will.i.am
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GWS chequebook is making waves in AFL, mirrored by offer to young Tom Mitchell
Stephen Rielly From: The Australian February 26, 2011 12:00AM
ON August 28 last year, the Sydney Swans happily announced that Tom Mitchell, the son of former Swan and current Fremantle assistant coach Barry Mitchell, had agreed to join the club.
Not right away, but at the end of this year, which, at the time, was 16 months away. The 17-year-old is completing his secondary schooling at Hale College in Perth.
The Swans were chuffed because father-son access to an elite player can be a godsend and Mitchell is, in the opinion of some, the best player of his age in the country; a left-footed midfielder who was at the very top of his year with the AIS Academy squad in 2010.
They were also relieved. To win his signature, Mitchell first had to be convinced to turn down a concerted and financially eye-popping pitch from Greater Western Sydney that may be the most remarkable demonstration yet of GWS's purchasing power and, Gary Ablett's defection to Gold Coast aside, the dizzying effect of the AFL's expansion on the player market.
Differing versions exist of how much was offered and for how long but it is accepted that Mitchell had at least $1 million put in front of him by GWS and as much as $1.5m after Sydney realised the need to open its own wallet.
The Swans had cultivated a long-term relationship with Mitchell. He trained with the club on occasions last year, as he will this year, and was in regular touch with Sydney personnel, but had to accept that loyalty to the jumper his father wore on 170 occasions would not necessarily be enough to win out.
"They (GWS) certainly made life difficult. Put it that way," one party to the negotiations said.
GWS officials, including football operations manager Graeme Allan, flew to Perth at least twice to try to convince Mitchell and his family of the wisdom of joining the AFL's 18th and newest team over the Swans, with appeals that included the chance to be reunited with many of his AIS teammates. GWS has at least 10 of last year's AIS intake on its books at present.
The familiarity of friends wasn't the trump card, though. That was the guarantee of near-instant wealth. The salaries of high draftees, which Mitchell would certainly have been later this year, in their first and second seasons in the AFL are legislated, so that a player who plays every game in his first season can earn approximately $125,000. If he plays every game in year two, a figure of about $135,000 is possible.
A three-year deal of at least $1m from GWS meant that Mitchell stood to earn $740,000 or more in his third season, by which time he would barely be out of his teens. Some of the game's finest players, such as Hawthorn's Brownlow Medallist Luke Hodge, are barely earning that sort of money. The offer _ several people close to the negotiations have indicated that a five-year deal worth $1.5m was GWS's final pitch _ said something not only about GWS's opinion of Mitchell but about its financial ability to shake the player market out from both ends.
Understandably, much of the attention on Gold Coast last year and now GWS has been focussed upon the inducements to established stars and players already in the system, such as Ablett or the likes of Jimmy Bartel, Scott Pendlebury and Tom Scully.
Ablett's near-$9m, five-year deal, for example, approximately doubled what Geelong could afford to pay to retain the Brownlow medallist and became an industry-wide point of discussion.
The significance of the seven-figure offer to Mitchell is that it was made to a player yet to break into the game.
One who won't be seen in a Swans jumper for at least another 12 months, a boy who could continue to grow or not, or suffer an injury that might make a seven-figure, long-term commitment an expensive folly.
Then again, as one official put it yesterday, even in defeat GWS has not lost entirely.
"Tom might be the star a lot of people think he will be, but the Swans have had to pay a lot more than they were going to without GWS."
Allan did not return The Weekend Australian's calls yesterday.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...ung-tom-mitchell/story-e6frg7mf-1226012249374
Stephen Rielly From: The Australian February 26, 2011 12:00AM
ON August 28 last year, the Sydney Swans happily announced that Tom Mitchell, the son of former Swan and current Fremantle assistant coach Barry Mitchell, had agreed to join the club.
Not right away, but at the end of this year, which, at the time, was 16 months away. The 17-year-old is completing his secondary schooling at Hale College in Perth.
The Swans were chuffed because father-son access to an elite player can be a godsend and Mitchell is, in the opinion of some, the best player of his age in the country; a left-footed midfielder who was at the very top of his year with the AIS Academy squad in 2010.
They were also relieved. To win his signature, Mitchell first had to be convinced to turn down a concerted and financially eye-popping pitch from Greater Western Sydney that may be the most remarkable demonstration yet of GWS's purchasing power and, Gary Ablett's defection to Gold Coast aside, the dizzying effect of the AFL's expansion on the player market.
Differing versions exist of how much was offered and for how long but it is accepted that Mitchell had at least $1 million put in front of him by GWS and as much as $1.5m after Sydney realised the need to open its own wallet.
The Swans had cultivated a long-term relationship with Mitchell. He trained with the club on occasions last year, as he will this year, and was in regular touch with Sydney personnel, but had to accept that loyalty to the jumper his father wore on 170 occasions would not necessarily be enough to win out.
"They (GWS) certainly made life difficult. Put it that way," one party to the negotiations said.
GWS officials, including football operations manager Graeme Allan, flew to Perth at least twice to try to convince Mitchell and his family of the wisdom of joining the AFL's 18th and newest team over the Swans, with appeals that included the chance to be reunited with many of his AIS teammates. GWS has at least 10 of last year's AIS intake on its books at present.
The familiarity of friends wasn't the trump card, though. That was the guarantee of near-instant wealth. The salaries of high draftees, which Mitchell would certainly have been later this year, in their first and second seasons in the AFL are legislated, so that a player who plays every game in his first season can earn approximately $125,000. If he plays every game in year two, a figure of about $135,000 is possible.
A three-year deal of at least $1m from GWS meant that Mitchell stood to earn $740,000 or more in his third season, by which time he would barely be out of his teens. Some of the game's finest players, such as Hawthorn's Brownlow Medallist Luke Hodge, are barely earning that sort of money. The offer _ several people close to the negotiations have indicated that a five-year deal worth $1.5m was GWS's final pitch _ said something not only about GWS's opinion of Mitchell but about its financial ability to shake the player market out from both ends.
Understandably, much of the attention on Gold Coast last year and now GWS has been focussed upon the inducements to established stars and players already in the system, such as Ablett or the likes of Jimmy Bartel, Scott Pendlebury and Tom Scully.
Ablett's near-$9m, five-year deal, for example, approximately doubled what Geelong could afford to pay to retain the Brownlow medallist and became an industry-wide point of discussion.
The significance of the seven-figure offer to Mitchell is that it was made to a player yet to break into the game.
One who won't be seen in a Swans jumper for at least another 12 months, a boy who could continue to grow or not, or suffer an injury that might make a seven-figure, long-term commitment an expensive folly.
Then again, as one official put it yesterday, even in defeat GWS has not lost entirely.
"Tom might be the star a lot of people think he will be, but the Swans have had to pay a lot more than they were going to without GWS."
Allan did not return The Weekend Australian's calls yesterday.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...ung-tom-mitchell/story-e6frg7mf-1226012249374
Massive blow for the Bloods blahh!
