AFL Rich 100: Dustin Martin is footy’s highest-played player in 2022

Think Dustin Martin is on his way out of Richmond? Think again. There’s one major factor that will play a big role in keeping footy’s highest paid player at Punt Rd.

Richmond champion Dustin Martin sits atop of the AFL’s pay mountain in 2022 and he will have another September stage to prove his value.

The Tigers locked in a return to finals with a 61-point win against Hawthorn on Sunday at the MCG, with Tom Lynch booting eight goals in an ominous tune-up for September.

A succession of close losses have left Richmond contesting an elimination final but their scoring power will have prospective finals opponents wary.

The Tigers have kicked over 100 points in their past three games – wins against Brisbane, Port Adelaide and the Hawks – with their biggest weapon sitting in the stands.

Martin hasn’t played since hurting his hamstring against West Coast in round 16 but could be a massive in for week one of finals as speculation continues about his future beyond 2022.

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The AFL’s highest-paid player has played only eight matches this season because of injury and a leave of absence for personal reasons, but he has still managed to scale footy’s financial summit.

His $1.2 million to $1.3 million remuneration in 2022 remains almost the same as it has been over the previous four seasons – and will still be for the next two years.

The previous two Herald Sun Rich List No.1s – Jeremy Cameron (around $1,500,000 in 2020) and Lance Franklin ($1,500,000 last year) – had been scheduled to earn more than Martin in those years, albeit Cameron’s back-ended Greater Western Sydney deal was sliced by around $400,000 as part of the AFL players’ Covid sacrifices two years ago.

Martin famously sacrificed more than $2 million when he rejected a “Godfather” offer to join North Melbourne, a decision he made on the eve of the 2017 finals series.

Instead, the midfielder-forward chose loyalty over leaving. He ended up signing a seven-year $8 million-plus deal to stay with the Tigers.

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Dustin Martin’s 2017 season was priceless for the Tigers. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Regardless of what might unfold across the final two years of that deal – whether Martin stays, goes or retires – it has been one of the best value-for-money deals in modern football.

What sort of price can you put on three flags, a record three Norm Smith Medals and a Brownlow Medal that followed the deal’s inking, even if his 2017 reward was on his old deal.

Martin’s contract helped seal a football dynasty with the momentum of his signature a boost as the Tigers unlocked a 37-year flag drought before more success in 2019 and 2020.

Tellingly, the financial commitment of the final two years – which adds up to around $2.5 million across 2023 and 2024 – might play a role in keeping Martin in yellow and black.

While there has been speculation the media-shy Martin could benefit from playing outside the Melbourne footy goldfish bowl, the anchor of such a huge financial obligation for a player who turns 32 next June could yet prove a bridge too far for clubs, if he decides to move.

The Tigers acknowledge Martin owes the club nothing, given what he has provided across 13 seasons and 268 games. But they also want to do everything possible to keep him, with coach Damien Hardwick saying recently the club is confident he will see out his contract.

The fact that Martin’s deal – brokered in 2017 – sees him on the biggest 2022 contract also points to a change in philosophy by some of the game’s biggest names – and by the clubs.

Will Dusty be at Richmond in 2023? Picture: Michael Klein

We’ve long speculated on which young star might one day become the first $2 million per season player, but if anything, the landscape at the top end of the pay bracket has moved.

Some players at the top end of the scale, including West Coast’s Jeremy McGovern and Fremantle’s Nat Fyfe, have accepted adjustments to their bumper contracts in recent seasons in order to help balance the salary cap scales of their respective clubs.

Other superstars, such as Melbourne midfielders Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver, have gone for the length of tenure instead of the ultimate top dollars in recent negotiations, preferring to ink longer term deals of up to seven years on $1 million rather than shorter-term commitments on figures up to $1.5 million.

Clubs now know they can ill afford to be lumbered with salary cap tilting too far in the wrong direction, evidenced by recent struggles by West Coast and Greater Western Sydney, who are now seeking a better balance.

Savvy and successful clubs such as Geelong have found a way to still bring in key personnel into the group by a collective sharing of the financial load and balancing salary cap scales.

It has been the key to the Cats remaining in the premiership window year after year.

Despite what many would have you believe, the pursuit of team success and club loyalty still drives the vast majority of AFL players as much as their personal pay packets.

