FORMER Sydney Swan Andrejs Everitt thinks the cost of living allowance (COLA) is "necessary" to offset the extra expenses players living in the harbour town incur.
However he said he was not sure whether the Swans would struggle to attract players if it was removed, as CEO Andrew Ireland claimed in a Fairfax report on Saturday.
Speaking after a solid performance with his new club, Carlton, in the NAB Challenge, Everitt indicated the debate was complex.
"It's also the lifestyle up in Sydney – [there is] not as much media coverage – that also attracts the players," Everitt said. "So it's a little bit to do with the living away from home allowance [cost of living allowance] – it's a lot different to living down here in Melbourne – but it is a lot to do with lifestyle as well."
Everitt was traded to the Sydney Swans at the start of 2011 after 36 matches with the Bulldogs. He spent four years at the Swans and had just established himself in the team before being forced out because of the Swans' salary cap pressures.
That salary cap came under pressure when the Swans controversially recruited Hawthorn free agent Lance Franklin on a nine-year deal that shocked the football industry. The recruiting of Franklin came just one year after the club managed to secure Adelaide's key forward Kurt Tippett.
It caused an outcry among opposition clubs with Victorian clubs – in particular – expressing their displeasure that the Sydney Swans had extra money to spend to players because of COLA.
Both the Swans and Greater Western Sydney are required to pay an additional 9.8 percent of the salary cap to all players to compensate for the higher cost of living in Sydney.
The Swans claim they managed to get Franklin because of extra money made available through the retirement of Jude Bolton, Martin Mattner and moving on Everitt, Jesse White, Tony Armstrong, Shane Mumford and Jed Lamb.
The Swans also moved on half a dozen players at the end of 2012. The Swans said those changes, along with smart use of the veterans list and an increased salary cap overall made the Franklin and Tippett deals viable.
The issue of whether the two Sydney based clubs should receive the allowance is sure to be discussed at a meeting of the AFL commission in Sydney on Monday but no decision is expected until a range of mooted equalisation measures are rolled out.
The Swans have reportedly employed consultants Hays Group to examine the questions surrounding the cap.
Ireland made his position clear to Fairfax:
“The highest-paid player in Sydney should have the same buying capabilities as the highest-paid player in Melbourne,” he said. “The buying capabilities should be equal for every player on relative contracts around Australia.”
Clubs in the non-traditional football states do have more players than other clubs who were born and raised outside their club's home.
The Swans have 36 players who were not born and raised in Sydney on its list of 38 primary listed players and seven rookies.
Now back in Melbourne with Carlton, Everitt was certain it was cheaper to live outside of Sydney.
"It is pretty expensive to live up in Sydney, just the rent everything to do with Sydney. I'm not sure what the figures are but I do think it [COLA] is pretty necessary."
