A few of the reasons I've heard why this got voted up by the SAAFL as a member of the SACFL -
We need to get player payments under control as concerns are being expressed by the AFL on clubs across Australia being compliant with tax, workcover, super etc. obligations.
Given this being the main driver, its coming and we need to get the best out of it we can.
Restrictions on player movement (APPS I assume) only inflates the amount paid to individuals. This escalates I assume once a player comes back to zero points, he can demand more money knowing to replace him would cost points.
It is likely to be less onerous on clubs to administer the cap than it would be to raise more money each year just to remain competitive. Interesting, I wouldn't like to be one stuffing up with a clerical error and causing the loss of premiership points etc.
I'm not a big fan, but if we have to have it, we make it work for footy. As far as the cap amount, I'd like to see it lowered. A lot. $30k should be more than enough for an SAAFL club. Can't speak for country clubs. But right now without a cap how much do the BL&G league clubs care about Mallee League clubs trying to compete to attract players? Do clubs want it to be more about who can raise the more money wins? There probably can be some work applied to the cap rules for the rural clubs (a long way from available players) where petrol money alone won't treat the travel costs , as well as coach payment limits. And probably other areas as well.
Regulation can work in footy. The almost there socialism for the NFL in the USA works quite well with drafts and salary caps. It isn't too onerous to regulate compliance within a relatively small number of competitors. Given we have a similar setup with our indigenous game at grass roots, we could get a good outcome as well. I don't know if a salary cap has been attempted in soccer, but it would be interesting to see a comparison of the spread of winners across competitors in the Premier League, NFL and AFL over a period of time that covers salary cap vs. no salary cap. There, I'll have a lie down now.