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Envelopes of cash, TAB vouchers, shares in horses and tanks of diesel. Cheap blocks of land and tradesmen being overpaid for jobs.<\/p>\n
These are just some of the ways that country and suburban football clubs are allegedly keeping payments off the books amid accusations that league salary caps are so poorly policed they are being systematically cheated.<\/p>\n
![\"Country](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2c2fb34b24a287c48981e6ef2d386d824817526a6535f8d23c53c1b7141f3f89.jpeg\")
Country and suburban football league salary caps are poorly policed.Matt Willis<\/p>\n
Some star male players are paid more than $60,000 a season by clubs who are forced to pay up if they want to contend for a premiership.<\/p>\n
Salary caps in major Victorian country leagues and suburban competitions hover around $130,000 a year, and combined with a total player points system are designed to ensure a level playing field.<\/p>\n
But a detailed investigation by this masthead, involving calls to eight club officials from different leagues across the state, reveal the playing field is anything but even.<\/p>\n
One senior coach said he offered a star player $15,000 for the season, more than $800 a game, only to be told that his offer fell $40,000 short.<\/p>\n
Related Article Another football manager said his club offered a potential recruit more than $30,000 a season, or $1700 a game, and the player didn\u2019t bother calling back. He later signed with another country club in a nearby league.<\/p>\n \u201cI know of two players who have been offered in excess of $60,000 to play footy \u2026 you do the sums on a salary cap of $130,000 \u2013 it\u2019s not hard to see what\u2019s going on,\u201d said the coach, speaking anonymously to protect the identity of the players.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure there\u2019s different sets of books. The girlfriend is playing netball, and she gets [cash in] an envelope. There\u2019s other ways around it, such as [personal] sponsorships. I have even heard of TAB vouchers.<\/p>\n \u201cYou would have to have your head in the sand to think that there are clubs out there that aren\u2019t pushing the salary cap beyond what it should be.<\/p>\n \u201cI could name 10 clubs off top my head now \u2013 not that I will \u2013 that are blatantly cheating it.\u201d<\/p>\n AFL Victoria sets and governs community football salary caps with the leagues. It is supported by the Community Club Sustainability Program (CCSP) Advisory Group, which consists of six metro and country football leaders.<\/p>\n Minor leagues are given a lower ceiling than major leagues because they traditionally attract a lower standard of player, but that doesn\u2019t stop them offering up big bucks.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re trying to keep our players who aren\u2019t that good, but they are getting offers from minor leagues for $700 or $800 a game [$14,400 a year],\u201d the footy manager said, speaking on the condition of anonymity so as not to identify his club.<\/p>\n Editor’s pick \u201cThey are saying, \u2018I need $500 to stay [$9000 a year]\u2019. They were blokes that we were paying $100. So it\u2019s just spiralling and spiralling. It has just become a vicious circle.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone is doing it [rorting the cap]. Occasionally, people get caught. If they self report, they minimise the damage, but really, it\u2019s just rife.\u201d<\/p>\n AFL Victoria audits the books of the two grand finalists from every competition. They also investigate any complaints or referrals from the leagues.<\/p>\n An AFL Victoria spokesperson said integrity in community football was taken seriously, and everyone involved had a responsibility to uphold it.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen concerns are raised, AFL Victoria works with leagues to ensure they are properly investigated and dealt with through the appropriate processes,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n But the footy manager said no club was prepared to dob in a rival. \u201cI\u2019m not going to do that,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause we\u2019re trying to improve, and the likelihood is that we\u2019ll probably be breaching it [the cap] at some point.\u201d<\/p>\n Burning out committees<\/p>\n Wangaratta self-reported a salary cap breach at the end of the 2022 season and were sensationally stripped of that year\u2019s Ovens & Murray premiership, a game won by three points against Yarrawonga.<\/p>\n The Magpies, coached by former Collingwood star Ben Reid, claimed an innocent mistake had seen the club exceed the $125,000 cap by $28,000.<\/p>\n The club was found guilty of failing to lodge player declarations or non-declared player statements correctly.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was a really difficult process for us,\u201d Ovens and Murray Football Netball League chair David Sinclair said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut if we don\u2019t have those rules in place, if it is uncapped and clubs can spend what they want, clubs are just going to burn out their committees trying to raise money to put a side on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Article Sinclair said the salary cap system had helped save clubs in his jurisdiction from themselves.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reason I say it\u2019s a success is that previously, in pre-salary cap days, anecdotally we had clubs spending up to $400,000 to pay players, which was burning out committees trying to keep up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe continued churn to try and keep up was unsustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n Closer to Melbourne, suburban powerhouse Keilor won back-to-back premierships in 2023-2024 under the coaching of Collingwood premiership player Mick McGuane only to be stripped of the 2023 flag.