'It's urgent': AFL called on to address 'drastic' issue for clubs
The AFL must detail cuts to spending and club playing lists as a matter of urgency, Port Adelaide chief executive Keith Thomas says.
Thomas hopes to know within three weeks the extent of AFL cost-cutting which he says will impact the league for years to come.
TRAINING DRAMA: Olympian kicked out of Collingwood AFL session
'SICK OF IT': Footy great slams Premier's 'petty' comments
ENOUGH: Tony Jones issues stunning threat over Bec Judd kiss fail
The AFL is understood to be considering reducing the soft salary cap, which covers football department spending, by some $3 million next year to around $6.5m.
And playing list sizes could be reduced from around 47 to 35 under measures to save money amid the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
Port's Thomas said the league's plans must be detailed soon.
"It's urgent," he told reporters on Wednesday.
"We are in the mindset of knowing broadly what confronts us and there's no doubt that our club and our industry will be smaller than it was in 2019.
"Exactly how much, we're not sure how that looks.
"It's still a work in progress but we have had to take very drastic action for 2020 and that will roll into 2021, no doubt about it.
"We're really optimistic and positive that we're starting footy again but no-one should forget that the economic impact on the industry has been really severe and it will be for years to come."
Thomas expected the AFL cuts to be announced "within two or three weeks".
"We're just moving from one big moment to the next but ... I don't think it can go much longer than that."
SA clubs allowed to resume contact training
The AFL will resume games on June 11, with Thomas rapt that South Australian health officials had given Port and Adelaide Crows contact training exemptions.
In a surprise move on Tuesday, the SA clubs were given permission to resume contact training from next Monday - it had previously been barred in the state until June 8.
The decision allows Port and the Crows to remain in Adelaide instead of moving to a Gold Coast hub this weekend.
The SA clubs hope to play each other in the first round of the competition's restart before entering the Queensland hubs, given they can't fly in and out for games without undertaking the state's forced isolation period of 14 days after interstate travel.
"The idea of eight weeks away versus four weeks away is really quite significant," Thomas said.
"It was a bit of a surprise that the exemption came.
"We were confident that the South Australian government understood what we were trying to achieve.
"I'm really pleased that, with their huge agenda, they found it possible to circle back around, look at our needs, and accept that we are prepared to do whatever is required to get this right."
