Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Chris Fagan has proposed an NBA-style AFL salary cap overhaul to address a concern the Brisbane Lions coach fears will cause long-term industrial harm.
The Lions mentor used Thursday’s pre-match press conference to expand on his controversial pre-season criticism of St Kilda’s off-season spending.
Tom De Koning rejected Carlton’s long-term offer to instead sign an eight-year deal reportedly worth $1.7 million per season, while Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera will reportedly earn $2 million a season on a two-year extension.
“I’ve watched the trend over the last few years – not just St Kilda – contracts are getting longer and longer and longer,” Fagan said.
“Three years used to be a long contract, suddenly along comes St Kilda and decides they want to pay those players the amount they did.
“I’m thinking to myself, ‘for the good of the game, is that what we want here? The sort of marketplace where offers to players become ridiculous?’
“I wanted to raise that so we can debate that as an industry.”
Fagan suggested an NBA-style max salary cause, limiting individual payments within the cap based on experience and achievements, would slow a wage escalation he thinks is out of control.
“We should always be on the lookout for things that might harm the game; I’m putting a red flag on that one,” he said.
“There’s 45 players on a list … I don’t want to see a situation where a large chunk of the money is going to five or six at the top of the pile and the rest miss out. It’s a team sport … it’s important they all feel valued.”
His comments come as in-demand free agent Zac Bailey assesses his options in what looms as a line-in-the-sand moment for the two-time premiers.
“I think so, if we decide to,” Fagan said on the expectation Bailey will fetch a high price.
“Whether we want to go down that pathway, or keep some control over what we pay our players.”
Brisbane have built from ground zero since Fagan’s arrival in 2017, with Callum Ah Chee and Brandon Starcevich’s moves to West Coast this year the only core departures.
They have also recruited former Eagles captain Oscar Allen and ruckman Sam Draper, while their intake of academy graduates and father-son picks has been a common gripe of rivals.
Saints coach Ross Lyon has led the chorus, labelling Gold Coast the “AFL’s nepo baby” last year and criticising Fagan for calling out his players.
“It’s not personal, it’s business,” he said on Thursday.
“The wider issue that the club’s been championing has been equity and equal access to elite talent, because that’s how the draft was set up.”
He indicated clubs like St Kilda had been pushed into offering such deals to attract the level of player needed to compete in what St Kilda hierarchy previously described as an uneven playing field.
“We’re asking a lot of Melbourne football people, to keep rolling up for 20 years without a lot of hope,” he said.
“So at what cost? The inequity to the heartland of the game? That’s probably as simply as I can put it.”
