Chris Judd is set to appeal the AFL's ruling that his long-term third-party sponsorship must now be paid inside Carlton's salary cap.
Since moving to Carlton from West Coast in 2008, Judd has been paid a rumoured $250,000 a year by Visy, though his manager Paul Connors insists this figure is not accurate.
But with just over a year of the deal remaining the AFL, following a revision of its rules on third-party deals, has decided it must now be part of the club's Additional Services Agreement.
"A previous arrangement between Chris Judd and Visy had been approved by the AFL as an employment agreement in 2008," AFL general manager of football operations, Adrian Anderson said in a statement.
"Since that time and with the advent of free agency, the AFL has tightened the criteria for the approval of such third party arrangements.
"The consequence of this decision means that any future payments made under arrangements between Chris Judd and Visy need to be included in Carlton's ASA limit or TPP."
Connors was baffled by the judgment and is sure his client will want to challenge it.
"There's processes you can go through to challenge these decisions," Connors told Grandstand Breakfast.
"I don't see what's changed from Chris's agreement four years ago to now.
"I think there's a process you're allowed to appeal, as they say, the umpire's decision. I couldn't imagine Chris just saying: 'Great I accept what they say'.
"I'd be surprised if we don't take this further."
Connors also spoke about the difficulty players face in signing sponsorships, as all agreements have to be approved by the AFL.
"It's a really hard space, independent agreements," Connors said.
"We're not allowed to do contracts that are in opposition to sponsors. Then if you do it with a sponsor it's deemed as an independent agreements.
"The only sponsors you can do are independent agreements.
"Wayne Carey used to make a lot more money off the field, more than the current players, that's for sure."
ABC/AAP
Tags: sport, australian-football-league, carlton-3053 First posted November 16, 2012 08:13:30