Exemptions for marquee men a must, says agent

[The Coon Dog]

JON PIERIK - The Age - March 14, 2010

Leading player agent Ricky Nixon says the AFL's superstars deserve a pay rise and has called for the introduction of a designated "marquee" player who can be remunerated outside the salary cap.

Nixon has already conveyed his thoughts to the AFL Players' Association, which is gathering feedback from its executive and delegates before talks with the AFL over a new collective bargaining agreement.

"I think this time around, the [agreement] has got to reward the superstars of the game better. I know it's something the AFLPA will be looking at," Nixon said. "Let's face it. We go to watch the Abletts and Riewoldts every week. We don't go to watch the bloke that is playing in the Sandringham reserves, do we?

Article in full...

[FrediKanoute]

Re: Exemptions for marquee men a must, says agent

Another step along the path of player greed. Who is going to pay for the marquee men?

A serious problem as I see it is how do you determine who a marquee player is on your team. Yes Reidvolt is a stand out, but I'm sure a guy like Hayes, maybe Goddard would be a little bit miffed that they would be getting less than him.

In our side, who would you consider marquee? Cooney? Lake? Grifffin? Gilbee? Johnno? Aka? Bazza? Marquee works in Soccer because you have a largely developing competition and its a means of attracting big name players from overseas to play locally. This helps build the brand in Australia without having the potential rampant runaway spending that you have in Europe. It doesn't apply to AFL which is the top profesional league in the world.

[Rocco Jones]

Re: Exemptions for marquee men a must, says agent

"I think this time around, the [agreement] has got to reward the superstars of the game better. I know it's something the AFLPA will be looking at," Nixon said. "Let's face it. We go to watch the Abletts and Riewoldts every week. We don't go to watch the bloke that is playing in the Sandringham reserves, do we?

Don't the Abletts and Riewoldts already get paid about 20 times more than those playing VFL reserves (1st year players/rookies)?

[ledge]

Re: Exemptions for marquee men a must, says agent

And then of course you have got players managers saying their player should be the marquee one.

[hujsh]

Re: Exemptions for marquee men a must, says agent

He doesn't believe they need a pay rise, he just want one of his own. Therefore his opinion is worthless.

[comrade]

Re: Exemptions for marquee men a must, says agent

I'm fine with marquee payments being exempt from salary cap expenditure, IF player agent commission on said payments are also exempt. Nixon wouldn't push the barrow if that was the case.

[chef]

Re: Exemptions for marquee men a must, says agent

And then of course you have got players managers saying their player should be the marquee one.

So they can get more money out of the players contracts. God these guys have turned into real wankers

[LostDoggy]

Re: Exemptions for marquee men a must, says agent

Not these guys - just Nixon. He should be banned from all AFL players by the league!

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: Exemptions for marquee men a must, says agent

I love his logic - "this will allow Geelong to keep Gary Ablett" - and almost certainly cause them to lose Joel Selwood when someone else offers up 'marquee player - write your own cheque' in front of him.

[comrade]

Re: Exemptions for marquee men a must, says agent

I love his logic - "this will allow Geelong to keep Gary Ablett" - and almost certainly cause them to lose Joel Selwood when someone else offers up 'marquee player - write your own cheque' in front of him.

He clarified on SEN this morning that marquee status can only be attributed to a player already on the list, avoiding the scenario you’ve outlined.

[Topdog]

Re: Exemptions for marquee men a must, says agent

He clarified on SEN this morning that marquee status can only be attributed to a player already on the list, avoiding the scenario you’ve outlined.

But it doesn't get rid of it. Carlton and the likes will find ways around it within 1 week.

[chef]

Re: Exemptions for marquee men a must, says agent

He clarified on SEN this morning that marquee status can only be attributed to a player already on the list, avoiding the scenario you’ve outlined.

They can just back end a contract(readjust the terms once the player is signed) to get around this.

[mjp]

Re: Exemptions for marquee men a must, says agent

In the NFL, each team has one Franchise Player designation they can use. The money paid is still included in the cap, and is calculated as the 'average' of the top 5 players at their position across the league.

The players don't like it - not because they have to stay where they are, but because they can't access a signing bonus. Clubs hate it because they have to dedicate a LOT of cap room to a single player (signing bonuses enable them to spread the money over the terms of the contract)...so it is set up to encourage them to deal. What tends to happen is the franchise designation is applied, the player refuses to report to the team BUT a long term deal soon follows...everyone gets what they want.

In the Nixon idea, it is basically giving individual clubs/players the ability to completely bankrupt the game outside the normal rules of the competition. This is bad. I don't disagree that clubs should be able to use a franchise designation (ideally, we franchise Cooney - then sign him, the next year we franchise Griffen - then sign him, etc etc...long term cap and contract management) but it should not be outside the cap.

To me free agency is fine - but the clubs have to be given tools to use to keep players. To me, these tools should be simple - meet the financial terms offered to the player by the team trying to get him. Any club losing a player in this way is compensated by draft picks on a sliding scale of the offer. Lose Chris Judd? Get two first round picks. Lose Wayde Skipper? Get a 7th rounder. This shouldn't be that hard.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: Exemptions for marquee men a must, says agent

To me free agency is fine - but the clubs have to be given tools to use to keep players. To me, these tools should be simple - meet the financial terms offered to the player by the team trying to get him. Any club losing a player in this way is compensated by draft picks on a sliding scale of the offer. Lose Chris Judd? Get two first round picks. Lose Wayde Skipper? Get a 7th rounder. This shouldn't be that hard.

You and I will never agree on this - ever.

The problem with compensation is that it is hard, incredibly hard.

Judd and Skipper are at the extremes, they're the easy ones. At the end of this year we will lose Harbrow to GC. What's he worth?

He's off the rookie list, never finished in our top 10 in our B & F but we all know how important he is to us.

We will probably get about pick 60 for him.

[The Coon Dog]

Re: Exemptions for marquee men a must, says agent

You and I will never agree on this - ever.

The problem with compensation is that it is hard, incredibly hard.

Judd and Skipper are at the extremes, they're the easy ones. At the end of this year we will lose Harbrow to GC. What's he worth?

He's off the rookie list, never finished in our top 10 in our B & F but we all know how important he is to us.

We will probably get about pick 60 for him.

Oops!

Western Bulldogs - 2009 B & F

1. Matthew Boyd - 154
2. Daniel Cross - 145
3. Dale Morris - 133
4. Brad Johnson - 131
5. Brian Lake - 125
6. Jarrod Harbrow - 123
7. Adam Cooney - 110
8. Shaun Higgins - 96
9. Ryan Hargrave - 93
10. Jason Akermanis - 86