Scott Pendlebury believes the AFL’s top players are “heavily underpaid”, arguing the likes of Nick Daicos and Dustin Martin need to be compensated because they “cannot live normal lives”.
Speaking on the Ball Magnets podcast with Collingwood teammate Tom Mitchell and Australian NBA star Josh Giddey, Pendlebury discussed changes he would make if he was AFL CEO.
“I still think the players and coaching staff in our game are heavily underpaid,” Pendlebury said.
“Everyone will go, ‘You get paid so much as players’. Nick Daicos, Dusty Martin — like they cannot live normal lives in Melbourne. They can’t go anywhere.
“They’re like, ‘Well you’re getting paid 250k’.
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“I feel like if you’re a good player in the AFL for a long period of time, you’ve got to reward these guys because we don’t want rugby, cricket, all these sports to overtake how much they’re paying their best players because then we’ll lose kids to that sport.
“That’s what I think. I’ll get shot down, ‘Players are greedy bla bla’.”
Daicos, the favourite for this year’s Brownlow Medal, is arguably the most underpaid player in the entire AFL as the best young player since Chris Judd takes the league by storm.
“Even at dinner last night, every second person (was coming up to Daicos),” Mitchell added.
Under the AFL’s current Collective Bargaining Agreement, players receive 28 per cent of AFL revenue.
Pendlebury said to Giddey: “In the NBA, you guys have 51 per cent of revenue of what you bring in. We’re 28 per cent of revenue.”
“I think the executive team in the AFL are the highest paid people in the game, which is fine but there’s no other league in the world where the exec team is paid more than the players.”
In 2022, the nine senior AFL executives were paid a combined $11.8 million at an average of $1.3 million.
The AFL has not disclosed the chief executive’s salary since 2016, when Gillon McLachlan earned $1.74 million.
There were 12 AFL players who were paid a salary of $1 million or more in 2022.
While the exact players in the group are not known, Richmond stars Martin and Tom Lynch, Fremantle’s Nat Fyfe, West Coast defender Jeremy McGovern and midfielder Tim Kelly, and new Melbourne ruckman Brodie Grundy were among those reportedly on the biggest contracts.
Sydney’s Lance Franklin, Geelong’s Jeremy Cameron, Western Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli and Melbourne pair Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca were in that range as well, along with GWS trio Toby Greene, Stephen Coniglio and Josh Kelly.
The AFL’s Total Player Payment (TPP) revealed the average wage had increased to $406,000.
Pendlebury also called for the AFL to mandate shorter contracts and use NBA-style player and team options, criticising the recent rise in long-term deals.
“Guys can sign like 10-year deals, which I think is ridiculous,” the former Magpies captain said.
“To get a good player, it’s like, ‘We gotta offer him like nine years’. It’s like this is going to kill your (salary) cap.
“In AFL, the guy ranked 30th in the league can be making the most money, way more than everyone else because you traded for him.
“The way their (NBA) contracts are structured — it’s reward based. Certainly levels you can get to if you’ve made (All-NBA) first team, second team, sort of stuff.
“I think all the first-rounders should sign four-year deals, because otherwise two years in they’re like ‘I just want to go home’.”
Pendlebury said he would also like to see the introduction of a mid-season trade period.
