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AFL: Sydney have traded Tom Mitchell to Hawthorn.
Xavier Richards has requested a trade to a Melbourne based club
SYDNEY Swans grand final player Xavier Richards has requested a trade to a Melbourne club and his manager says the cost of living in Sydney is the key factor in his desire to move.
The Swans lost their cost of living allowance (COLA) in controversial circumstances after they recruited Lance Franklin on a nine year $10 million deal on the back of signing Kurt Tippett from Adelaide the year before (2013).
But Richards’ manager Phil Mullen said the expense of living in Australia’s biggest city was a real issue for players down the pay scale from Franklin and Tippett.
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“Xavier wanting to leave the Swans has nothing to do with being unhappy with the club,” Mullen told The Daily Telegraph.
“If you’ve got money to spend you’d get better value in Queensland or South Australia than you do in Sydney. Living in Sydney makes it tough on a lot of players.”
The advent of free agency is seeing the game’s best players getting richer while those down the financial ladder aren’t making as much ground. For the very well paid players such as Franklin and Tippett the cost of living in Sydney isn’t an issue but Mullen believes for journeymen players like Richards it’s a struggle.
“He will be able to go home to Melbourne and live with his parents initially and put some money away, that’s been impossible in Sydney,” Mullen said.
“I can’t understand why the AFL got rid of COLA.”
Carlton player Andrejs Everitt left the Swans in similar circumstances to Richards two years ago and said there was a real need for it especially for the less well paid players.
“It is pretty expensive to live up in Sydney, just the rent, everything to do with Sydney. I’m not sure what the figures are but I do think it (COLA) is pretty necessary,” Everitt said at the time.
The prospect of COLA being reinstated looks extremely remote after AFL Chairman Mike Fitzpatrick made his feelings known about the allowance last month.
“I was quite disappointed (when Lance Franklin switched to the Swans). I was the last defender of COLA. That announcement convinced me I had been wrong for a long time,” Fitzpatrick said at the time.
Richards has played 12 games in four years at the Swans including the last 10 of this season. His older brother Ted announced his retirement this season after 261 games for Sydney (228) and Essendon (33).
Mullen believes a deal with a Melbourne club is imminent.
“Xavier has been around for a while and knows the game,” Mullen said.
“He had a pretty good second half of the year when he was moved forward and he has plenty of ability there is no question. I’m confident a deal will get done in the next couple of days.”
Originally published as Cost of living sends Richards packing