AFL Rich 100: The stars who have entered the league’s highest paid players in 2022

Coming off eight goals, Tom Lynch will be integral to the Tigers’ final hopes after helping them win two flags. But it took a clever contract to fit him into Richmond’s salary cap.

Welcome to the top 10, Tom Lynch.

Richmond’s significant free agency splash in 2018 lured the then-Gold Coast co-captain to Punt Road on a bumper seven-year deal.

The catch? Lynch didn’t actually make that much on this contract until now – around $500,000 per season to date – especially for a player of his stature.

The Tigers were already a competition powerhouse, ending their premiership drought a year earlier, before a Mason Cox masterpiece stopped their otherwise dominant season in the preliminary finals.

Lynch was the ideal partner in attack for Jack Riewoldt, who carried a heavy load as Richmond’s sole tall target the previous two years, and delivered 63 goals in a memorable first season.

The Tigers cashed in as hoped, too, winning two more premierships in their new star’s first two seasons, making it three in four years in a golden run under Damien Hardwick.

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The big dollars have kicked in for Tom Lynch. Picture: Mark Stewart

But list boss Blair Hartley and co. had to be clever in how they structured Lynch’s contract, given plenty of other premiership stars needed to be paid.

That meant heavily back-ending the deal, which is believed to be worth about $6.5 million in total, to coincide with Richmond veterans retiring or accepting less in their later seasons.

The reward was always coming for Lynch, who slots in at No. 6 in the AFL Rich 100 for 2022, in a season he may be part of the exclusive million-dollar club.

His wage balloons even more in the coming seasons and he is likely to challenge for the mantle as the game’s highest-paid player in 2025, the year he turns 33, when he will earn roughly $1.5 million.

Lynch isn’t the only new name or major climber in this year’s list.

Essendon’s triple club champion Zach Merrett is one such climber after inking a fresh six-year pact midway through last season.

The star midfielder scored a tidy pay rise after Port Adelaide and others tried to convince him to leave, while Crow Rory Laird soared in the rankings when he rejected free agency to re-sign for five years.

Zach Merrett has entered the AFL Rich 100. Picture: Getty Images

Like Lynch, Giants defender Nick Haynes appears on the list on a back-ended contract that truly spikes in the next two years, when he is set to be in the top-25 best-paid footballers.

Leading the charge for the newbies are Fremantle on-baller Andrew Brayshaw and Swan-turned-Crow Jordan Dawson, who returned to South Australia on a five-year deal worth more than $3 million.

This is the first season of Brayshaw’s four-year extension he committed to in late 2020.

Greater Western Sydney’s Sam Taylor, Gold Coast co-captain Touk Miller – the Suns’ reigning club champion – talented Saint Max King and Essendon’s Darcy Parish also entered the top 100.

There are more lucrative days ahead for Taylor, Miller and King, whose extensions don’t kick in until next year, while Parish is a restricted free agent in 2023 and can expect another hefty contract.

Two more names who didn’t feature last year are Hawk Jack Gunston, who is a restricted free agent at season’s end, and Bomber Jake Stringer as he starts a three-year deal.

Revealed: The players at your club taking a discount

Leadership takes many forms.

Cats champion Joel Selwood’s brand of ‘Follow Me’ inspiration isn’t just confined to the footy battlefield.

Selwood, who owns the AFL record for the most games as captain, is a legacy player for the Geelong Football Club.

His impact and influence means he could easily still be in the upper echelons of the Rich 100.

Instead, he sacrificed a significant financial reward to assist the Cats’ chase for another flag, and now sits just outside the highest-paid players of 2022.

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So, too, does Collingwood skipper Scott Pendlebury, who is in the first year of a new two-year deal and still giving enormous value-for-money for the Magpies.

Geelong’s talent-laden list is an example for the rest of the competition. It is populated by a number of players sitting right on the borderline of the Rich 100, either just in or just missing out, while it has only one player - Jeremy Cameron - in the top 10.

Joel Selwood is taking less to ensure Geelong is a premiership threat. Picture: Getty Images

Patrick Dangerfield is a $1-million-man in almost every measurement, but his on-field contract in 2022 hasn’t even got him in the top 20.

Danger’s flag obsession has seen him content to take less, at around $800,000 per season.

Tom Hawkins, Tom Stewart and Mark Blicavs - three players crucial in the Cats’ premiership aspirations - have only squeezed into the top 100. They are absolute bargains for Geelong.

Like Selwood, Cam Guthrie narrowly misses out on the list, despite earning between $550,000-$650,000, which is well under what he might have expected to earn elsewhere.

The Richmond ‘rock stars’ in Dustin Martin and Tom Lynch are at the pointy end of the AFL Rich ladder - and rightly so.

Triple premiership greats Trent Cotchin and Jack Riewoldt are in the final year of their respective contracts, with both now looking likely to play next season on discounted new deals to keep their team in the finals frame.

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The Tigers always knew Nick Vlastuin would remain loyal and was going nowhere when he relinquished his free agency rights, so he agreed to less than was on offer elsewhere.

He is now in the top 100, which is a just reward for his understated, no longer underrated impact. He is a star.

But Richmond co-skippers Dylan Grimes and Toby Nankervis were on the cusp of the Rich 100, but narrowly missed out.

Swan small forward Tom Papley and Dockers ruckman Sean Darcy were on the borderline, but you can bet their management companies will soon cash in on their on-field impact.

Scott Pendlebury isn’t on the AFL Rich 100. Picture: Mark Stewart

Some of the game’s most exciting young talents including Carlton vice-captain Sam Walsh and Bulldogs star Bailey Smith - who have this year inked bumper new deals that will kick in next year - will skyrocket into the 2023 Rich 100.

Out of contract Melbourne young gun Luke Jackson appears set to join the Dockers on mega bucks and will rise into the top-end of the Rich 100 charts next season.

Walsh could earn as much as $825,000 per season from next year; Jackson will earn more.

Much has been made about Carlton’s high-end deals that include Mitch McGovern and Zac Williams, who have been held back by injury from making a big on field impression, but not all of the Blues’ big names are earning the big bucks.

In a show of faith, Adam Cerra ignored a much bigger deal to stay with Fremantle to instead come home to Victoria, accepting between $500,000-$600,000 to join the Blues.

George Hewett, too, went for tenure instead of the dollars, taking a four-year contract from Carlton at around $450,000 per season.

Others who were on the cusp of the top 100 were Gold Coast duo Jack Lukosius and Brandon Ellis, Bulldogs trio Lachie Hunter, Tom Liberatore and Jason Johannisen, Demons Christian Salem, Tom McDonald and Adam Tomlinson, Carlton’s Sam Docherty, Swan Jake Lloyd, Lions Cam Rayner and Eric Hipwood, Adelaide’s Brodie Smith and Port Adelaide veteran Travis Boak.

Originally published as AFL Rich 100: The stars who have entered the league’s highest paid players in 2022