Devonport Strikers president Rod Andrews criticised the “obscene” amount of money “being thrown around” after seeing his premiership-winning coach Peter Savill poached by Hobart Zebras at the weekend.

The move follows Olympia snapping up Ian Shaw after he had been recruited by Kingborough, but Football Federation Tasmania CEO Mike Palmer defended clubs’ rights to make such moves.

“In football all over the world there is an imbalance due to some clubs having more money than others,” he said.  “That is the case whether it is the English Premier League or Tasmanian state league or wherever.

“I think it’s a fact of life and don’t see it as a problem and it is not inconsistent with other sports in Tasmania or football anywhere else in the world.

“Clubs need to operate within their means and if some clubs have superior financial backing it is not inconsistent with anywhere else.

“It’s a very tricky one and I can see both sides of the debate.”

Palmer said he could not verify claims by Andrews that some players were being offered up to $1000 per game.

“I don’t know if they are true, they are the sorts of rumours that do the rounds,” he said.

“Until clubs formally tell us what they are paying players we will not know, and there is no formal obligation for them to tell us.​