Former Port Adelaide nice Kane Cornes has known as on the AFL to disclose particular person participant wages, saying it causes pointless media hypothesis in any other case.
The two-time All-Australian turned outspoken soccer pundit’s remarks come after the AFL launched their complete participant cost abstract for the 2022 season, the place they revealed that 12 gamers earned greater than $1 million final season.
On high of releasing the variety of high earners, the AFL broke down the variety of gamers that fell into every pay bracket, with 126 gamers incomes between $200-300,000.
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“Excuse me if I’m flogging a dead horse here, every category is broken down,” Cornes mentioned on SEN.
“So then what happens is, no one has any idea, but everyone speculates.
“I read the Herald Sun, the $1 million plus must be Dustin Martin, it must be Buddy Franklin, Nat Fyfe, it must be Jeremy McGovern…these are all names in the Herald Sun.
“Then I pick up The Age and I see that Lance Franklin is the highest paid player in the game at $1.3 million, no one knows.
“It’s either all-in or it’s none-in, why does the AFL release the full numbers with every player in a category?
“We don’t know the players besides it, so then we speculate.”
Cornes mentioned releasing the knowledge totally would permit followers to maintain golf equipment accountable.
1 in 22 Australians is a member of an AFL membership, however at the moment followers are usually not conscious of particular person participant salaries and subsequently their impression on a workforce’s wage cap.
Collingwood ruck-forward Mason Cox commented on the AFL’s Instagram publish detailing the participant funds, saying it was a “very timely post with the CBA negotiations going on (at the moment).
“Also a bit of a conflict of interest for the AFL to say players’ contracts are confidential, but promoting things like this,” he mentioned.
Cox moved to Australian Rules soccer from basketball, having grown up in Dallas, Texas and making Oklahoma State’s basketball workforce as a walk-on.
In the United States, participant salaries being public data is commonplace amongst the foremost leagues.
“I see the Herald Sun are saying Coniglio, Green and Kelly are all earning $1 million plus, if that’s the case, the Giants have butchered their salary cap,” mentioned Cornes.
“I see Carlton are in trouble with their salary cap, well I want to know who they’re paying…they haven’t won a final yet.
“If they’ve butchered their cap to the point where they’ve got no money left and they’ve got no success, then their fans should keep the club accountable for the way they’re spending the salary cap.
According to the Total Player Payment summary released by the AFL on Wednesday, the average wage for the 659 listed players across the league was $406,000, up from $372,224 in 2021.
The figures don’t include rookie-listed players.
AFL player wages took a significant hit during the Covid-affected 2020 season, rising by 10.14 per cent last year.
On the other side of the salary coin, AFL executives averaged $1.3 million in 2022, with the league reporting an operating profit of $20.7 million in 2022, a $66.8 million turnaround after reporting a $46.1 million loss in 2021.
The pandemic forced clubs to cut football and administrative staff to help save costs, as well as a reduction in the football department soft cap, which will likely be a focus of upcoming collective bargaining negotiations.
The current CBA has expired, and was last negotiated in 2017, before professionalism had arrived in the women’s game and before the pandemic.
The AFL had one of its “biggest football calendar years on record” based on AFL Commission chair Richard Goyder, after a brand new seven-year broadcast deal was negotiated with incumbent broadcasters Seven, Fox and Telstra, price $4.5 billion.
The AFL Players’ Association has been contacted for remark.
Originally revealed as Kane Cornes requires public participant salaries after 2022 cost numbers
Source: www.dailytelegraph.com.au
