The Giants have a bit of a dilemma. Yet another young forward allegedly wants out of the club. Cam McCarthy it seems wants to go home due to family/personal reasons.
Life is hard. Anyone have a tissue?
McCarthy has played 21 games for the Giants and kicked 35 goals after being selected with pick 14 in the 2013 draft and still has two years to run on his contract. The Giants stated categorically that they will not allow him to get out of it. So they should.
The Giants have options open to them. They can take the easy way out and set a precedent for anyone wanting to leave and just do a deal. Simple, right? Wrong. Big mistake.
GWS can say to McCarthy, go home if that’s what you want. But don’t think for one minute you are going to be cleared to any other club. Also, you won’t be paid a cent as you have breached your contract. At the end of 2017 you will be placed into the draft and you will end up where ever you end up.
That’s if anyone wants you after not playing anywhere for 2 years.
Tough love. Case closed.
McCarthy can try and take it to court under the restraint of trade act but it would be thrown out. GWS aren’t restraining him from plying his trade. They are just restraining him from plying it at any other club whilst he is contracted to them.
Welcome to reality.
In the real world if a company hires a young employee with potential and gives him a lucrative wage and ongoing training then signs him to a four-year contract in return for his services and that employee states that he wants to leave half way through and go to a rival company because he misses having someone make his bed every morning, pat him on the head and tell him he’s a good boy he would be taken to court.
The Giants could go one step further and sue for damages.
The equation is simple enough. The cost of coaching staff divided by the amount of players on the roster multiplied by the number of seasons spent there. If they spend 5 million dollars per year on coaching staff with 50 players on the roster then it works out to $100,000 per season multiplied by 2. It has almost no chance of working but it would send a message to other players that the club is serious in wanting to keep its investments.
And that is precisely what the players are now. Investments.
All young players, McCarthy included, need to realise that they are not entitled to dictate where they want to go whenever they feel like it for whatever reason. It’s a national competition and they signed up for it when they lodged their draft papers.
GWS must stick to their guns this year after last year declaring Tom Boyd wasn’t leaving and 2 days later became a Bulldog. This is ‘line in the sand’ stuff.
The AFL and every club would welcome a strong stance on this issue. The last thing they need are feeder clubs and lop sided matches between the haves and have nots.
The ball is entirely in the Giants court. Sometimes you only get one shot at stamping your authority whatever the cost. It’s time to take the power away from the players and give it back to clubs. No one is bigger than the club and no club is bigger than the sport.
That is the natural order of things.
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