Carlton’s wage cap squeeze is at an all time excessive as we head into the 2023 season, and it’s been made worse with Zac Williams out for the yr.
Questions are rightly being requested of the membership’s listing administration having not gained a ultimate since 2013, regardless of the membership lastly seeing reward for its recruiting and beginning final season 8-2.
Whether that is so far as the Baggers’ newest rebuild goes is one other query.
Having rebuilt again and again with the identical core group of younger expertise, the wage cap gods have awoken from their slumber and Carlton have begun to stroll an extremely delicate tightrope as they re-sign their preliminary crop of rebuild recruits.
Watch each match of each spherical of the 2023 Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
After locking in Harry McKay, Charlie Curnow, Patrick Cripps and Sam Walsh, the one actual query is tips on how to stave off the curiosity in ruck-forward Tom De Koning.
The Bombers and Saints have reportedly been circling laborious, and News Corp’s Jay Clark writes they’re the strongest contenders to poach De Koning and add to their key place shares.
To have De Koning roaming as a spare tall alongside Peter Wright and Sam Draper or the likes of Max King could be probably the most potential-laden tall combos within the competitors, however the Blues are a good distance forward of the struggling Saints and Bombers within the race for a flag.
With the 23-year-old nonetheless uncontracted, the largest barrier to locking in for the Blues the place he most closely fits in a aspect that has Marc Pittonet because the first-option ruck, in addition to McKay and Curnow up ahead.
De Koning doesn’t current as the primary possibility in both state of affairs, and dangers being surplus to necessities if Michael Voss can’t discover a approach to have the ability to use him successfully.
It’s reported Carlton are eager to lock in De Koning as quickly as potential, however that the younger star is completely satisfied to let his performances this season inflate his market worth earlier than commencing negotiations.
Clark means that Jack Martin and Mitch McGovern, alongside injured working defender Zac Williams, might want to take lowered offers to be able to match below the cap.
The alternate possibility for Carlton is offloading De Koning’s doubtless important wage to be able to herald some key defenders that may complement Jacob Weitering, given the dearth of talls out again for the Blues for the time being.
It would free some important area for a group that CEO Brian Cook admits is in a “challenging” place with the wage cap.
Kane Cornes on SEN Breakfast final yr stated it was a “tricky spot” for the Blues to be in.
“It’s fine to be in salary cap difficulty if you’re Richmond or even Geelong who have missed finals once in the last 10 years,” Cornes stated.
“Or if you are Melbourne and you’ve got the younger players who are looking to get paid,” he stated.
“It’s not a great spot to be if you’re Carlton and you haven’t won anything.”
David King stated this was a round line of argument, and that profitable tends to make contract negotiations simpler.
“The way they’re tracking, if you’re a Carlton player you’re taking unders and staying,” he stated.
“If they’re sitting 9th or 10th on the ladder, I understand your point, but when they’re sitting in (near) the top four, you can easily have the conversation, ‘You’re worth X, we can only pay you Y, let’s get it done’.”
Cornes extra just lately referred to as for AFL salaries to be public data, citing Carlton’s wage cap squeeze for instance of why followers deserved transparency.
“I see Carlton are in trouble with their salary cap, well, I want to know who they’re paying…they haven’t won a final yet,” Cornes stated.
“If they’ve butchered their cap to the point where they’ve got no money left and they’ve got no success, then their fans should keep the club accountable for the way they’re spending the salary cap.”
Source: www.news.com.au
