AFL Rich List: One thing footy’s million-dollar earners have in common

Captains, goalkicking mids, genuine matchwinners – they’re all deservedly on big contracts in the AFL ... but it’s free agency that’s really bringing in the coin as clubs search for a leg-up.

Call it the AFL’s version of Eddie McGuire’s Who Should Be A Millionaire.

When it comes to the AFL’s marquee men earning upwards of $800,000 there are several common themes.

Matchwinners, captains, marketing darlings and goalkicking midfielders all populate this list.

But the biggest commonality is this: free agency.

So many AFL players deserve to be millionaires but aren’t given the vast fortunes the AFL generates.

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The likes of Isaac Heeney, Scott Pendlebury, Tom Hawkins and Patrick Cripps all deserve to be seven-figure men, but instead take less because of the constraints of the AFL salary cap.

The players right at the top of the list have been able to cash in on the AFLPA’s hard-earned free agency, which it acquired at the end of 2012.

The capacity of rival clubs to snare players without draft picks at the very peak of their powers at 26 or 27 has added a premium to what they are paid.

Call it 10 or 15 per cent for the stars of the game, and don’t they deserve it.

Lance Franklin got a nine-year deal instead of the megabucks he actually deserves but still averages over $1 million for the life of his deal.

Nat Fyfe probably comes in cheap around $1.1-$1.2 million for the average of his contract, but St Kilda would have paid him just as much or more.

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Nat Fyfe in on a big contract at the Dockers. Picture: Michael Klein

Jeremy McGovern might not have ever left West Coast but Victorian interest helped him win a fair rate for footy’s best interceptor, now All-Australian four seasons in a row.

Patrick Dangerfield took well below market rates as a free agent who technically was traded by Adelaide to Geelong.

By the time a rise in the CBA was factored in slots into the top-10 paid players.

Consider for a moment what he is worth solely as a marketing and brand presence before you factor in his dynamic on-field form.

Bang for buck at Geelong? In his four completed seasons he has polled 35 Brownlow votes, 33, 17 (he played injured all year) and 27.

For Dustin Martin to remain at Richmond on what is admittedly a monster deal of $1.2 million a season he had to leave $1.4 million on the table at North Melbourne over seven seasons.

Andrew Gaff and Rory Sloane also handed away their free agency rights to stay at their clubs despite the pull of home.

Further down the top-100 paid players, the likes of Steven Motlop, Tom Rockliff, Scott Lycett all secured excellent compensation as free agents that purely from performances might have been overinflated.

But like Richmond’s Brandon Ellis they were prepared to move clubs to set up their life after football.

Ellis grew up in a Housing Commission flat in North Carlton, won two premierships and had the chance to support his parents with a life-changing contract.

Now he gets to secure his future but also win new admirers at Gold Coast as his brand of football, sometimes criticised at Richmond, gets grudging respect.

MORE RICH 100:

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HOW IT WORKS

SALARY FIGURE

* Player’s contracted salary for 2020 to the best of our information. A number of players are in the same wage band. Salaries can alter depending on bonuses.

COVID SALARY

* Each AFL player is losing around 28 per cent of his 2020 contract salary because of COVID-19.

Originally published as AFL Rich List: One thing footy’s million-dollar earners have in common