AFL Riverina chairman Michael Irons has called for a more collective approach to the salary cap from neighbouring competitions.
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The AFL Riverina board will hold discussions with the Riverina and Farrer League competition management committees, as well as the Hume League executive, in coming weeks before settling on a figure for 2021.
This year's salary cap was set to be $95,000 before the COVID-19 pandemic forced a drastic reduction to $25,000 for the shortened season.
Irons believes now is the time to bring the salary cap down to a sustainable level.
"I think it's an opportunity for clubs to take control back of the player market and to really draw a line in the sand about where we think a sustainable level is at," Irons said.
"Revenue streams for clubs is still going to be reduced next year so we need to be mindful of where we set it for next year but also looking forward for the years to come."
Riverina and Farrer League clubs recently competed a survey on the salary cap and player points system, which AFL Riverina will use as guidance when settling on the figures for 2021.
Irons said it is 'very important' that Riverina, Farrer and Hume Leagues all fall into line together.
"We also think it's really important that there is a consistent approach from a national point of view. We're already seeing in Victoria that we've got some leagues setting salary caps at different levels, we've got country Victorian leagues not providing a point discount for a year of service even though there hasn't been a competition this year and the metro leagues are providing a point discount."
Irons expects the 2021 salary cap in AFL Riverina to fall between $60,000 to $80,000.
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"I'm not wedded to a figure and I think we need to consider breaking it up into three sections being coach payments, player payments and then essentially what is non-contracted player payments and retention, with some flexibility for different clubs for the travel factor," he said.
"I think if we could consider how we could apply that across those different areas and be in that range of 60,000 to 80,000 I think would be where we need to get to."
