One interesting aspect of the initial conditions for the two new clubs is that they get to start in the competition with an extra 10 players and an extra $1m in their salary cap to pay for these extra players.
These two concessions are watered down each year for the first five years, forcing them to ditch two players and $200K from the cap each year.
Now, here’s where it gets interesting. To get their uncontracted players, they will need to throw both money and security at them, so we could expect 6-8 players will be on big money and have the security of 3or 4 year contracts. G Ablett might even need a five year contract to swing his deal. Why would they go to all this effort if the money wasn’t good or the contract was only for two years? It makes sense that anyone who goes will be looking to set themselves up for the rest of their career.
This would suggest to me that some of their kids will be lost to them over the first five years as the reducing list and salary caps combine with the inflexible contracts for their senior players and put pressure on their ability to retain youngsters who are not yet ready to play senior football.
The best thing for the rest of the competition would be if their uncontracted player raids are highly successful, especially with players from clubs other than your own. This would probably shake a couple of kids out of their respective trees each year for a few years.
Personally, I’m hoping that GC get Ablett and that GWS squeeze a similar player out of another club, say Cooney, Goddard or Ryder. The tighter the contracts for their senior players get, the easier it will be for someone else to squeeze out a decent 20-21 year old in a couple of years time.
