AFL's Franklin Could Be Paid Outside Of Cap Should He Become Ambassador Of Game

Aussie rules footballer Lance Franklin could be paid by the Australian Football League "outside the salary cap should he choose to leave Hawthorn for Greater Western Sydney," according to Mark Robinson of the HERALD SUN. The AFL "would consider making Franklin an ambassador of the game, as it did rugby league converts Israel Folau and Karmichael Hunt." AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou Monday confirmed that "a precedent existed where an AFL player -- Tony Lockett -- was paid by the league as an ambassador in an expansion market." Demetriou Monday stressed that "the AFL would not be part of any deal to send Franklin north, but would look at a proposal from GWS after Franklin had signed." Demetriou said, "Under no circumstances are they to enter into an arrangement with a club to entice a player to go somewhere on the basis we are going to top up his salary" (HERALD SUN, 3/5).