Clubs hit by suspensions to former Australian Football League side Essendon players "have been compensated with salary cap relief that could help them snare a big-name recruit next year," according to Emma Quayle of THE AGE.
In "what has emerged as a silver lining for the Western Bulldogs, Port Adelaide, Melbourne and St Kilda, they will be able to boost their lists in readiness for the return of their banned recruits." Most or all of the money withheld from the players during their suspensions "will be excluded from their salary cap, creating space they can use to shore up their existing list or target recruits." Port, St. Kilda and Melbourne "have not been paying their players since they were suspended in January for anti-doping violations, while the Bulldogs will seek reimbursement from Essendon" for payments to Stewart Crameri since he was banned. They "will resume paying them when their suspensions expire" in September, but to the ire of some other clubs they will "save" around six months of their salaries to use elsewhere.
The clubs "have the option of pre-paying other players this year, clearing up future salary cap space." They also have the ability to "bank" the saved money, and use it to "overspend" their salary cap in future years and "potentially lure another quality player to the club" (THE AGE, 3/1).
