AFL Rich 100: Why only three Port Adelaide players feature among the league’s highest paid players

Port Adelaide has stars on the rise, cap space in the bank and an aggressive mindset that says it will not quit until it can finally lift the premiership cup. What is the Power’s next move?

For Port Adelaide, payday has finally arrived.

A club that has risked plenty to jettison star players and back in the kids looks to have a beckoning premiership window approaching.

That clever list management allowed the Power plenty of vacant cap space as Chad Wingard, Dougal Howard and Paddy Ryder departed while Connor Rozee, Zak Butters and Xavier Duursma walked in the door.

Now for list boss Jason Cripps it’s also time to pay up to keep those burgeoning megastars at the club long-term.

But it is also time to open the cheque book if a free agent like Ben McKay can be found to shore up the club’s issues at full back given its ageing defensive stocks.

This year’s AFL Rich 100 contains just three Port Adelaide players.

Brownlow Medallists Ollie Wines kicks off a new $800,000 per season deal, Scott Lycett finishes a $650,000 per season deal and Connor Rozee earns around $700,000 on the first year of a new two-season deal.

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Connor Rozee is on a deal worth around $700,000 a season. Picture: Getty Images

But Charlie Dixon (the final year of a $600,000 per season deal) could easily have sneaked in, and Junior Rioli’s deal is believed to be worth around $600,000 a season, more than the $500,000 previously reported.

First to the major surprise.

Where the hell is Zak Butters?

Butters might be footy’s hottest player but he signed his new deal at the start of his fourth season — in March 2022 — so while he is believed to be paid over $500,000 it’s not crazy money.

Clearly he will sign a new long-term deal well before it expires in October next year that should put him up in the $800,000 plus bracket.

Rozee is probably underpaid too so expect him to secure a major lift given his undoubted brilliance.

As a second-year player on a mandatory deal who played 17 matches in his first year Jason Horne-Francis makes $140,000 base plus $5000 per match.

His deal is for six years through to 2028 and rises to around $650,000 next year, but it is not known how it averages out across the life of the deal.

Port Adelaide are open about their interest in North Melbourne free agent Ben McKay given Tom Jonas and Trent McKenzie are in their 30s.

Can Connor Rozee and Zak Butters drive Port Adelaide to its next premiership? Picture: Getty Images

Paying $800,000 a season for five years for an injury-prone inconsistent key back is a risk, but so is going into coming finals campaigns without the interceptor that everyone knows is so valuable in September.

They are also keen to launch on Geelong interceptor Esava Ratugolea and given he is only 24 a five-year deal on $700,000 a year would not be financial irresponsible.

The decisions to release players like Wingard and Karl Amon, not matching the new Hawk’s $650,000 deal, allowed the cap space to go hard at Horne-Francis and Rioli.

Lycett was a targeted acquisition as a ruckman coming off a flag at West Coast, but the Power wouldn’t recontract him on that wage again.

Is there a price point that would satisfy him and not break the bank or will the 30-year-old again want top dollar for his services as a free agent?

Port Adelaide has stars on the rise, cap space in the bank and an aggressive mindset that says it will not quit until it can finally lift the premiership cup.