Jesse Hogan is worth the $15 million punt, says Brisbane premiership forward Alastair Lynch

THE only man in AFL history to accept a 10-year deal says it might be smart business for a club to offer Melbourne forward Jesse Hogan a $15 million, decade-long ­contract.

THE only man in AFL history to accept a 10-year deal says it might be smart business for a club to offer Melbourne forward Jesse Hogan a $15 million, decade-long ­contract.

Brisbane triple premiership forward Alastair Lynch’s 10-year deal gave him a $2.1 million contract from 1994-2003.

But the salary cap exploded from $1.85 million a club to $5.94 million by the end of his contract.

Lynch said with the impending pay rise for players and Hogan’s worth, a club might pull out all stops for the Demons spearhead.

The perception is clubs paying $1 million a season to a player can’t win a premiership, but Sydney (Lance Franklin), Greater Western Sydney (Tom Scully) and Western Bulldogs (Tom Boyd) are all in the hunt.

Lynch told the Herald Sun by the end of his deal he was on less than most stars but ended up playing for 11 years at Brisbane.

“They took a big risk and at the early stages, when I was crook (with chronic fatigue syndrome), they might have thought it had gone to crap ­really quickly,” he said.

“But it worked out as a win-win right across the board. By the end I was probably getting unders, so it balanced out ­nicely for both them and me.

“From a club point of view, if you can find the right player you can build a club around, it’s worth taking a calculated risk in those positions.

“I can see clubs, if they ­decide Jesse is that type of player, going with an offer that he almost can’t refuse.’’

Rival clubs should pull out all the stops to secure Jesse Hogan, says Alastair Lynch. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

This year’s salary cap is $10.37 million with additional services of $1 million, but due to a TV rights deal of $2.5 billion, clubs anticipate a significant rise in player payments.

An average of $1.5 million over a decade for one of the best players in the competition may, by 2026, turn out to be prudent list management.

Lynch left a battling Fitzroy after being paid about $75,000 in his final year, aware the AFL was strongly backing Brisbane.

He still believes players who have success at their clubs ­receive the ultimate rewards.

“The money for me and the security was staggering, but it’s not purely about the money,” he said.

“You really want to go to a club that is going to be ­successful.

“You can blow money in one bad investment. The best memories are of the good days and successful seasons.”

Lynch said market value for a player was now more than what they were worth.

“If you are doing something to build a club around one player, you need to do something extra to get them across the line,’’ he said.