CLUB CEOs plan to set up a working party to examine the issue of contracts in football after a post-season period where the value of contracts came under question.
The issue was raised at the CEOs meeting on the Gold Coast on Thursday following a month that saw three coaches finish up with time remaining on their contracts and their replacements leave existing positions within clubs to become a senior coach.
In November, Collingwood CEO Gary Pert called for an industry wide discussion on contracts after the Magpies lost football director Rodney Eade to Gold Coast.
The brief discussion among CEOs at Metricon Stadium on Thursday focused on football club staff contracts rather than player contracts, which is considered a completely separate issue.
The shortage of skilled administrators and football department staff has increased competition among clubs for key personnel and seen movement of key people happen much later in the year.
It was acknowledged that wide variation exists between how AFL clubs employ staff and whether they sign fixed term contracts or are engaged as permanent staff with standard notice agreements.
Club CEOs also agreed it was not a good look for the industry and did not represent it in a positive light.
The CEOs agreed the issue required further examination to ensure the right balance is struck between flexibility and security for staff.
The question of payouts to senior coaches sacked before their contract has expired has also focused attention on the way individuals are employed within football departments.
One club CEO told AFL.com.au the introduction of a soft tax on football department spending was changing club attitudes because any financial obligations now carried through poor decisions to appoint, re-contract or dismiss a coach would count under the football department cap.
Clubs that exceed that soft cap will be forced to pay a tax on expenditure above the cap.
It means for instance that Adelaide will have Brenton Sanderson's payout counted in its football department cap for the next two seasons, either limiting the Crows' capacity to spend in that area while Phil Walsh is coach or be forced into paying a tax if their expenditure exceeds the AFL-imposed cap.
It is estimated that at least $3-5million has been spent on payouts to sacked senior coaches since 2010 with many saying that the figure is much higher, an unacceptable figure in an era where some clubs are struggling to break even financially.
While the discussion will go beyond coaches, the impetus towards a conversation on contracts drew cautious support from AFL Coaches Association CEO Mark Brayshaw on Wednesday.
He told SEN that external speculation about a coach's future each time they come out of contract was counter productive and any suggestions on how to limit that was worth exploring.
He said it might be possible for coaches to accept contracts that provide six-month termination clauses, as is commonly adopted in the commercial world.
He also said if that would diminish the continuing and destabilising speculation that happens each time a coach nears the end of his contract it would be worth pursuing but more broadly the conversation was a sensible one for the industry to have.
"The key is the coach wants a long term secure arrangement [and] the club wants flexibility," Brayshaw said.
However he also told AFL.com.au that the AFL Coaches Association had no sympathy for club boards that choose to sack a coach before their contract has finished and the coach was entitled to receive his payout in such circumstances.
Carlton's Mick Malthouse is one coach entering the final year of his contract with the club indicating on Tuesday it would not begin discussions until midway through the season.
"My view is very simple, contracts are good for the people who receive them — they sometimes can burden clubs," Blues president Mark Logiudice said.