When Martin signed on for the Tigers back in 2017, he made the comment: “I kind of felt like I was cheating on a girlfriend or something (when dealing with North Melbourne).”

Tigers fans will be hoping Dusty has those same thoughts when he looks ahead to 2023.

CALLS FOR AFL WAGE TRANSPARENCY

NBA first-round selection Chris Anstey says the AFL should consider publicly disclosing player salaries to help shine a light on lesser-paid footballers providing excellent value for service.

As the Herald Sun prepares to release the 2022 version of the Rich 100, Anstey says he never worried about having his NBA salary officially disclosed in his time with the Dallas Mavericks and Chicago Bulls.

He was well paid in Russia but despite perceptions he was blowing the salary cap when he returned to the Melbourne Tigers in 2005 he was being paid only $150,000.

AFLPA boss Paul Marsh said in 2018 he would be happy for the public to know about salaries but said given the mental health pressures the players were strongly against it.

Marsh said the trend in international sports was that declaring salaries publicly helped drive competition and ultimately wage growth, open to a “mature debate” in the industry on wage transparency.

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Chris Anstey’s wage at the Melbourne Tigers was much lower than what fans perceived.

Chris Anstey is in favour of player wages being made public. Picture: Alan Barber

Anstey told the Herald Sun many fans had a guide on what the rich-listers like Dustin Martin were being paid but said so many players like Sydney’s Paddy McCartin were performing on the cheap.

“There would certainly be consequences but not all of them would be negative,” the two-time NBL MVP and three-time NBL champion said.

“It just provides clarity. It takes away all the guesswork. Often times we have discussions about the additional pressure and privacy that goes with high income earners but we neglect to talk about the lower salary earners who we make assumptions are earning much more, so expect so much more of them.

“Some of the feedback you hear about the performances when they are battling, they are on $50,000 a year. Look at Paddy McCartin who has found his way back into the system and is playing so well and you can align dollars with performance.

“Some players will over-achieve and some will underachieve but you also have to factor in marketing. Look at how many Dustin Martin jumpers a club might sell separate from performance.

“There are problematic parts of making it public such as the additional challenges clubs might have to deal with over the perceived hierarchy over what each player is paid.

“And the perceptions of where they see themselves at the club and how they see themselves.

“But it’s not that hard to find out from your agent anyway.”

Under the AFL collective bargaining agreement national picks selected between 1-20 are handed a $105,000 base deal plus $4000 per AFL game, with picks 21-40 given a $95,000 base and picks 41 and over a $90,000 base.

Rookies which can include summer rookies including Levi Casboult and Paddy McCartin can be paid the base of $85,000 plus $4000 per senior game, although Casboult negotiated a deal of around $100,000 base.

His excellent season where he’s kicked 35.21 means he is one of the best bang-for-buck players in the competition while Sydney’s McCartin leads the league for intercept marks (67) ahead of highly-paid players including Ben McKay, Darcy Moore, Tom Barrass and Jeremy McGovern.

Paddy McCartin (right) is performing well above his contract. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Marsh said in that 2018 interview the public disclosure of salaries created more market pressure and eventually upwards wage growth.

“Ultimately this is a decision for the players. This is private information and they shouldn’t have to have their salaries released but if you have a look at the examples in sports around the world where it has taken place, player salaries escalate pretty quickly. Everyone knows what everyone else is getting and the value of the player contract tends to go up,” he said.

“It is one thing players would have to consider. But I equally understand with all the mental health issues we are dealing with, the scrutiny on the players is going to be significant.

“I don’t think this is necessarily coming but it’s something as an industry we need to discuss. If we made this change it would put pressure on the salary cap to go up and we have seen it historically and that’s the impact it would have. It is a conversation only really getting started and there is a view within the clubs we should release the information. They say it could have a deflationary effect but the worldwide example is it would go the other way.”

Anstey said his own personal experience was that transparency actually helped his career because it took out the innuendo and rumour.

“I never had a problem with people knowing what I was on. In Australia when I came back from Russia I never had a problem with people knowing what I was on. People said I was wrecking the salary cap, but I had no problem telling them I was being paid $150,000 a year.

“I wasn’t the highest-paid player at the Tigers in those last year, and basketball is a global sport and people came back here for the lifestyle and were paid less.”

Originally published as AFL Rich 100: Dustin Martin is footy’s highest-played player in 2022