How riches breed success in AFLRoy Masters
Sydney Morning Herald
September 14, 2011When the old 12-team Victorian Football League introduced a salary cap in the 1980s, the president of a Melbourne club was asked how the system worked.
''It works very well for seven teams,'' he said. ''The other five play each year in the semi-finals.''
The implication was the top five did not abide by the salary ceiling.
The AFL has supplanted the VFL with a national competition of 18 teams from next season, where a salary cap still applies. But the rich clubs have no reason to cheat.
The budgets of the football departments of the big AFL clubs ensures that money can still deliver semi-final places.
The clubs with the biggest turnover reached this year's finals series, including Collingwood with revenue of $70 million. Big spenders Geelong, West Coast, Carlton, Essendon and Hawthorn also made the play-offs.
Collingwood can afford to send injured players to high altitude camps in Arizona and run pre-season camps there. Rich clubs hire an army of coaching specialists, build high-tech training facilities, dress players in upmarket suits and put on lavish entertainment for the wives and girlfriends.
While the top clubs still have to fit player salaries into a cap, it's a powerful incentive to remain at a club when a player knows he's working in a five-star hotel facility.
Last season, Collingwood spent nearly $20 million on its football department, or $5.5 million more than North Melbourne, the poorest of the AFL clubs. The gap is expected to widen this year.
In 2010, six clubs - North, Port Adelaide, Richmond, Adelaide, the Western Bulldogs and Melbourne spent less than the AFL's football department average of $16.4million. None of those clubs made the semi-finals this season.
Significantly, two of the richest clubs - Collingwood and Geelong - are the only two sides with their own feeder clubs in the VFL. Based on their form in last weekend's qualifying finals, they will meet in the grand final.
In the NRL, the make up of the semi-finals is, historically, not closely tied to club turnover.
Brisbane, who made the play-offs, have the highest turnover of $28million. With an annual profit of $1 million, the Broncos clearly look after the players and their wives.
Melbourne have a turnover close to $20 million, reliant on a subsidy from owner News Ltd, which is anxious to restore the club's reputation after last season's revelations of salary cap excess.
Significantly, when News sought a financial package for the Storm as one of its conditions for exit from the NRL, rival clubs were anxious monies allocated to junior development not be siphoned off for use by the club's football department.
The Storm were minor premiers this season and eliminated Newcastle in Sunday's play-off.
Historically, Newcastle have been one of the poorest NRL franchises but with mining magnate Nathan Tinkler buying the club, the Knights can expect increased spending on the football department.
Manly, who finished the season in second place, are expected to lose $1.4 million this year but the club still ensures funds flow to the football department, leading the way in scientific training, particularly the use of GPS technology.
St George Illawarra also made the 2011 finals and while their Kogarah Taj Mahal club house doesn't generate the flow of funds it once did, the Dragons are in the top tier of NRL turnover.
Another merged entity, Wests Tigers, defeated the Dragons last Friday night. The club has always been forced to watch the bottom line, with grants from its licensed clubs always in jeopardy.
Another poor club, the Auckland-based Warriors, also made the play offs. Along with Cronulla, the Warriors have the lowest turnover in the NRL and in some years spend less than the salary cap.
North Queensland were eliminated from the play-offs but being a one-club city, the Cowboys don't want for facilities for the players.
Of the Sydney clubs that did not reach the play-offs, Canterbury and Sydney Roosters, are in the top tier of turnover but have been regular semi-finalists over the past decade.
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