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Living in Sydney is expensive. The AFL knows that. They factor it into salary cap rules, allowing the Swans and Giants to spend more of their own money on players.
But different standards are applied elsewhere. Perth is more expensive than Melbourne, but the Western Australian clubs don’t receive any salary cap allowance.
Adelaide is cheaper, but the South Australian clubs don’t have a lesser salary cap.
The additional salary cap, the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) can be controversial.
There’s a perception in many circles that the COLA is being rorted.
Sydney signing Kurt Tippett and Lance Franklin in successive years is seen by many as a sign the allowance should no longer exist.
Other clubs have been particularly vocal.
Collingwood president Eddie McGuire has led the calls for the COLA to be abolished, calls that have been echoed by the likes of former Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett and Port Adelaide supremo David Koch.
All have a high media profile, and all are vocal in calling for the COLA to be abolished.
But finding the salary cap room to sign Franklin hasn’t been easy for the Swans, even with the COLA.
The retirements of the likes of Jude Bolton and Marty Mattner have helped.
But they’ve also had to off-load the likes of Shane Mumford, Andrejs Everitt and Jesse White. If they have a bad injury run, their depth will be severely tested.
And Buddy’s contract is heavily back-loaded. A nine-year deal, the Swans’ big salary cap squeeze will come during the latter years of the contract; when they could potentially be forking out a large portion of their cap on a long-retired player.
But premierships have historically been hard to come by for the Swans. They’ve won five in their history.
They’re a strong club now, and if Buddy can get them over the line for another, the Swans will consider it money well spent even though they’ll be paying for it in the early 2020s.
But before being caught in the rush of voices calling to abolish the COLA; consider why it’s taken so much money to entice these players to the harbour city. And the struggles clubs have had with player retention.
The AFL system works on plucking the best 17-year-olds around the country and allocating them to clubs.
Many have to move away from their families to new and unfamiliar surroundings. It’s not easy to keep them happy, especially in their early years when they’re still establishing themselves and not playing a lot of senior footy.
Clubs are paying far more attention to that than in seasons past. Innovative player welfare programs are put in place, a prime example being GWS’s Breakfast Point campus for first-year players.
It’s about keeping players happy and making them want to stay.
GWS have had some success with this, as even with the club struggling on the field, they’ve avoided a mass exodus.
Even the best clubs will lose some players for whom the lure of going home is too strong, especially if a local club at home is interested in acquiring their services.
And when player welfare programs aren’t working, you’ll see a mass homesickness epidemic – an exodus such as at Brisbane. Here, the Lions have done the hard yards in developing players who will further their careers elsewhere.
The desire to go home, or reluctance to leave the family and travel interstate, isn’t because of the cost of living.
All players are well paid everywhere. It’s about the desire for the comforts of home and being around family and friends.
And it’s going to be a bigger issue for NSW and Queensland clubs. While Victorian, SA and WA clubs will draft and attract plenty of locals; this isn’t an option in Sydney and Queensland, where few locals make it to AFL level.
While the issue of attracting and retaining players is a bigger issue for the Sydney clubs, the COLA as it currently stands looks like an uneven playing field.
Would it make more sense to replace it with a Living Away From Home Allowance (LAFHA) which all clubs are eligible for?
When a player is drafted or traded from interstate, an additional amount could be added to the club’s salary cap.
This would enable the club to attract the best players and retain them, an offer of additional money may offset the homesickness factor.
At the current time, with the NSW and Queensland clubs recruiting more players from interstate than the clubs from the traditional footy states, they would receive a higher LAFHA.
But over time, as elite player development programs in the expansion markets take effect, this difference should gradually reduce as more draft-worthy players emerge from NSW and Queensland.
And then we’ll have a truly level playing field.
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