Hawthorn will pay around $750,000 next year to cover the salaries of traded stars Tom Mitchell and Jaeger O’Meara, despite neither player taking to the field for the club.
Sources confirmed to The Age that the Hawks would pay approximately $500,000 of O’Meara’s salary next year and about $250,000 of Mitchell’s.
It was previously understood that the Hawks would contribute to the salaries as an incentive for opposing clubs to trade for the veteran players on high contracts, however the sum of the ploy was unknown.
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The pair had been contracted for slightly more than $1.5 million at Hawthorn next year.
However, despite contributing to their salaries while Mitchell and O’Meara play for other clubs, the Hawks will ultimately save $750,000 in salaries of older players they had been transitioning out of their midfield.
Mitchell departed Hawthorn for Collingwood in the final few minutes of this year’s AFL trade period. The 2018 Brownlow Medallist signed a three-year deal with the Pies for about $500,000 a year.
As agreed, Hawthorn will pay the residual on what was to be the last year of the 29-year-old’s two-year contract extension.
O’Meara was traded from Hawthorn to Fremantle on a four-year deal.
While it may seem a bizarre tactic for clubs to want to pay the salaries of former players to move them on to another club, more clubs than ever are making the move to manage their salary cap.
Collingwood is currently contributing more than $200,000-a-year for ruckman Brodie Grundy to play at Melbourne next year. Meanwhile, the club is also continuing to pay a portion of Adam Treloar’s salary, two seasons after his trade to the Western Bulldogs.
Former Gold Coast Suns defender Jack Bowes also joined the reigning premiers this trade period – along with pick seven in the national draft – with Geelong taking on all of his $1.6 million salary over the next two years.
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In addition to former captain Ben McEvoy retiring, Jack Gunston moving to Brisbane as a free agent and Liam Shiels signing with North Melbourne, the Hawks’ resolve to trade O’Meara and Mitchell showed its commitment to a generational handover at the club.
Mitchell landed at Collingwood via a three-way trade. The deal saw Ollie Henry traded from Collingwood to Geelong and Cooper Stephens move from Geelong to Hawthorn.
The Hawks also secured picks No.41 and No.50.
In the O’Meara deal, the Hawks attained emerging Freo ruckman Lloyd Meek and a future second-round selection.
Twenty-seven-year-old Karl Amon also joined the club from Port Adelaide as an unrestricted free agent.
At the draft, the club brought in two first-round picks in Cam Mackenzie and Josh Weddle, along with Jack O’Sullivan, Henry Hustwaite and Bailey Macdonald.
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