The Other Games

[dejavoodoo44]

Now that I think of it, the solution to the above dilemma, is, go the Matildas!

[imuninformedtwo]

Lol St Kilda. They forgot among all their whinging, pissing off the salary cap against the wall, rehiring a dud coach, to actually draft players who can kick the ball.

[lwjoyner]

great write up re st kilda. glad tthey loss pity it was the pies that won. 2 much bitching about the northern academies and too much paid for players they PURCHASED with inflated prices. Also a S..T job they di on the Giants back man. Chased him offered a decent salary and an upgrade, he accepts and then they reneg

[BRS328]

I'm really not sure who I'd prefer to win the Collingwood v St Kilda game. On the one hand, I'd really quite like Collingwood to slide way down the table, but on the other hand, I will be death riding St Kilda this year.

There's two main reasons for that death riding. Firstly, they seem hell bent on ruining the academy system and have been talking some absolute crap in pursuit of that aim. And secondly, I think they've got it wrong, in the massive amount of money that they're throwing at some players. For instance, Wanganeen-Milera is obviously a very good player, but with a salary of $2 million, is he somewhere between a $600,000 to $900,000 a year better player than Errol, Chad or Isaac? And while De Koning could develop into an elite ruck, is he worth around $600,000 a year more than Grundy? I think the answer to both questions is no. And apparently those aren't their only huge contracts. For instance, the AFL site reported earlier this year, that in season 2025, there was one player with a salary in the $1,400,000 to $1,600,000 range, who didn’t play a single game. That player was almost certainly Max King.

So, it seems to me, that if you're greatly overpaying a cohort of players, then you have to either underpay a significant number of other players, or fill your list with bottom end talent rather than mid-range talent. Which might work for a while, if the elite are really firing and inspiring the rest of the list. But that needs the lesser players to win hard balls, pressure the opposition constantly, run the hard yards, etc. And I definitely think that's less likely to happen, if some of thosethe Saints players are thinking, "stuff it, you're getting paid four times more than me, you can win your own ball."

So, I would quite like St Kilda's season to degenerate into an acrimonious shambles, but still, do I really want to cheer on Collingwood?

You would need to look at the individual contracts because while the numbers are big, I suspect a number of these will be front ended due to the fact that the Saints had been “banking” salary cap space by using the full salary cap in recent years. Essendon did this McKay from North Melbourne by paying over $1 million in the first year with the balance being spread over remaining years of the contract. Inevitably it catches up with you when other players at the club put their hands out in future contracts

[imuninformedtwo]

There’s a hundred good micro arguments and nuances when it comes to contracts and salary cap management but there’s also this.

NWM, TDK and Flanders are on a combined $4.6m a year.

Chad, Gulden and Heeney are on $3.3-3.4m.

And Jack Silvagni is on approx the same money at Tom McCartin and more than Blakey.

That’s a joke.