It may simply be that we don't have the money to match the offer(s) Sturt is getting from Victoria.
My back of the envelope calculations has a guess of 9.3 million for our top 13 ... 800k per Darcy-Jackson-Serong-Young-Cox-Brayshaw, 800k for Bolton (Richmond pay 400k), 1.2 million for Chad, 500k per Pearce-Clark-Ryan-Amiss-Treacy. Do people think this is too high/low/fair? I think I have been conservative, for example Treacy could be commanding way more than 500k. Obviously there is back/front loading, bonuses, smooth Bolton out over more years, etc. But ignoring that for simplicity.
That leaves 9 million for the 2026 salary cap to pay the other 31 players (290k per player) that could be on our list. We can clean out Fyfe, Walters, JOM, Aish, Brodie. There will be a bunch on minimum/rookie wages to increase the average available for the rest. Put greenhorns on 150k and fringe players like Banfield on 200-250k and we can squeeze out 400-500k type contracts for the solid best 22 players. But it is tight. If someone is offering big years and money for Sturt, we might not be able to match it.
I'm ignoring the "marketing" allowance that is in the CBA ... total (not p.a.) 1.3 million per club to 2027.
I'm prepared that Bolton is done for 9+10 and nothing coming back except salary and maybe late junk picks. I hope we get a better deal, but it is doing my head in reading people melt about paying overs for him in draft picks while completely ignoring our salary cap situation. I think we need to put Baker in the bin as well.
My back of the envelope calculations has a guess of 9.3 million for our top 13 ... 800k per Darcy-Jackson-Serong-Young-Cox-Brayshaw, 800k for Bolton (Richmond pay 400k), 1.2 million for Chad, 500k per Pearce-Clark-Ryan-Amiss-Treacy. Do people think this is too high/low/fair? I think I have been conservative, for example Treacy could be commanding way more than 500k. Obviously there is back/front loading, bonuses, smooth Bolton out over more years, etc. But ignoring that for simplicity.
That leaves 9 million for the 2026 salary cap to pay the other 31 players (290k per player) that could be on our list. We can clean out Fyfe, Walters, JOM, Aish, Brodie. There will be a bunch on minimum/rookie wages to increase the average available for the rest. Put greenhorns on 150k and fringe players like Banfield on 200-250k and we can squeeze out 400-500k type contracts for the solid best 22 players. But it is tight. If someone is offering big years and money for Sturt, we might not be able to match it.
I'm ignoring the "marketing" allowance that is in the CBA ... total (not p.a.) 1.3 million per club to 2027.
I'm prepared that Bolton is done for 9+10 and nothing coming back except salary and maybe late junk picks. I hope we get a better deal, but it is doing my head in reading people melt about paying overs for him in draft picks while completely ignoring our salary cap situation. I think we need to put Baker in the bin as well.