they need to be in the right environment. Part of having the right environment is having the people that actually nurture and encourage that.
“They are the coaches and the staff of footy departments and they’ve been overlooked. They feel like second-class citizens and it’s happened for about five years now.
“It needs to be addressed, there’s no doubt.”
What is really agitating the clubs is while player salaries are set to jump, coach salaries will not.
Around 80 per cent of coaches are unsure if or when they will receive the Gather Round money, despite being involved in game development clinics and all 18 senior coaches involved in presentations in South Australia over that weekend.
Morris admits it is unclear what the resolution will be, but there is widespread disenchantment and a real fear that some of the best footy minds won’t stay in the game due to poor funding.