“I certainly appreciate the interest in player payments and salary caps, but it’s not a topic we talk about. We don’t discuss the complexities of the TPP, we don’t discuss the details around the salary cap.” – AFL general manager of football operations Laura Kane on Footy Classified when asked whether Angus Brayshaw’s contract payment would be outside Melbourne’s salary cap after his forced retirement.

It was a question that the AFL easily could have answered.

Given that Brayshaw was forced into retirement by an objective medical assessment of his brain, it seems inconceivable that the Melbourne Football Club’s multimillion-dollar payment to Brayshaw will be entirely counted in the club’s salary cap.

The AFL used to release information such as the CEO’s salary. Not any more.Credit: Getty Images

Logically, some or all of Brayshaw’s contract will be excluded from Melbourne’s player-payments cap; otherwise, the Demons will be playing with a smaller salary cap than the rest of the competition for five years. This would represent a penalty to a club that has lost a valuable player, through no fault of the player, nor his club.

Kane followed the party line that “we” – despite what the clubs and fans might think they should know – don’t talk about salary caps.

It is a blanket position. Presumably they don’t talk about it because if you open up that topic, there will be more questions about other players forced to retire by head knocks.

It’s also a fair chance that the league hasn’t worked out precisely how much goes into the cap.

The AFL’s revised response, as of late Tuesday, was that Melbourne had not yet made a “formal application for the treatment of his TPP (total player payments)”.

So, it doesn’t have a policy governing it?

QOSHE - How the AFL has developed a culture of concealment - Jake Niall
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How the AFL has developed a culture of concealment

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19.03.2024

“I certainly appreciate the interest in player payments and salary caps, but it’s not a topic we talk about. We don’t discuss the complexities of the TPP, we don’t discuss the details around the salary cap.” – AFL general manager of football operations Laura Kane on Footy Classified when asked whether Angus Brayshaw’s contract payment would be outside Melbourne’s salary cap after his forced retirement.

It was a question that........

© The Sydney Morning Herald


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