<\/p>\n The club was found to have exceeded its allowable player payment limit of $110,000 by $45,100 in 2023. It was found to be $605 above the limit in 2022.<\/p>\n At the time, Keilor president Shaun Morris said the club acknowledged an \u201cadministrative error in timing of payments\u201d, while the Essendon District Football Netball League said the breaches were not \u201cdishonest or wilful\u201d.<\/p>\n But when a club is found to have breached the rules, criticism is rarely heard from rivals. \u201cYou don\u2019t throw rocks in glass houses,\u201d one former club president said.<\/p>\n Player market has worsened<\/p>\n Suburban and country football clubs are run by volunteers and often turn over more than $500,000 a year.<\/p>\n Related Article To win a flag takes time, effort and dedicated fundraising. It can also take skilled accounting.<\/p>\n One former club administrator, granted anonymity to speak honestly, said clubs typically budgeted to spend marginally above the salary cap to factor in injuries and unavailability; otherwise they would be disadvantaged by paying well under the cap.<\/p>\n Another struggling country club said they paid more than $250,000 to assemble a premiership side more than a decade ago, before salary caps were introduced by AFL Victoria in 2016.<\/p>\n \u201cThe player market has not changed since then,\u201d the club\u2019s footy manager said. \u201cIn actual fact, it\u2019s got worse. But we have never won a flag without having to spend a shitload of money.\u201d<\/p>\n Many clubs have struggled to keep up in what is akin to an arms race.<\/p>\n Lara\u2019s senior side has gone into recess<\/a>, while Maryborough Football Club is on the verge of extinction.<\/p>\n But there are clubs that manage to swim against the tide.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a lot of loyal players,\u201d Sebastopol Football Netball Club president Chenay Wilkinson said of her Ballarat-based club.<\/p>\n But she said it was hard for players in the Ballarat Football Netball League to turn down \u201clife-changing amounts of money\u201d from clubs in rival competitions.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that\u2019s the biggest issue,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got some clubs offering such big money [to players] that we can\u2019t match or even get anywhere near it.\u201d<\/p>\n One former president, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he no longer represented his country club, said the salary caps placed too much pressure on volunteers.<\/p>\n \u201cIf salary cap cheating is rife, why would anyone volunteer their time on an activity where the only way to compete is to cheat?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He said the system was a \u201cwaste of time\u201d because there were so many ways to do side deals with players.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they are a plumber, you pay them higher for a job they did for you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Related Article AFL Victoria was accused of lacking the resources and the money to ensure everyone is playing by the rules.<\/p>\n Drouin Football Netball Club president Luke Gilbert said there was not \u201ca great appetite to scratch the surface\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that creates more work for them and potentially bigger problems,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Gilbert said he scratched his head when Melbourne recruits bypassed his town to sign for country clubs in the further out regions of the state.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are things that are within our control like club culture and reputation and position on the ladder,\u201d Gilbert said of his Gippsland League club, which is 50 minutes east of Dandenong.<\/p>\n \u201cBut you can\u2019t really be jumping out of bed to go to some of these places further out of town because you really like the atmosphere. There\u2019s got to be some stuff going on there.\u201d<\/p>\n An AFL Victoria spokesperson said resourcing was an ongoing focus.<\/p>\n \u201cWe continue to invest in governance, education and support for leagues and clubs, including through the CCSP, which is designed to strengthen how the system operates,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n Goulburn Valley league club Mooroopna was fined $25,000, with $12,500 suspended, for breaching rules during the 2022 and 2023 seasons. They were dobbed in by a disgruntled player.<\/p>\n Another Goulburn Valley club, Euroa, self-reported a breach at the start of last year. They were fined $2500.<\/p>\n During an independent investigation,<\/a> it was discovered that members of their social committee were raising money and giving cash envelopes to their coach Ryan Pendlebury in a bid to entice recruits.<\/p>\n Goulburn Valley Football Netball League chairman Peter Foott said clubs kept telling him they wanted the cap in place because \u201cit still gives them an element of power over the players\u201d.<\/p>\n He said he was often approached by strangers and asked about salary caps.<\/p>\n \u201cThey say, \u2018What do you do about the guy who gets a truckload of diesel dumped into his farm diesel tank?\u2019,\u201d Foott said. \u201cI say if you can give me evidence, we can do something about it. But if you have no evidence, I can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n Goulburn Valley is in talks to introduce a salary cap for its netball competition, while AFL Barwon oversees salary caps for its Geelong and Bellarine netball leagues, which sit between $17,000 and $18,500.<\/p>\n There is no statewide salary cap for women\u2019s football competitions.