AFL boss Andrew Dillon has described the amount of money AFL players are getting from third-party deals outside the salary cap as “immaterial” compared to what they are paid by clubs under the cap.
Dillon, responding to the widespread speculation about payments from third parties and to reporting of Geelong’s salary cap audit, also detailed how the deal for Bailey Smith and Geelong’s sponsor Cotton On would be judged – Smith having signed with the company when he was at the Bulldogs years earlier.
New Cat Bailey Smith ahead of the 2025 season.
Dillon said third-party deals had been part of the AFL landscape for 20 years and were “highly regulated and highly scrutinised” with the clubs and players well aware of their obligations.
“What I will say on third-party agreements … because they are all disclosed to the AFL – like the quantum of them in the scheme of the salary cap, is quite … it’s so immaterial.”
Dillon said Bailey Smith’s Cotton On ambassador role deal would be judged as a third-party deal (and outside the total player payments) so long as the club was not linked to him signing it. Smith was with Cotton On some years before he joined the Cats.
Dillon suggested that if the essential elements of the Cotton deal did not change from his Bulldogs arrangements, it would be fine (and remain outside the salary cap).
“Whatever he does with Cotton On, as long as it’s not linked to his playing contract, as long as the club’s got nothing to do with bringing it together, and as long as there’s no club IP used as part of what Bailey’s doing with Cotton On, so there’d be no reason for to change.”
Dillon also confirmed that the recruiting concessions to the new Tasmania team would involve two or three drafts – meaning the draft impact of the 19th team on the existing clubs would be spread over up to three years, which was potentially longer than Gold Coast or GWS.
“I would imagine will be over, it won’t be just one draft. It might be a couple. It might be three, but that’s that’s to be worked through with our footy department, with the clubs and also the (Tasmania) club.”
Dillon said that Collingwood coach Craig McRae had not been fined, unlike Ken Hinkley and Alastair Clarkson, because the incidents were “very different” and McRae was less demonstrative and didn’t swear.
AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon.Credit: Getty Images
“No swearing. It was during the game …. not as demonstrative,” Dillon said of McRae exchange near Giant Toby Bedford, in comparison to the Hinkley and Clarkson incidents over the past 12 months.
“There was a whole range of factors. I’m very comfortable with how the matters were dealt with last year, and very comfortable with how the matters dealt with on the weekend.”
In an interview before the first game in Melbourne, the AFL chief executive also:
*Said he was operating on the assumption that the Tasmania Devils would be ready for the start of 2028. This is despite concerns about the stadium reaching the proposed timetable (during 2029) from club presidents and other stakeholders.
“On the information I’ve got to hand now, it’s 2028 (that) is the start date,” said Dillon, who said the Tasmania bid document had “contemplated” the possibility of delays to the stadium. There are financial penalties if certain timelines are not reached for the project.
“Ultimately, it’s the Tasmanian government [that] will be building – it’s their stadium. The Tasmanian footy club will be a key tenant of that stadium, but they’ll only be one part of what they know, what the stadium is going to bring to Tassie.”
*Said banished ex-Kangaroo Tarryn Thomas had to show he would not offend for a period before he could be in the AFL system. Thomas has served a lengthy suspension but is still barred from being on an AFL list or VFL list on an AFL club, and was ruled out by all non-affiliated VFL teams to date.
“So we want to see a period of time where there aren’t any breaches by Tarryn … So we’re not saying never. So there is an opportunity. There’s opportunities for him at other levels of football … that’s ultimately decisions for those individual clubs to make.”
*Defended the four umpire system, which would be retained. Essendon coach Brad Scott has told this masthead that the four-umpire system should be reviewed.
“It’s going to continue to be good for the game … We’ve been able to expand our pool of umpires. We’re actually going to be able to, I think, extend the careers of some of our better umpires as well, but [it] also gives us the opportunity to get umpires in, so we’re always looking at ways to do things better.”
*Would not commit to whether Hawthorn would retain home games in Tasmania after the Devils entered the competition.
“I wouldn’t say I’m open to it, but we’re not closed to it,” Dillon said, adding there was “an absolute appetite for AFL football” in Tasmania.
*Target drug testing of 51 players by Sport Integrity Australia recently was based, in part, on information the AFL supplied.
“So our integrity unit works with SIA … as Cricket Australia would do, the NRL would do. Swimming Australia would do so,” Dillon said.
“It’s absolute business as usual into in the world of anti-doping.”
