Australian Football League clubs are "becoming increasingly sceptical" of how two of the competition's richest clubs, Collingwood and Fremantle, are preparing to pay minimal to no tax this year under new equalization measures, according to Denham & Smith of THE AUSTRALIAN. The Dockers have indicated that they can slice up to A$2.5M ($1.9M) from their non-player related football department spend to pay a small amount of tax this season, while the Magpies will "pay no soft-cap surcharge" by dropping A$1.9M ($1.5M) from last year's expenditure of A$10.9M. AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan warned that the auditing of club figures "would be meticulous." McLachlan said, "This is something that will be monitored as seriously as the salary cap." Collingwood President Eddie McGuire said that he was "comfortable with the figures the Pies have submitted to the AFL." McGuire: "We have given our audited figures to the league. We have said all along that we would be trying not to pay the tax." Another experienced club CEO said that he "thought any attempt by clubs to wash football department spending through other areas of club finances would be detected." The CEO said, "Any cheating can be discovered through forensic auditing. You can't make it just disappear" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 6/16). In Melbourne, Jon Pierik wrote an AFL working party contemplating change to the draft system has "floated the idea of axing a player's right to veto a trade when under contract." Clubs are "split on the concept." Some believed that it "may help free up more deals, while others are concerned about the ramifications of securing a player who does not want to be traded if forced to go interstate." AFL spokesperson Patrick Keane confirmed that the working party had "raised the prospect of scrapping the veto." Keane: "That has just been a discussion within the group itself as part of their regular meetings. At this point, the AFL hasn't discussed it at all but it has been raised within discussions on the group" (THE AGE, 6/15).
