- By 2025, the salary cap is projected to reach a record $17.7 million, opening up more opportunities for substantial player contracts.
- Essendon’s Ben McKay leads with a $1.5 million contract.
- Richmond’s Dustin Martin and Fremantle’s Nat Fyfe are among the other high earners.
Every team in the AFL this season enjoyed a boost of more than half a million dollars to their existing salary caps of $13.54 million to be spread across the players in 2023. With the 2025 season set to see this reach a staggering $17.7 million, teams across the AFL are preparing bumper deals for their star players – expect to see more and more million-dollar players in the coming months.
Each player offers a different element to their sides; captains, leaders, goal-scorers and A-grade defenders, here we explore the world of Aussie Rules and check out some of the world’s greatest players, and the steps they took in their careers to get here.
Here we take a look at the highest-paid players in the Australian Football League and reveal just how much they’re each taking home.
In this Highest Paid AFL Players article
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Ben McKay
Team: Essendon
Annual Salary: $1.5 million
After a number of years spent at North Melbourne, Ben McKay made the move to Essendon as a free agent in October 2023, propelling him into the ranks of the AFL’s highest-paid players for the first time… knocking Dustin Martin off the top spot at the first time of asking.
McKay’s inclusion bolstered the back six in his debut season with the Melbourne side, playing all 23 of the Bomber’s games as they sought to break into the Top 8. McKay’s $1.5 million contract places him as the league’s highest-paid player in 2024.
Dustin Martin
Team: Richmond
Annual Salary: $1.35 million
A three-time premiership-winning star, Dustin Martin is undoubtedly one of the greatest AFL players in history. Since making his debut in 2010, Martin has been a stalwart within this league, scoring 324 goals in 286 games.
Martin won the Brownlow Medal in 2017 with 36 votes – the highest amount since 1977 – as he guided Richmond to the AFL Grand Final, winning their first premiership in 37 years.
In 2017, Martin signed a mega $9 million contract across seven years at the peak of his powers; Martin’s $1.3 million-a-year deal makes him one of the highest-paid AFL players of 2024.
Jeremy McGovern
Nat Fyfe
Team: Fremantle Dockers
Annual Salary: $1.15 million
The Fremantle forward Nat Fyfe signed a six-year, $7 million contract in 2017 after he was named captain of the Western Australian team.
Since making his debut in 2010, Fyfe has scored 173 goals in 218 games and won the Brownlow Medal in 2015 and 2019. Fyfe extended his stay with Fremantle by two extra years in June 2023, coming in as the fourth highest-paid AFL player banking $1.15 million annually.
Team: West Coast Eagles
Annual Salary: $1.1 million
West Coast star Jeremy McGovern had a busy 2018; the defender signed a five-year deal worth $6 million and guided the West Coast Eagles to the AFL premiership in the same year.
Since then, the four-time All Australian has suffered serious injuries that have kept the Eagles player out of the starting team. Fans will hope a return to the fray in 2023 will allow McGovern to rediscover his best form to lift the Perth club off the bottom of the table.
Tim Kelly
Team: West Coast Eagles
Annual Salary: $1.1 million
West Coast’s everpresent midfield maestro, Tim Kelly penned a five-year contract worth $6 million ahead of the 2020 season, making him one of the highest-paid player in AFL.
Kelly has been West Coast’s standout player this year, in a less-than-impressive 2024 season that saw the Perth club sit in 16th as the season wrapped up for another year.
Marcus Bontempelli
Team: Western Bulldogs
Annual Salary: $1.05 million
A four-time All Australian and four-time Charles Sutton Medallist, Marcus Bontempelli is one of the AFL’s best midfielders. The Western Bulldogs captain signed a four-year contract worth $4 million in 2021 ($1.05 million annually), keeping Bontempelli at the Melbourne side until the end of the 2025 season.
Bontempelli first won the AFL premiership in 2016, starting in the Dogs’ midfield in the Grand Final against Sydney; he was just 20 years old.
Clayton Oliver
Team: Melbourne
Annual Salary: $1.05 million
Clayton Oliver committed to Melbourne for the rest of his playing career, signing a mammoth seven-year deal worth a total of $7 million; the 27-year-old would have left the club on a free transfer but showed a real signal of intent to stay with the Victorian team where he’s made his name.
A two-time All Australian, Oliver has played all his competitive footy with one team, Melbourne, since making his AFL debut in 2016, scoring 50 goals across 157 games.
Oliver won the AFL Premiership in 2021 with Melbourne.
Christian Petracca
Team: Melbourne
Annual Salary: $1.05 million
It was a difficult 2024 season for Petracca who suffered a spleen and lung injury that kept him on the sidelines for half the games. It meant Petracca could only watch as the Demons limped to a 14th-place finish at the season’s end, leading the 28-year-old to seek a move away from the club during the AFL Trade Period.
Jeremy Cameron
With Petracca’s contract with Melbourne, worth a reported $1.05 million a year, running until 2029, it remains to be seen whether the Demons will start the new campaign without their million-dollar man.
Team: Geelong Cats
Annual Salary: $1.05 million
Jeremy Cameron’s memorable 2019 season took GWS to their first-ever AFL Grand Final in the club’s history, kicking a career-high 3.3 goals per game on their way to the final – GWS fell short in the final, but it was enough for the Cats to take notice.
The Coleman Medallist and three-time All Australian signed a five-year deal with Geelong worth around $4.75 million in 2021, meaning Cameron was taking home just shy of a million dollars a year.
In 2022, Cameron’s side beat Sydney in the Grand Final, to lift his first AFL premiership.
Tom Lynch
Team: Richmond
Annual Salary: $1.025 million
Richmond pinched Tom Lynch on a seven-year deal worth $6.5 million in 2018, keeping the 30-year-old at the Melbourne-based side until 2025.
The key forward has gone from strength to strength, winning back-to-back premierships in 2019 and 2020, and arguably delivered his finest season in AFL during the 2022 season.
Darcy Moore
Team: Collingwood
Annual Salary: $1.025 million
Darcy Moore signed a huge six-year deal to stay at Collingwood until the end of 2028, reportedly worth a staggering $5 million. The Magpies captain played every game of the campaign this year as captain, leading the team to the 9th place finish, narrowly missing out on the finals.
Lachie Whitfield
Team: Greater Western Sydney Giants
Annual Salary: $1 million
In 2020, just a year on from the bumper Coniglio deal, GWS continued on their spree to retain their best talent, securing the signature of talented medium defender Lachie Whitfield on a seven-year contract worth $7 million contract.
The 2018 All Australian has been everpresent for his side since making his debut in 2013, and finished runners-up in 2019, falling to Richmond in the 2019 Grand Final.
Patrick Cripps
Team: Carlton
Annual Salary: $900,000
“Bagger for life,” Carlton secured the services of their club captain Patrick Cripps for the rest of his playing days, signing a six-year deal worth $5.4 million in 2021.
The three-time All Australian has been a stalwart for his side since making his AFL debut in 2014, scoring 92 goals in 178 games and even added a memorable Brownlow Medal to his already impressive resume in 2022.
Stephen Coniglio
Team: Greater Western Sydney Giants
Annual Salary: $1 million
Giants captain Stephen Coniglio signed a monster seven-year deal with the Western Sydney side in 2019, worth a total of $7 million.
It was reported Coniglio rejected offers from rivals Hawthorn and Carlton to commit himself to the Sydney side. Injuries have hindered Coniglio’s progress since, but will be hoping to rediscover some of his best form and start repaying the faith shown in him.
