Increasing cost of travel and its effect on Fremantle and West Coast

[Havoc]

With cost of living through the roof.. thanks to things such as the Ukraine-Russia conflict, and the Israel-Palestine conflict... there is no doubt Fremantle and West Coast are being hit hardest. Look at the ongoing player exodus at Fremantle and the current rabble status of West Coast, along with the difficulty these clubs are having when it comes to attracting quality coaching staff.

With salary caps and soft caps in place.. and given how expensive everything is becoming... why would players and coaches want to live and work in Western Australia, when they can live and work on the East Coast for the same amount of money?? Not to mention being close to their family and friends. These days, if you live in Perth.. it's cheaper to travel to South East Asia than it is to travel to the East Coast of Australia!

Would a Cost of Living Allowance for Fremantle and West Coast help solve this problem? Not just for players, but for coaches too!

 

[Cudi_420]

Not against COLA but I find it interesting that it's only relevant in Australia. In the US you have significant variation in taxes and cost of living: in California for example you have a high cost of living and high income taxes but some states have no income tax at all. The main difference is they have a "luxury tax" which teams like the Lakers and Warriors pay to go above the salary cap to sign free agents. I wonder if the solution is a luxury tax type scenario when is varied depending on the club's assets, revenue, profit, and money in the bank. So a team like the Eagles can go above the cap and pay, say, a 5% luxury tax on the $ they pay above the cap to pay players a bit extra. Whereas a team like North would pay say 0.5% luxury tax. The Eagles can afford it, allows them to lure more free agents, but at a higher overall cost.

 

[Swanssince91]

With cost of living through the roof.. thanks to things such as the Ukraine-Russia conflict, and the Israel-Palestine conflict... there is no doubt Fremantle and West Coast are being hit hardest. Look at the ongoing player exodus at Fremantle and the current rabble status of West Coast, along with the difficulty these clubs are having when it comes to attracting quality coaching staff.

With salary caps and soft caps in place.. and given how expensive everything is becoming... why would players and coaches want to live and work in Western Australia, when they can live and work on the East Coast for the same amount of money?? Not to mention being close to their family and friends. These days, if you live in Perth.. it's cheaper to travel to South East Asia than it is to travel to the East Coast of Australia!

Would a Cost of Living Allowance for Fremantle and West Coast help solve this problem? Not just for players, but for coaches too!

Sydney had the cost of living allowance, it was removed and deemed unnecessary.
It is more expensive to live in Sydney

 

[Colonial]

Not against COLA but I find it interesting that it's only relevant in Australia. In the US you have significant variation in taxes and cost of living: in California for example you have a high cost of living and high income taxes but some states have no income tax at all. The main difference is they have a "luxury tax" which teams like the Lakers and Warriors pay to go above the salary cap to sign free agents. I wonder if the solution is a luxury tax type scenario when is varied depending on the club's assets, revenue, profit, and money in the bank. So a team like the Eagles can go above the cap and pay, say, a 5% luxury tax on the $ they pay above the cap to pay players a bit extra. Whereas a team like North would pay say 0.5% luxury tax. The Eagles can afford it, allows them to lure more free agents, but at a higher overall cost.

In American professional sports they get paid a hell of a lot more.

 

[Elmer_Hauser]

West Coast Don't seem to have a problem with player retention, even during their current lowly state, so I don't think either WA clubs needs a COLA

Freo's problems seem to me more of an divide/rift between some players and coaching staff. Although Acres did want to stay at Freo but was given an insulting low ball offer that made him feel not wanted.

Lobb wanted to move to Melbourne cause his partner got a fairly good job there/here.

Henry seemed determined to live in Melbourne too

Ultimately I don't think most of Freo's recent departures in the last 3 or 4 years would have been prevented by a COLA.

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

With cost of living through the roof.. thanks to things such as the Ukraine-Russia conflict, and the Israel-Palestine conflict... there is no doubt Fremantle and West Coast are being hit hardest. Look at the ongoing player exodus at Fremantle and the current rabble status of West Coast, along with the difficulty these clubs are having when it comes to attracting quality coaching staff.

