Crippa will have to make special mention when he lifts the cup on Saturday September 30 2018 (ignoring leap years )

Yeah, but Brisbane will still get millions of dollars in assistance from the AFL's coffers.

Carlton is over 6 million in debt.
North is over 6 million in debt.

North's debt is more important to the AFL - they pay it off for them, resulting in people like Caroline Wilson on Footy Classified stating "I am amazed by how North has turned themselves around. what a remarkable recovery"...with no mention of the AFL paying off their debt.

Carlton is up shi**t creek without a paddle and quite frankly the AFL do not care as they still feel Carlton is in a good position and is popular...so let them fend for themselves. Finishing last with the club's worst ever percentage is really what the AFL should have considered.

One priority draft pick at pick 18/19 would not have even dented the draft arrangement. It should have been given.

Carlton should now go to the AFL and ask
1) - Not to have to pay anything towards "equalisation" fund that goes towards North Melbourne and other clubs

2) - To receive the type of financial assistance of the kind North Melbourne received

3) - And for Hawthorn to repay to the AFL coffers some of the 30 million they made out of the Tasmanian venture in sponsorship alone as a result of the AFL making Hawthorn the sole tenant of Tasmania back in 2001. Would they have made this money if Hawthorn wasn't the sole tenant of Tasmania? no. So repay money via the "equalisation fund" that can in turn go to Carlton.

The AFL will also give a defacto priority pick for the loss of Leunenberger...

This is a player that has never even placed in the top 3 in the Brisbane Lions' best and fairest, but you wait and see the AFL will somehow judge he is worth compensation at pick 3.

Meanwhile, Carlton loses its top goal kicker (J Waite), a player that has helped North to the finals, and they get nada, nothing, zilch.

I am beginning to see how the system works.

Leunenberger...the only award he has received whilst at Brisbane is the Ashcroft Medal for being best on ground in a Q Clash, if that is enough to get you compensation at pick 3...well the system really is corrupted.

Carlton should go to the AFL and ensure Brisbane does NOT get compensation pick 3. This will assist them to become a stronger team relative to Carlton based on a player that has done next to nothing...oh except he once won the Marcus Aschcroft Medal... well done Son

Yep spot on!! This is how the AFL works, Lots of back office wink wink deals.

Great work tap and well done on educating the masses more and more on how this organisation works.

So he didn't...

The sooner they kill this off and other artificial support mechanisms the better

Carlton effed up. Again. The rebuild was going well but loss of players, poor drafting, poor retention, poor coaching... killed it well before Malthouse just blew up in our faces.

I'd hate to see the AFL compensate anyone for mismanagement.

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Formerly: Ackland the Wonderkid / Army the Wonderkid / quivering mess / molsey / Tony Lynn Fan Club

It's just a pity that too few were willing to admit just how bad it all was. It's as if they would have hated to see Carlton compensate itself for its own mismanagement.

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Just because I'm offended, doesn't mean I'm wrong.

Tap's posts are great - but I'm not convinced he did this.

Forget the noise. The AFL works as it's meant to. Many clubs currently get assistance - including the Blues.

There's no conspiracy theory. There might be a few raised eyebrows - but on the whole they do a good job as the governing body. The AFL would prefer it if every club did well and could fend for themselves. This way - the AFL would have a greater surplus - and could spend more on the game where it really needed it.

So let's start with the basics. Currently - the AFL give every club around $7.5 million each year. This includes a bonus distribution of $1.2 million to all clubs from the broadcast rights proceeds. On top of this - they make payments to the clubs from the future fund. These vary from club to club and can range from half a million to a few millions dollars. Then there's other payments - Etihad signage and promotional funding to help clubs
develop the game around Australia....and prizemoney for Hawthorn!

So all up - Carlton should receive somewhere in the vicinity of $12million from the AFL. And believe it or not - all clubs will be around this figure.

Contingent liabilities are somewhat separate. The AFL has entered into an agreement with Westpac whereby they guarantee the obligations of the Carlton Football Club to Westpac to a maximum of $4.3million. This guarantee expires on 31 October 2016. It's likely to be extended beyond that date - however the figure will be less. That's a good thing!

That same arrangement is in place for Melbourne ($5.1million), North Melbourne ($3.8million), St.Kilda ($6.75million), Richmond ($1.5million), Footscray ($4.5million), Brisbane ($8million) and Essendon* ($5million).

Given Carlton's ongoing struggles - I expect we may receive more from the future fund payments. This needn't be broadcast from the rooftops. The AFL understands when clubs have to jump up and down. It's noise. Sadly, the journos, nor the punter in the outer get this. The club wants you to buy a membership. If you're not already rusted on or do it out of habit - their idea of a 'call to action' is a sympathy vote.

I'm not going to speculate whether that's a good idea or a bad one. It worked for me when I returned to Melbourne in 2004. It doesn't work on me now, but that's for a variety of reasons.