Carlton crunch: Inside the AFL’s most talked about cap squeezeCarlton’s salary cap is full to the brim. And rivals holding $2m in space are circling. How did the Blues get here and what is in their future? Jay Clark reveals all in the inagural Cap Space column.Carlton’s salary cap squeeze is at an all time high as we head into the 2023 season, and it’s been made worse with Zac Williams out for the year.
Questions are rightly being asked of the club’s list management having not won a final since 2013, despite the club finally seeing reward for its recruiting and starting last season 8-2.
Whether this is as far as the Baggers’ latest rebuild goes is another question.
Having rebuilt over and over again with the same core group of young talent, the salary cap gods have awoken from their slumber and Carlton have begun to walk an incredibly delicate tightrope as they re-sign their initial crop of rebuild recruits.
Clark suggests that Jack Martin and Mitch McGovern, alongside injured running defender Zac Williams, will need to take reduced deals in order to fit under the cap.
The alternate option for Carlton is offloading De Koning’s likely significant salary in order to bring in some key defenders that can complement Jacob Weitering, given the dearth of talls out back for the Blues at the moment.
It would free some significant space for a team that CEO Brian Cook admits is in a “challenging” position with the salary cap.
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/cap-space-jay-clark-looks-at-carltons-list-tom-de-konings-future-the-cap-squeeze-and-more/news-story/c8fee5d9c629acfe36e6d5f623e49a40https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/teams/carlton-blues/blues-salary-cap-crunch-enters-danger-zone-with-victorian-rivals-circling-young-superstar/news-story/ef3dee21ad72ba4c06a4bcce9b57159a
