something seems suss here

i would like to see the contract T&C's

What ??? you think this is all a bit dodgy !!!! ......... NO.

I see no reason why opposing sides shouldn't go on strike if Sydney were to land Franklin.

Movements start with minorities, so Eddie, if you are serious about what you say about COLA and equality - it's time to take some action.

Some of the weaker sides in the league are unable to pay the full cap, whilst other sides - stronger sides - are able to pay a million a year over the cap.

Now, for all these journos and their ramblings, why aren't they highlighting this issue more? Is it because it's not in the AFL's best interests?

Are the main journo's just employed and controlled by the AFL?

I'd be guessing that the offer to Franklin, and before that Tippet, was based on the recognition that all but a handful of Sydney's best players are 29+

They'll tsrat next year with perhaps 6 first-rate players under 24. Long term, they are going to be awash with salary cap space.

Or would have been...

Still, I concur that the 10% living allowance element is bollocks. What's next - clubs get extra money because a large proportion of their players have family interstate, so it costs them more?

I could understand a 'padding' of rookie-level and AFL-mandated first contract amounts, because on those low levels 5 or 10 thousand can seriously change your lifestyle, but the idea that someone on $450,000 is going to be having trouble 'coping' with the extra price of beans, well, that's just stupid.

Buddy on his day has probably the biggest X factor of any current player

Problem is Buddy doesnt have that many days to warrant such a pay packet

Its the Swans problem now

It just might be the Swans biggest blunder ......time will tell

Not so simple, after all, and a "veiled" threat as well.

Not so simple, after all, and a "veiled" threat as well.

The AFL better tread real careful with this.

Wouldn't want a fan revolt.

If this has been planned for 12 months. Pickering let it slip about a month ago.

Kurt Tippet saga 2.0? Makes you wonder who else the Swans have made deals with for future years. They better stay away from Frawley...

We better sign him quick smart if agents are shoppimg players a year in advance...aka now for Frawley

No wonder they need to bring in academy players on the cheap and hold onto assistant coaches.

Hypocrites!

Buddy on his day has probably the biggest X factor of any current player

Problem is Buddy doesnt have that many days to warrant such a pay packet

Its the Swans problem now

It just might be the Swans biggest blunder ......time will tell

I think he'll be great next year. The weight of expectation with this contract and knowing he was off to Sydney would've tolled on him heavily this year. Next year he'll be relaxed in a new city, his new home boys to chill out with, be tapping Jesinta Campbell and be partying it up all without the mass hysteria that happens when he goes out in Melbourne.

My concern is how they renegotiate his contract because I have severe doubts he'll make it to 33 yet alone 35. They either hope they get their 10 mil worth in the next 5 years or they renegotiate which will in turn make a mockery of the free agency and particularly the restricted free agency process.

I wouldn't be surprised if one or more Swans walk in the next two or three years. There's bound to be a few that are unhappy being on less coin than Tippett and Franklin. They may have a great culture, but this may well backfire in the long run. Particularly if they don't get a flag out of it in '14 or '15.

Anyone else happy he didnt go to GWS?

Where other see scandal and injustice we should see opportunity, is there any opportunity here for us? Also, in the longer term, the gamble for Sydney in disenfranchising their other players on the list by this deal what affect if any will it have? Will they get value for money over the longer term? If they get the deal over the line and he goes to Sydney well so what? how does it affect us and where we are at as a club?

Hypothetical Opportunity - If Mumford goes to Hawks and not GWS does that open us to trading some of our Ruck stocks to GWS who are in need of one (eg. Jamar/Spencer/Fitzpatrick) for an early pick? Geez! What would we need to pry the number 1 pick from GWS? Imagine the apoplexy in the other clubs if we were to secure pick 1 and 2. (Who needs a PP) What Midfielders can we pry loose from other clubs in need of those picks? Clubs looking for a young KPF (Boyd) or even gun midfielder.

As an aside I was sitting listening to Eddie hypothesise about the dissolution of the AFL Commission and thinking that is scary for us as we are by no means financially stable or sustainable as they are. So its all right for Eddie and Collingwood to talk Mutiny on the Bounty but the reality is going it alone is not a very good option for the MFC. They will be right with their many sponsors but teams like us would be endangered.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BVeY6sxCAAAbFkZ.jpg

Not so simple, after all, and a "veiled" threat as well.

There is something seriously wrong here. 9 years for starters.. then to a 26 year old?

CHF's are gone at 28.

30 if they are real lucky.

Not that I really care as a kick in the Hawks nuts this week is the best way to not have to deal with those insufferable Karmichael Hunt's season.

