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Suns send AFL an SOS for priority pick, cash, retention allowance
Gold Coast are preparing to submit a request to the AFL for a wide-ranging rescue package, including a priority draft pick, more money and the introduction of a player-retention allowance.
Suns president Tony Cochrane said the club needed help in a strategic and long-term way that went beyond just a draft pick, but an extra draft pick was important as part of a suite of measures for the club.
"We have not specifically asked for a priority pick yet but that will be part of a submission to the AFL on a range of things that are needed ... but I don't want to get into specifics," Cochrane said.
He added that other lowly clubs not just the Suns should be given draft help or else the competition risked becoming like the English Premier League where the top six soccer clubs fought it out each year and the rest of the competition were "cannon fodder".
"The AFL is very happy to take the extra broadcast money that the Gold Coast Suns and GWS bring into the competition by having nine games a round. We need that money invested in the clubs," he said, adding that the extra broadcast revenue far outweighed the cost of the clubs to the competition.
Since inception, the Suns had yet to pay 100 per cent of the salary cap, Cochrane said, because they could not afford to do so.
That meant they had trouble retaining and attracting players. A new form of player retention allowance, fully funded by the AFL, was one option they would explore in a submission to go to the AFL about the clubs in the expanding markets.
Cochrane criticised attempts to lure Suns captain and free agent Tom Lynch away from the club. After losing Gary Ablett, Jaeger O'Meara and Dion Prestia the club is frustrated at the difficulty in being able to retain players and believes they need help to retain players.
"There's got to be something to help us keep people from the return-home factor," he said.
"Right at the moment in the history of the AFL the majority of the players come from the southern states. In 15 or 20 years that will change but right now the majority of players come from those states and we have to do something about how we are able to keep them when they come here.
"We have to be given some help to retain those players ... investment [in the Gold Coast] is not necessarily all in money, it's people and assistance in structural issues, the draft."
He said the club had been forced to slash the budget for the North Queensland player academy budget in his first year as chairman by $60,000 from $320,000 because they couldn't fund it. He admitted it was nonsensical for an expanding club to cut that sort of budget but they had no choice because they didn't have the money.
Cochrane said it was outrageous that the club had to survive out of tin sheds for six years and while he did not want to apportion blame he said they were still struggling to deal with problems from the way they were established.
"It costs us $4 million a year to run the stadium. These were things signed by the AFL for us and we couldn't do anything about," he said.
The club were awful at the weekend, losing by 112 points to Greater Western Sydney, their sixth successive loss, leaving them 15th on the ladder.
In the final quarters of the past three matches they have scored a combined two points - in round nine they didn't score in the last term and in the last two matches they have scored one point in each final term - suggesting a serious fitness problem.
Gold Coast are preparing to submit a request to the AFL for a wide-ranging rescue package, including a priority draft pick, more money and the introduction of a player-retention allowance.
Suns president Tony Cochrane said the club needed help in a strategic and long-term way that went beyond just a draft pick, but an extra draft pick was important as part of a suite of measures for the club.
"We have not specifically asked for a priority pick yet but that will be part of a submission to the AFL on a range of things that are needed ... but I don't want to get into specifics," Cochrane said.
He added that other lowly clubs not just the Suns should be given draft help or else the competition risked becoming like the English Premier League where the top six soccer clubs fought it out each year and the rest of the competition were "cannon fodder".
"The AFL is very happy to take the extra broadcast money that the Gold Coast Suns and GWS bring into the competition by having nine games a round. We need that money invested in the clubs," he said, adding that the extra broadcast revenue far outweighed the cost of the clubs to the competition.
Since inception, the Suns had yet to pay 100 per cent of the salary cap, Cochrane said, because they could not afford to do so.
That meant they had trouble retaining and attracting players. A new form of player retention allowance, fully funded by the AFL, was one option they would explore in a submission to go to the AFL about the clubs in the expanding markets.
Cochrane criticised attempts to lure Suns captain and free agent Tom Lynch away from the club. After losing Gary Ablett, Jaeger O'Meara and Dion Prestia the club is frustrated at the difficulty in being able to retain players and believes they need help to retain players.
"There's got to be something to help us keep people from the return-home factor," he said.
"Right at the moment in the history of the AFL the majority of the players come from the southern states. In 15 or 20 years that will change but right now the majority of players come from those states and we have to do something about how we are able to keep them when they come here.
"We have to be given some help to retain those players ... investment [in the Gold Coast] is not necessarily all in money, it's people and assistance in structural issues, the draft."
He said the club had been forced to slash the budget for the North Queensland player academy budget in his first year as chairman by $60,000 from $320,000 because they couldn't fund it. He admitted it was nonsensical for an expanding club to cut that sort of budget but they had no choice because they didn't have the money.
Cochrane said it was outrageous that the club had to survive out of tin sheds for six years and while he did not want to apportion blame he said they were still struggling to deal with problems from the way they were established.
"It costs us $4 million a year to run the stadium. These were things signed by the AFL for us and we couldn't do anything about," he said.
The club were awful at the weekend, losing by 112 points to Greater Western Sydney, their sixth successive loss, leaving them 15th on the ladder.
In the final quarters of the past three matches they have scored a combined two points - in round nine they didn't score in the last term and in the last two matches they have scored one point in each final term - suggesting a serious fitness problem.
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