<\/p>\n Homegrown AFL stars are like gold<\/p>\n The player points system is designed to work hand in hand with the salary cap to ensure a level playing field.<\/p>\n Clubs are allocated a total number of points each week for their 22 players \u2013 ex-AFL players are worth six points, state league players five points, and the ratings work down to home-grown players and juniors who are valued at one point.<\/p>\n Major league clubs are typically allocated between 36 and 46 points, depending on their ongoing success. For every year a player spends at a club, they drop a point, but the key is to nurture good juniors.<\/p>\n \u201cYou want them to be good enough to play good country football, but not good enough to play VFL every week,\u201d Drouin president Gilbert said. \u201cAs much as you want them to be the best versions of themselves, the selfish person in you goes, \u2018I\u2019d love to have him full-time in our midfield\u2019. It makes a difference to winning games of football.\u201d<\/p>\n Sometimes clubs strike gold. An ex-AFL player returning to their junior club at the end of their career \u2013 such as Dyson Heppell and Leongatha Parrots last year \u2013 is worth one point. But you still have to fit them under the cap.<\/p>\n In smaller country towns, the point system is seen as a disadvantage. They have to import players because they don\u2019t have secondary schools or a young population to feed their underage teams.<\/p>\n AFL Barwon chairman Ashley West said the player points system was the \u201cbiggest lever that we\u2019ve got to be able to manage sustainability\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really transparent,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s not really any way you can get around the point system.\u201d<\/p>\n Big names, good business<\/p>\n Ex-AFL players are big drawcards and great marketing tools. Major leagues want to be the best.<\/p>\n Ex-Melbourne and Bulldog star James Harmes has lifted Moe\u2019s profile in the Gippsland League, Lin Jong is a headliner for Deer Park in the Essendon District Football League, and Goulburn Valley outfit Mansfield were buoyed by the signing of ex-Magpie Will Kelly to join Callum Brown on their list this year.<\/p>\n Former Saint Seb Ross imparts valuable knowledge as coach of Colac in the Geelong league, and the rumour mill was abuzz in February this year with talk that Richmond great Dustin Martin would make a six-game appearance with Yarrawonga in the Ovens and Murray League.<\/p>\n There are still talks that the Dusty signing will happen – salary cap willing, of course.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to be careful that we don\u2019t pull the points down so much that the top clubs can\u2019t then go and recruit good players, whether they\u2019re VFL-AFL players,\u201d said West, whose AFL Barwon overseas the Geelong and Bellarine leagues.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to make sure that we are maintaining the quality whilst we\u2019re actually lifting the clubs from the bottom. So it\u2019s not about pulling the top clubs down, it\u2019s about lifting the bottom clubs.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018These are complex issues\u2019<\/p>\n One thing is for certain, according to clubs: the salary cap and points systems needs to be reviewed.<\/p>\n There is a widespread lack of confidence in their application. Moreover, grassroots football is a community sport, not a primary source of income.<\/p>\n Some clubs have called for an auditor to be assigned to every league to go through the books; others have called for a fairer points system in which stronger clubs are penalised for poaching juniors from weaker rivals.<\/p>\n One suggestion is for salary caps to be raised to a \u201cmore realistic\u201d $200,000 in major leagues so that fewer clubs are tempted to rort the system.<\/p>\n Another administrator called for a restructure of leagues across Victoria so that there is a more even balance.<\/p>\n AFL Victoria said they were consistently hearing feedback.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are complex issues, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution,\u201d an AFL spokesperson said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are actively engaging with leagues and stakeholders to improve competition structures and promote greater balance, with a clear focus on long-term sustainability.<\/p>\n \u201cAFL Victoria\u2019s focus remains on working closely with leagues and clubs to ensure the game stays strong, fair and sustainable into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n![\"Footballing](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0c0061aecbccfadc19752e63e1fa5b748632785d.jpeg\")
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<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Wangaratta](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/e56e646c28a92ba9980760afbe60470a0638b4cc.jpeg\")
Wangaratta self-reported a salary cap breach at the end of the 2022 season and were stripped of the premiership. <\/p>\n![\"AFL.\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/4bf08c9cefcc05a1922c4e35f1f5630cde571a36.jpeg\")
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<\/a>\u2018Some stuff going on there\u2019<\/p>\n![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/326d2aa86c4242f2685dcc4c3e472630998de35d.jpeg\")
Former Essendon footballer Dyson Heppell displays his Stan Aitken Medal and AFL best-on-ground medal after winning the Gippsland League grand final with his hometown club the Leongatha Parrots.@dysonheppell\/Instagram<\/p>\n![\"James](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/b36f3d43750cc4d1e02b352337ad4f71e35e8512.jpeg\")
James Harmes during his years with the Western Bulldogs.AFL Photos<\/p>\n