It is an oddly run league the AFL. The demons who have been terrible for 7 years are denied a priority pick, yet the swans who have played in 11 straight finals campaigns including 2x flags have been able to purchase the top available players two years running to due an allowance.

I think us being given a PP would create less uproar then Buddy going to the Swans, yet here we are with the top FA going to the Swans and the dees being left without an extra pick to help get them back on track.

They already have a lot of premiership (and dual premiership) players from 2 very recent flags.

Then on top of that they paid more than anyone else could afford for Tippett to walk to them in a draft.

How can $1.4 million a year still be available in the salary cap?

Sydney is a big market and there's only one club and a circus act in town at the moment. The Swans have little competition and a selection of Visys with which to make cosy third party deals to which the AFL has hitherto turned a blind eye.

Then the AFL sends people on an equalisation junket who have no interest whatsoever in equalisation and this is what you get.

Meanwhile the sycophants bow and pray to the neon gods.

aww Diddums...is Vlads great Empirical Expansion Fiasco coming unstuck ??

Where other see scandal and injustice we should see opportunity, is there any opportunity here for us? Also, in the longer term, the gamble for Sydney in disenfranchising their other players on the list by this deal what affect if any will it have? Will they get value for money over the longer term? If they get the deal over the line and he goes to Sydney well so what? how does it affect us and where we are at as a club?

Hypothetical Opportunity - If Mumford goes to Hawks and not GWS does that open us to trading some of our Ruck stocks to GWS who are in need of one (eg. Jamar/Spencer/Fitzpatrick) for an early pick? Geez! What would we need to pry the number 1 pick from GWS? Imagine the apoplexy in the other clubs if we were to secure pick 1 and 2. (Who needs a PP) What Midfielders can we pry loose from other clubs in need of those picks? Clubs looking for a young KPF (Boyd) or even gun midfielder.

As an aside I was sitting listening to Eddie hypothesise about the dissolution of the AFL Commission and thinking that is scary for us as we are by no means financially stable or sustainable as they are. So its all right for Eddie and Collingwood to talk Mutiny on the Bounty but the reality is going it alone is not a very good option for the MFC. They will be right with their many sponsors but teams like us would be endangered.

I certainly applaud your opportunistic audacity and optimism

Sillier things have happened whilst everyone's attention is held elsewhere

AFL prepared to veto Buddy deal

It is an oddly run league the AFL. The demons who have been terrible for 7 years are denied a priority pick, yet the swans who have played in 11 straight finals campaigns including 2x flags have been able to purchase the top available players two years running to due an allowance.

I think us being given a PP would create less uproar then Buddy going to the Swans, yet here we are with the top FA going to the Swans and the dees being left without an extra pick to help get them back on track.

In the past we have tanked in order to gain a PP, so we are lucky we weren't stripped of any picks.

We should consider ourselves lucky as it is, we are lucky the AFL run their own ship to their own accord.

Forget comparing ourselves to other sides, we have to fix our own back yard up before we can whinge about things being unfair.

An unfair competition atm is the least of the MFC's worries, we have a list that does not want to play football - so we are in no position to argue anything else atm.

Then the AFL sends people on an equalisation junket who have no interest whatsoever in equalisation and this is what you get.

And, then there's Andrew Newbold who went along to formulate strategies to thwart it

a recent pic

Victor Frankenstein

In the past we have tanked in order to gain a PP, so we are lucky we weren't stripped of any picks.

We should consider ourselves lucky as it is, we are lucky the AFL run their own ship to their own accord.

Forget comparing ourselves to other sides, we have to fix our own back yard up before we can whinge about things being unfair.

An unfair competition atm is the least of the MFC's worries, we have a list that does not want to play football - so we are in no position to argue anything else atm.

Of course we have to self-improve, but to suggest we can bury our heads in the sands and until we are winning games say nothing on this topic is just silly. If the non-equalisation continues, we will be playing in the B division (if at all) no matter how much self-improvement we manage.

There is a structural problem in the AFL which FA can only exacerbate. The B division develops players who are then snapped up by wealthy clubs ensuring the original club stays in B division. A B division club can only get an A grade player by offering him an enormous salary. But guess what, the B division teams won't have an enormous amount of money because they are B division. A recipe for a downward spiral, but OK we are in no position to argue.

So the swans give a 9 yr contract to a player who is 26 yrs old, can't take a contested mark or kick straight but has the "x" factor.

Big risk IMO

Must say I had a laugh when I found out gws missed out on him.