The AFL could slash player lists and pay more money to top stars under a new financial model post-coronavirus, former Fremantle coach Ross Lyon says.
The implications of the COVID-19 outbreak have spooked the AFL and NRL to their core, forcing leaders in both codes to reconsider their current models.
With the AFL season on hold until at least May 31 and no guarantee to continue this year, clubs have embarked on intense cost-cutting measures.
The Dockers announced on Wednesday that they have stood down 75 per cent of their staff, only keeping a skeleton crew on severely reduced hours to ensure the club remains operational during the hiatus.
Fremantle also warned staff there might be more lay-offs as further cuts to the club's budget are made.
While football department employees have been the first ones let go, there are no guarantees all players who were on a team's list before the shutdown will be there once AFL power brokers restructure the game's pay model.
As the AFLPA and the league grapple over just how much of a haircut the players should take, former Dockers coach Lyon believes teams need to slash their lists to be in line with a revised salary cap.
Current AFL team lists hold 44 players, with the salary cap set at $16 million. Lyon contends the game could benefit from the restructure in the future, if more money was diverted to star players driving the majority of production with less fringe players on the list.
In turn, delisted players would be sent back to their respective state domestic competitions, making those leagues stronger and driving more competition for spots in the AFL.
"I think if we can pare back list sizes and support staff and give the stars of the game [more], your top six or seven players at the club that drive performance," Lyon said on Footy Classified.
"They're the ones that bring people through. I log on to watch Dusty Martin play and [Nat] Fyfe play, they drive their whole club. If playlists end up being more elite, quality of training goes up, less resources, there's less costs all round.
"You build your competition around those stars and then the lesser competitions get stronger because you're pushing down [fringe players]. You take that mental health pressure off them trying to develop them in a short space of time.
"Some players get delisted, they go to the WAFL, they dominate and they come back. I think it's a win-win."
Essendon legend Matthew Lloyd suggested the league could find more than $100 million in savings if they make cuts to the salary cap and the soft-cap.
Yet he stopped short of endorsing a rule that all clubs needed to shorten their playlists, arguing that individual clubs should decide on how they wanted to build their rosters.
"It should be up to the clubs," he said.
"Some might say we only want 35 other clubs say we still want 44. It's up to you how you spend your money. One club might go top end talent, others might say we want depth down the bottom."
from WWOS http://wwos.nine.com.au/afl/afl-coronavirus-ross-lyon-urges-league-to-cut-playlists/9ee35b6a-4f4d-4ec7-b1c8-7d2904707a06
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