CLUBS fear some players' careers will be cut short if an AFL push to abolish the veterans' allowance is successful.
The League is yet to confirm its plans for the allowance ahead of next week's equalisation talks with club chiefs in Adelaide, but AFL.com.au understands it is firmly in the gun.
AFL.com.au spoke to a wide range of clubs on Wednesday who universally said that more senior players would be forced into premature retirements if the AFL revoked the veterans' allowance.
"There's no doubt scrapping the allowance would have an impact on certain players," one football manager said.
"The reality is that without the allowance, clubs are going to make a call on certain players a year or two earlier than they otherwise would.
"I think our game is the most loyalty-based code in the world, but if this change comes in, like free agency it will just erode that loyalty a bit more."
Another official said his club had re-signed two veterans late last year with a view to using this season as a transitional year to prepare them for coaching careers.
But without the veterans' allowance, he doubted they would have been retained.
Under the former veterans' allowance, clubs could list a maximum of just two veterans, but only had to include half of their wages in the salary cap.
Last season, the veterans' allowance was cut to a fixed amount per veteran – $118,380 in 2014 – but clubs can now list all of their 10-year players as veterans.
This year, Geelong boasts a league-high six veterans – down from a remarkable nine in 2012 – which will enable them to pay an additional $710,280 more than the salary cap this season.
The Sydney Swans (five veterans) and Essendon (four) will be the next biggest beneficiaries under the veterans' rules this season.
Several clubs said the removal of the veterans' allowance would also make them more vulnerable to free agency raids.
"When you're looking to match an opposition offer, or at least get closer to it, that extra [$118,380] comes in pretty handy," a club list manager said.
"But if you've got to allocate that money under the salary cap, chances are you'll decide you're better off to spend it on one of your younger players."
The AFL is due to present an update of its equalisation plans at its meeting with club chiefs in Adelaide next week, following months of negotiations with its club-based working party.
An AFL spokesman would not comment on the League's plans for the veterans' allowance, saying only that they had been considering a number of potential equalisation measures.
