The wages of coaches are a major component of football department expenditure, set to be capped around $9.3 million next season for non-player football spending. Clubs which exceed this figure will pay a tax of 37.5 cents for every dollar spent.

The Hawks have budgeted to exceed the cap, and will likely pay about $100,000 in taxes. This is in addition to the new revenue tax, which has been capped at $500,000, a figure likely to be paid by the Hawks and Collingwood.

Gold Coast, Adelaide and the Western Bulldogs have sacked their coaches since the completion of the 2014 campaign, despite Guy McKenna, Brenton Sanderson and Brendan McCartney all being under contract. Sanderson and McCartney had two years remaining on their deals, while McKenna was contracted for next season.

Their pay-outs almost certainly will be included in the current football financial year, expiring October 31, meaning they won't potentially push clubs over the football-department tax next year. However, surprise sackings from next season could have a detrimental impact.

Newbold said on Tuesday the new tax could mean club bosses are more judicious in their decisions.

"Ultimately, I think it will help clubs manage their businesses better because I think there are some really funny decisions going on, if I look at other clubs," he said.

"People just getting rid of coaches and paying them out. I don't know a lot of the details about that but I think you will need to think twice if you need to sack someone and pay him $1.4 million or whatever the number is, and then you have to employ someone else. You are starting to hit that ceiling, aren't you, pretty quickly.

"I think it will help clubs make better decisions because pay-outs and things like that will be in the cap."

Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson is contracted until the end of the 2016 campaign.

The introduction of the tax has meant some clubs have shied away from staging overseas pre-season training camps this summer.

Newbold said the Hawks had not had plans anyway to return to South Africa, where the team spent 12 days in December last year.

While all clubs will need to be more prudent in their spending, as the AFL seeks greater off-field parity, Newbold said the Hawks would not jeopardise any plans for another top-four finish and a hopeful challenge at three straight premierships.

"Our numbers showed that we were about $400,000 to $450,000 over the cap but we weren't going to do anything silly in terms of head count or anything like that," he said.

"I think we will be over (the cap) and we haven't chosen to take any drastic steps to get us under.

"Obviously, the first year is (a tax of) 37.5 cents, which is a little bit more palatable than 75 cents (in 2016), although the cap does increase a bit next year.

"We are not going to get rid of people overnight - we have worked too hard to create a good footy department to just react like that.

"But going forward, we are going to have to manage it very carefully because we are not going to want to pay 75 cents in the dollar."

Collingwood and West Coast could also end up paying the luxury tax next year. The AFL will review the tax, which is capped at $1 million annually, after the 2016 campaign.