GEELONG coach Chris Scott has pleaded for the AFL to fix the "decimation" of football departments that followed last year's COVID-19 enforced dramas.
The League instructed all 18 teams to cut their soft cap by about $3 million amid the financial damage created by the pandemic.
When the competition was shut down in March 2020, there were fears clubs could go under and the League might lose up to $1 billion.
Scott is confident in "good people" at the AFL rectifying the issues soon now it is back on track financially.
"The AFL has had to manage an impossibly difficult situation over the last 12 to 18 months," Scott said.
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"I don't think anyone in their right mind could expect that they would nail it.
"The environment we're in at the moment is unsustainable, and even more than that, it's not right.
"It's just not right the whack that footy departments have taken in comparison to everyone else.
"I don't think anyone could argue that it's landed in the right spot and it hasn't increased the burden on football departments."
Scott is a fan of equity in football departments but he is concerned by potential burnout among his staff.
"We've got the same number of players, exactly the same workload - it increased every year, it feels, with 37 per cent less resources," Scott said.
"There's no cap on AFL administration or club administration, there's a cap on football departments.
"Decimation of footy departments is disproportionate.
Scott is the latest coach to speak out about the growing mental toll of coaches having to more work with less staff.
Sydney coach John Longmire, among the League's most experienced leaders and a long-time mental health advocate, also sounded a warning.
"The real challenge for the industry is there's a lot of really good people working in the industry," Longmire said on Monday.
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"But they're working enormous hours and putting themselves, and their families in some cases, under some stress.
"There has to be an acknowledgement from the AFL, that that is the case.
"It's not about getting the violin out, it's just a fact."
