Personally I have no hate for Pongy either, I’m full of admiration for them actually. Agree with everything you’ve said about the work they’ve done across the grades- brilliant stuff.
It just seems to me that in general to be able to compete at the top of the table, rules get bent/broken. And people get frustrated because they can’t compete when doing the right thing. They just want an even playing field. Everyone wonders how clubs have managed to put the numbers of quality players on the field every week when they have the same salary cap.
So as soon as a club manages to gather many good players the suspicions rise.
I recently met the uncle of a now retired star player of our league. We were just talking about country footy in general and other leagues merging and money…. And he suddenly said well there’s plenty of money in the gsfl. I asked what he meant and he revealed his relationship to this player and the amount he was getting. $1200 pw. ( pre- covid salary cap reduction). He also said it’s hard to get caught when it’s cash. (Not Pongy btw). I also know of a club from another league that couldn’t keep one of their own locals even with the offered incentive of the $1000 marquee payment, as he was going to get more at this same gsfl club.
I know of other examples of this and I’m sure many people do. I don’t know what the answer is to this. The punishments for getting caught are massive. The SANFL are actively investigating clubs and make life a misery for volunteer administrators. But it’s clear that is not enough deterrent. Cash is still king.
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