Magpies drop coach, player payments

Busselton Football Club will not pay its players or coaches this season in an unprecedented move to get the club out of financial strife.

But president Rob Witten said the club would still be competitive, despite losing 16 of its 22 premiership players from last season.

Witten said the club was reeling from player fees from its 2012 premiership year, which he believed cost the club about $120,000 for payments to 13 travelling players.

After the club failed to get an expected $24,000 from its biggest fundraiser - the music festival Southbound which was cancelled due to the January bushfires - the club was forced to tell coaches and players they would not be paid game fees this season.

"We have been on the knife-edge since I took over in 2014," Witten said.

"I think that year (2012) we had 13 drive-in players, while last year we had three, with one who had his parents living in Busselton."

Witten said the club should have looked into cutting its budget a few years ago.

"Everyone who plays for the club will play for nothing," he said.

"We will pay no staff. Our coaches accepted after Southbound they would receive no payment. All of them stuck on. They have been excellent."

Witten said the club still had strong numbers, with 60 players turning up to training.

"It (no budget) has not done us any harm," he said.

"We have a lot of work to do to get us back to where we should have been three to four years ago.

"We might not be the best side this year, but we will be competitive.

"The thing we can absolutely guarantee you is we will be a better side at the end of the year than we are at the start.

"I think the days of paying huge money to players are not sustainable.

"We are in the fortunate position where we have lots of juniors and we are keen to foster them.

"That is where we think the future is."

SWFL general manager John Vidos said it was not the first time a club had not paid players.

"There comes a time where clubs realise they cannot spend money on players," he said.

"The league will keep an eye on it and we will be in discussions with Busselton Football Club relating to the matter."