Clubs have had mixed reactions to the increase in the AFL’s soft cap limiting club spending on coaches, with several initially underwhelmed by changes. The clubs stressed that they were still digesting the detail of the announcement before being prepared to comment in detail, but several were nonplussed by the increase. “The cap had to rise because there’s competition for good staff,” said Brisbane Lions CEO Greg Swann.
Credit: Getty Images The AFL announced a $400,000 rise next year in the soft cap on how much clubs could spend on non-player football payments before incurring a “luxury tax”. Of that first-year increase, $200,000 had already been allowed for this year after the introduction of Gather Round, but the cap would also rise by a further $250,000 a year for the following two years. The AFL has significantly altered what is included and exempted from the soft cap on spending in the past five years.
For instance, 20 per cent of a senior coach’s salary is now outside the cap and a range of mental health, welfare, allied health, professional development and Indigenous support payments are also not included. But several clubs quickly pointed out that even allowing for those changes the increase in the soft cap had barely moved on pre-COVID funding, particularly compared with how player wages had jumped back above pre-pandemic levels. Officials from three clubs speaking on condition of anonymity said the soft cap on spending pre-COVID in 2020 was $9.
68 milli.