Let's go shopping
Mike Sheahan | May 16, 2009
IT'S never going to be part of the official name, but you may rest assured the new Gold Coast club is going to be commonly known as the raiders.
The construction of the AFL's 17th team is gathering pace, with existing clubs increasingly concerned about prospective player losses.
It's starting to get serious for several of them, particularly the big guns, Hawthorn and Geelong.
....
Then there's Richmond's outstanding youngster, Trent Cotchin, who has generated huge excitement in the north.
The problem for existing clubs is the AFL Commission has given Gold Coast a $1 million allowance in the TPP (total player payments).
That may not sound a lot when one player could get up to $1.2 million, but the expectation is more than 50 per cent of the original list will be youngsters locked into the fixed payment scheme for first and second-year draftees, with a slight premium.
Every Victorian club will be bracing for damage.
Particularly those who know they must rebuild. Particularly Richmond. More particularly if Cotchin is a target, as suspected.
One player agent said yesterday: "We used to talk about five-year plans, now they're going to be 10-15 years.
"We can all sit here and say what the Richmonds have got to do, but how do they do it?
"There's West Sydney to come the year after Gold Coast, remember."
What a time to be a talented young footballer in Australia.
Full article here:
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25489349-19742,00.html
