AFL wages are rising but there are fewer million-dollar players

AFL player wages are rising but less players earned more than $1 million last year as chief executive Gillon McLachlan’s wage continues to dwarf the pay packets of the game’s best players.

Tom Lynch is understood to have taken a pay cut to join Richmond. Picture: Getty Images

Gillon McLachlan’s wage continues to dwarf the pay packets of the game’s best players.

Just six AFL stars earned more than $1 million last year, with three earning between $1.2m-$1.3 million.

Nine players earned more than $1 million the previous season.

Footy’s top earners in 2018 likely included Dustin Martin, Nat Fyfe, Lance Franklin, Jeremy Cameron, Tom Boyd and Gold Coast defector Tom Lynch.

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The AFL chief executive’s salary was last publicly declared at $1.74 million two years ago but is likely to have soared beyond $2 million given the league’s rising revenue.

AFL chairman Richard Goyder last year made the decision to keep McLachlan’s wage a secret.

On Tuesday, the Herald Sun revealed the AFL’s 12-person executive team earned average salary packages of $894,000 last year.

The $10.73 million cash bonanza included $3.56 million in bonuses.

Gillon McLachlan’s salary is a secret but is likely to be above $2 million. Picture: Getty Images

Last year, the then AFL spokesman Patrick Keane said that Goyder had decided against continuing a policy of releasing McLachlan’s wage.

“It was a decision of the commission’s chairman Richard Goyder,” he said.

“He didn’t believe it continued to be appropriate (for the CEO’s pay) to be disclosed individually.”

The average player wage last year was $362,471 — up $10,000 on the previous year.

AFL talent guru Chris Pelchen last year said he believed there could be 20 AFL millionaires by 2020.

But despite a bumper pay rise secured in the last collective bargaining agreement — the salary cap rises 28 per cent in six years — clubs appear to be spreading their money across more elite players.

According to AFL data, 31 players earned more than $800,000, up from 29 in 2017.

Only a single player earned less than $60,000 last year, and the majority of the league’s 840 players took home between $100,000 and $400,000.

Of those players 159 earned between $100,000-$200,000, 136 earned between $200,000-$300,000 and 145 between $300,000-$400,000.

Dustin Martin is believed to be the AFL’s highest-paid player. Picture: Mark Stewart

Boyd is one of the AFL’s richest players and has arguably justified his $6 million contract given his key role in the club’s 2016 premiership.

Martin is believed to be the AFL’s richest player, signing a seven-year mega deal worth as much as $1.3 million a season.

West Coast Eagle Jeremy McGovern’s massive deal kicks in this year and is believed to close behind those sums after he rebuffed free agency last season.

GWS midfielder Josh Kelly could soon join those stars in the million dollar club, earning around $800,000 this year but expected to sign a new deal with the Giants.

Ex-Suns star Lynch was on around $1 million last year but is understood to have taken a small pay cut to sign on with the Tigers for seven seasons.

Total player payments in 2918 were $240.4 million, up 3.9 per cent.

Originally published as AFL wages are rising but there are fewer million-dollar players