Is it just me or 'how the f?!k can we be close to to a full salary cap?'
We have one genuine A grader in Cotch. Genuine A graders being Ablett, Buddy, Swan, Mitchell and the like.
We have about 3 B graders and the rest are just young or not that good.
Lids- been pretty good but I wouldn't put him in A grade class. To easily tagged out of games and his finish in our B&F would say the same.
Jack- if you hadn't seen him play that year he kicked 70 odd and won the Coleman, you would say he is a C grader. Last few years have been ordinary.
Dusty- improving every year but still only a B grader at present. Needs to be more consistent for longer in games.
So how in the hell are other sides with much better lists affording to entice good players from other clubs?
Are we that badly run??
Or are we to bloody arrogant to realize we are a fair way off??
How does a team like Sydney with all their stars pick up Tippitt and Buddy in consecutive years. I know they have extra salary cap space but not that much!
With the likes of Whitey and McGuane leaving surely we can afford young Adams from GWS?? Or somebody that might push us up that little bit higher.
You can shove Hampson and any other dud like that up your bum, we don't need anymore list cloggers. We need more 'best 22' players. That's the only way we are going to improve our ladder position.
Big Tone,
The salery cap is an interesting one in that even though there is a maximum amount payable (9.1million) there is a minimum amount you have to pay (8.6million) or 95% of the cap. So regardless of who you have on your list someone has to be getting the cash.
There were rumors going around for years that McGuane was on 500k a year and this was probably true at the time because regardless who was at the club at the time the minimum of 8.6million had to go somewhere!
This is why the extra million dollars a year to Sydney is a massive advantage to them. They have had bigger names retire or leave in the last few seasons that would free up some cash but for them to be able to afford both Tippett and Franklin back to back shows exactly how unfair the advantage to them is.
We may well have free'd up around 1 million dollars with Tuck, White and McGuane moving on which sounds great but if we were to bring in 5 new kids that will take up around $750K for those new guys alone! I know there will be another couple to go yet but it doesn't leave much in the kitty to pay big bucks to lure a big name across. The reality of it is the Salary cap floor sux ass, clubs should be able to play players what hey think there worth and not pay half the side overs just because we have to.
I understand all that but why not give our average players, like Nahas, McGaune, White, Batchelor, Astbury, the list goes on, one year contracts on good money to be able to pay 95% of the salary cap and delist them at years end if we need the cash for better players? Now there is FA we should try and be much more flexible. For example this year you would say "see ya" to that lot and say "hello" to Adams and a couple of kids.
And if by chance Astbury or somebody starts to show something during the year, sign him up for another year before the end of the year to keep him.
These type of players aren't going anywhere, why lock ourselves into contracts for more than one year.
I have said it before, we need to improve our best 22, pick the weak links and upgrade them. We proved this year you can improve your list/depth with smart picks on our rookie list.
Every player coming into your club should have the potential to improve our best 22.
The Griggs, Houli's, Knight's can only get you so far.
