We Are The Reds

Just wondering what people's thoughts on the salary cap are?
Personally I think it's really starting to get way over complicated with clauses here,there and everywhere.
One method I would like to see is a much simpler system that encourages player development.

$2.6m cap
2 marquee players.
The rest of the squad is under the cap, unless that player came thru that club's youth system and spent an agreed amount of time in the youth sides before signing a HAL contact.
Those player are exempt from the cap as well.
So if a club truly focuses on development their entire squad could be exempt.

I would like to see the floor lowered and the funds saved being allowed to be used for development. This would be a good step towards a more viable league as sides like CCM would be relieved of a considerable bit of pressure and sides like Canberra & Wollongong would become more likely as viable entrants.

i don't think the cap is holding up development because a salary cap isn't very equally shared within a club, the top 4 players take up the majority of it and it drops away for the rest very quickly after that.

player development is a long process you can't just fix the end and hope things will turn out ok, there are structural issues holding things up. For example the players as kids they don't train enough unless they're in the NTC program, and the NPL sides (and below) don't play 40 games seasons and don't have an age limit on them. Any product coming out of that is not going to have the right amount of work put in to have developed their talent.

In SA we have junior leagues completely unconnected to the FFSA, how smart is that. I suggested in another thread that seeing as the club has its base in elizabeth now and has different objectives to FFSA, it should set up a 18-21 yr old league on top of the elizabeth and districts junior league and work in conjunction with them to get the structural issues right, don't know whether they're friendly to that, probably not but it'd be worth a try.

On the salary cap, i wouldn't lower the floor as it is the only equaliser in the game, once it's been lowered its no longer a cap and CCM may as well not exist. The real scandal about the cap is that players get such a small amount of the total revenue, it's something like 30% if was the same as european leagues where it's 70% the quality of player in the league would be much higher because as i said the cap isn't shared very equally. The owners complain a lot but somewhere between the FFA and owners there is 40% wastage happening.

From our clubs perspective development is really important because as stuckey pointed out the cap is becoming looser and that advantages the bigger city teams with bigger operating budgets and i'd imagine the FFA are pretty happy with that.

The minimum wage is about $49k. Why would a 17 year old prodigy still at school need that salary?

The minimum wage is about $49k. Why would a 17 year old prodigy still at school need that salary?

I guess there are two sides to that.
If this player is getting HAL game time then they are making the club income just like any other player is, so they deserve the same as any other player. Plus if they were that good I would say that other clubs would be interested in signing them so a decent wage might be required to keep them.
If the player is just a development player then I do agree that $50k is a lot to play a kid like that and I would like to see 2 spots (or $100k) of salary cap be split up further (maybe 4 ways) to allow more spots on the roster. Although it appears AU are doing something along those lines now with including some of their NYL players. Only problem is that if Tongyik or Trimboli do have a break out game there is really nothing making them stay so they could get picked up by another club very easily.

Funny how this is something I recall Griff moaning about a few seasons back and now the club doesn't even using all their allocated spots on their roster to lock these kids in.

There needs to be a different kind of contract to stop poaching. Three year deals but salaries less than 49k. It'll take some figuring out.

The minimum wage is about $49k. Why would a 17 year old prodigy still at school need that salary?

youth players don't get that

The minimum wage is about $49k. Why would a 17 year old prodigy still at school need that salary?

youth players don't get that

He's talking about the minimum wage for HAL players.

The minimum wage is about $49k. Why would a 17 year old prodigy still at school need that salary?

youth players don't get that

A 17 year old prodigy should be paid to align with what his market value is. If he is in school or doesnt need the money is irrelevant.

If a 17 year old is on a senior contract there is no reason he should be earning less simply because of his age ofcourse unless he is still on a youth contract.

Also a 17 year old prodigy would not be at an aleague club anyway. Da silva, mabil, rogic, amini were not prodigies they were just talented

The minimum wage is about $49k. Why would a 17 year old prodigy still at school need that salary?

youth players don't get that

He's talking about the minimum wage for HAL players.

youth players can play in the a-league, but even their wages are $40k which is a little high he's probably got a point. The biggest restriction is capping the roster to 23 players. There's also not a league for 21-25 yr olds who would benefit the most from removing that cap. If i was dictator for a day have the NPL age restricted to 21yr olds or below and kick the rest of the players out to play in the sunday amateur leagues.

The minimum wage is about $49k. Why would a 17 year old prodigy still at school need that salary?

youth players don't get that

A 17 year old prodigy should be paid to align with what his market value is. If he is in school or doesnt need the money is irrelevant.

If a 17 year old is on a senior contract there is no reason he should be earning less simply because of his age ofcourse unless he is still on a youth contract.

Also a 17 year old prodigy would not be at an aleague club anyway. Da silva, mabil, rogic, amini were not prodigies they were just talented

when they sign they're desperate and worth nothing hence their union bargaining for them to have a minimum.

The marquee player system should be scrapped in lieu of a larger cap.

IMHO the league is losing more from local players chasing dollars in Asian leagues than it gains from randomly attracting an aging superstar or two.

The marquee player system should be scrapped in lieu of a larger cap.

IMHO the league is losing more from local players chasing dollars in Asian leagues than it gains from randomly attracting an aging superstar or two.

Yeah that's where I feel excluding players brought thru club's youth system from the cap will help.
Fans love seeing young guns come thru and become club legends this will aid that. Then clubs can compete with Asian suitors to hold on to these players.

i don't see the marquee as a problem because only the bigger clubs use it properly if at all.

having an unrestricted roster and moving player wages from 30% to 60% of total revenue (leaves a generous 10% administration fee for the FFA) will naturally increase the ceiling of the league while providing more opportunity for homegrown players older than 20, below that age it's about better development. Rewarding home grown talent and loyalty for senior players within the salary cap can be built in but that will help player retention not discover them.

i don't see the marquee as a problem because only the bigger clubs use it properly if at all.

having an unrestricted roster and moving player wages from 30% to 60% of total revenue (leaves a generous 10% administration fee for the FFA) will naturally increase the ceiling of the league while providing more opportunity for homegrown players older than 20, below that age it's about better development. Rewarding home grown talent and loyalty for senior players within the salary cap can be built in but that will help player retention not discover them.

I hear your argument I guess it's just a matter of seeing what those FFA costs are and whether that is the best use of that money.
Personally I think the FFA CoE is a waste of funds. That money should be spent at a state level providing more of a link between the NPL and the HAL. Whether that be thru the HAL clubs or a federation run NTC is debatable.