Lions 'bought flags'

Lions 'bought flags'

October 8, 2003

RETIRING Essendon chairman Graeme McMahon ranks the Brisbane Lions of 2003
the best team he has seen, but it is a prickly bouquet.

McMahon prefaced the accolade by accusing the AFL of preferential treatment
of the Lions under the salary cap.

He went so far as to defend Collingwood, saying: "Over three years, Brisbane
has had $1.8 million* more to spend on salaries than Collingwood, the team
they played in the Grand Final, and that's simply unfair."

McMahon's comments will be screened in an upcoming Fox Footy program, based
on Friday's Roaring Forties post-Grand Final lunch, when he was interviewed
by Craig Willis.

When Willis raised the subject of the salary cap, McMahon said: "Let me say,
before I make any comment about that, I think the Brisbane FC is a superb
organisation.

"They are well-administered, they're magnificently coached and, quite
honestly, they're the best football team that I've ever seen.

"(But) there's something wrong with a rule that allows one club to spend
$600,000 a year more than other clubs.

"The whole purpose of the equalisation process is to ensure that the
competition is even and they (the AFL) do it with two planks: the first
plank is the draft . . . the second plank is the salary cap, to stop clubs
like Essendon . . . from going out and simply buying a list of players, and
that's right and proper, too."

McMahon, a long-time critic of salary-cap allowances for both Sydney (cost
of living) and Brisbane (player retention), implied the concession had been
crucial to Brisbane's premiership hat-trick.

"Let's take the Western Bulldogs. They're in trouble. Have been for years.
Why don't we give them a million dollars and let 'em go and buy a list and
win a premiership? It will fix their financial problems," he said.

"Why tip bloody Brisbane in and let them win 'em and allow other clubs to
fall over? That's not fair."

While he agreed with the AFL commitment to game development in the northern
markets, he said "game development" was a phrase to legitimise the league's
determination to make Brisbane successful.

"Tip it into development, I agree with that a hundred percent. I think the
AFL has made the decision that the way to develop the game in Brisbane is to
have 'em win," McMahon said.

"How many years do we go on watching them win?"

McMahon yesterday cleared the comments for publication, adding: "It's been
my view for a long time."