- Jun 30, 2011
- 7,132
- 14,658
- AFL Club
- Fremantle
My current thinking is the only way to get people money under the table is via semi sham invoicing. I.e. A player is paid by an independent company for the performance of some service they may or may not deliver, or deliver very little. Say they get $200 k and all they had to do was attend the board Christmas party and the Chairman's sons Lacrosse wind up. Then the Company who is performing some legitimate service for the club, or at the very least can't be proved to be illegitimate, the passes that cost back to the club via an invoice. So a $1 Million for repainting the interiors becomes $1.2. Or just a straight $200 k invoice for consultancy services etc. etc.Unless the AFL has put its foot down regarding employing family members as a player retention strategy. They kicked up a stink when Scully's dad joined the GWS football department, adding his salary to the total player payments.
Important to note that if the club seeks to reward the player by sending money via someone else already present on the total player payments the AFL have zero issue with it.
So a brother, boyfriend, husband playing on the Eagles list would be fine. But a girlfriend or sister on the AFLW list would/could be seen as rewarding Reid outside of the AFL WC salary cap.
Geelong couldn't even provide a nanny for Tim Kelly.
Pretty easy for West Coast to bury stuff given the size of their turnover.