With salary caps and soft caps in place.. and given how expensive everything is becoming... why would players and coaches want to live and work in Western Australia, when they can live and work on the East Coast for the same amount of money?? Not to mention being close to their family and friends. These days, if you live in Perth.. it's cheaper to travel to South East Asia than it is to travel to the East Coast of Australia!

Would a Cost of Living Allowance for Fremantle and West Coast help solve this problem? Not just for players, but for coaches too!

WTF.


Saturday Night was a while ago now dude. It's time to come down.

 

[The 747]

With cost of living through the roof.. thanks to things such as the Ukraine-Russia conflict, and the Israel-Palestine conflict... there is no doubt Fremantle and West Coast are being hit hardest. Look at the ongoing player exodus at Fremantle and the current rabble status of West Coast, along with the difficulty these clubs are having when it comes to attracting quality coaching staff.

With salary caps and soft caps in place.. and given how expensive everything is becoming... why would players and coaches want to live and work in Western Australia, when they can live and work on the East Coast for the same amount of money?? Not to mention being close to their family and friends. These days, if you live in Perth.. it's cheaper to travel to South East Asia than it is to travel to the East Coast of Australia!

Would a Cost of Living Allowance for Fremantle and West Coast help solve this problem? Not just for players, but for coaches too!

Housing is cheaper in Perth than over here in the Evil East.

Coffee however costs more in Perth and it is bad.

 

[Colonial]

Think the OP is mixed up.
He is complaining about travel costs.
Not cost of living.

 

[Dazb86]

Perhaps we could relocate these sides to a nice suburb of Melbourne

 

[Havoc]

Sydney had the cost of living allowance, it was removed and deemed unnecessary.
It is more expensive to live in Sydney

Sydney is close to everything as it's on the East Coast.. so it doesn't cost much to travel to and from there. The Swans had no trouble landing big fish such as Grundy and Adams... how many big fish have Fremantle and West Coast landed recently, who aren't WA locals returning home?

Think the OP is mixed up.
He is complaining about travel costs.
Not cost of living.

Travel costs for players and coaches to see their families and friends.. and the government are making this worse by blocking competition such as Qatar, because the government are in bed with Qantas corporates.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

In American professional sports they get paid a hell of a lot more.

While AFL players are paid a pittance compared to American athletes, they’re still paid far more than your average Australian.

Soon the average salary will be over $500k and even first year players will be well into six figures. At 19yo.

The point being, the cost of living in any city in Australia isn’t an issue for them at all. They all earn far, far more than people for whom it is a genuine concern.

Any cost of living allowance for AFL players is a wank and simply an excuse for the league to give some clubs a leg up.

 

[The 747]

Sydney is close to everything as it's on the East Coast.. so it doesn't cost much to travel to and from there. The Swans had no trouble landing big fish such as Grundy and Adams... how many big fish have Fremantle and West Coast landed recently, who aren't WA locals returning home?

Travel costs for players and coaches to see their families and friends.. and the government are making this worse by blocking competition such as Qatar, because the government are in bed with Qantas corporates.

So it's not the cost of being in Perth, it's the cost of leaving Perth?

The isolation of Perth is a decision factor for anyone who moves there for work, always has been, always will be.

 

[AndyLucimitis]

It's definitely less expensive to heat your house in Perth because they have perfect weather.


I know this because every phone call or meeting I have with customers in Perth begins with them telling me how good their weather is.

 

[Colonial]

Travel costs for players and coaches to see their families and friends.. and the government are making this worse by blocking competition such as Qatar, because the government are in bed with Qantas corporates.

and that changes nothing to my post.

It’s a cost of travel not cost of living.

 

[Swanssince91]

Sydney is close to everything as it's on the East Coast.. so it doesn't cost much to travel to and from there. The Swans had no trouble landing big fish such as Grundy and Adams... how many big fish have Fremantle and West Coast landed recently, who aren't WA locals returning home?

Travel costs for players and coaches to see their families and friends.. and the government are making this worse by blocking competition such as Qatar, because the government are in bed with Qantas corporates.

Big fish Grundy and Adams?
Both players will be over 30 and on 3 and 4 years contracts

Sydney costs more for everything.
A flight costs bugger all more from Perth, the every day costs are far more

 

[Havoc]

So it's not the cost of being in Perth, it's the cost of leaving Perth?

The isolation of Perth is a decision factor for anyone who moves there for work, always has been, always will be.

Cost of travelling between Perth and the East Coast of Australia.. it means players and coaches living and working in Perth are becoming more and more isolated from their families and friends on the East Coast.

and that changes nothing to my post.

It’s a cost of travel not cost of living.

Exactly.. and it also means people are just as isolated now as they were during Covid!! People weren't allowed to travel anywhere during Covid because of lockdowns... now people can't travel anywhere because they can't afford to, thanks to everything being so expensive!

 

[The 747]

Cost of travelling between Perth and the East Coast of Australia.. it means players and coaches living and working in Perth are becoming more and more isolated from their families and friends on the East Coast.

Exactly.. and it also means people are just as isolated now as they were during Covid!! People weren't allowed to travel anywhere during Covid because of lockdowns... now people can't travel anywhere because they can't afford to, thanks to everything being so expensive!

That has been the norm for most of the time we have domestic air travel, except for one recent period where there was a price war (and they were still >$500). It has always been a factor in deciding whether to move to Perth for work.

Offset by the fact that Perth is a very nice place to live.

 

[Toump Ass]

COL is so bad here in Melbourne our GM of footballs Alan Richardon has to mow our players lawns.

 

[go_the_dockers]

With cost of living through the roof.. thanks to things such as the Ukraine-Russia conflict, and the Israel-Palestine conflict... there is no doubt Fremantle and West Coast are being hit hardest. Look at the ongoing player exodus at Fremantle and the current rabble status of West Coast, along with the difficulty these clubs are having when it comes to attracting quality coaching staff.

With salary caps and soft caps in place.. and given how expensive everything is becoming... why would players and coaches want to live and work in Western Australia, when they can live and work on the East Coast for the same amount of money?? Not to mention being close to their family and friends. These days, if you live in Perth.. it's cheaper to travel to South East Asia than it is to travel to the East Coast of Australia!

Would a Cost of Living Allowance for Fremantle and West Coast help solve this problem? Not just for players, but for coaches too!

We quiet often travel a day before, and head back the next day. Same with the coaches.

If you had a choice of flying 10 plus times a year, or flying 4 or 5, of course the later is better.

I think the soft cap has hurt WA teams, and to a lesser extent SA clubs as we can't just pay more to keep coaches happy.

 

[The Feeder Club]

Perhaps we could relocate these sides to a nice suburb of Melbourne

The 'nice' bit is the problematic part of the idea

 

[Swanssince91]

COL is so bad here in Melbourne our GM of footballs Alan Richardon has to mow our players lawns.

Is that because your guys are too busy partying to do their own?

 

[Toump Ass]

Is that because your guys are too busy partying to do their own?

Simply can’t afford jim’s mowing after a weekend of nose beer and some punting

 

[Colonial]

Exactly.. and it also means people are just as isolated now as they were during Covid!! People weren't allowed to travel anywhere during Covid because of lockdowns... now people can't travel anywhere because they can't afford to, thanks to everything being so expensive!

Travel has always been more expensive.
But that isn’t Cost Of Living.

 

[RonnieRaven]

Yes Wa teams need to a have a 5-10% extra in soft and salary cap.
Why would anyone chose a job that they’re away from family and on the road heaps more for the same pay??
I wouldn’t.
This is what happened when they brought in these rules on soft cap on the direction of eddy in 2007 when vfl investigated why vfl teams weren’t winning every flag like the wanted.
Pies travel once to each footy capital city.
Freo travel across the country every second week.
Pies can get staff and players under the guise it’s a great club but the reality is it has the best working conditions for the pay rate.

 

[Sherrinator]

I manage to visit my in-laws over there once a year. Where’s my COLA ya clown