The AFL's elite players now have two more men beside them, as the competition's 'millionaires club' grew to six members in 2016, with two of them earning more than $1.2 million.
On Thursday, the AFL released details of the 2016 total player payments (TPP), which saw two players earn between $1 million and $1.1 million, two between $1.1 million and $1.2 million, and two above the $1.2 million mark.
While players aren't named in the release, it's widely believed that Sydney forward Lance Franklin, Western Bulldogs premiership star Tom Boyd and Gold Coast captain Gary Ablett are three of the highest played players across the competition.
Franklin joined Sydney at the end of 2013 on a nine-year deal worth around $10 million, and after being paid roughly $700,000 in his first two seasons at the Swans, it was believed that he salary jumped over the million-dollar mark in 2016.
Boyd switched to the Dogs at the end of the 2014 season on a seven-year deal worth around $7 million.
2016 Brownlow medallist and Geelong star Patrick Dangerfield was not one of the millionaires, with the midfielder reportedly earning around $800,000-$850,000, a salary close to that of Cats captain Joel Selwood.
Out of the 18 players who earned between $700,000-$800,000, three players didn't play a game in 2016, with Jarryd Roughead, Jaeger O'Meara and David Swallow thought to be the three players in that bracket.
The average wage for all listed players increased by 2.35% last year to $309,208, while those who played senior football earned an average of $329,210 compared to $324,643 in 2015, an increase of 1.41%.
AFL.com.auย reports the figures did not include those salaries paid to the 12 Essendon players who served season-long suspensions in 2016 due to the supplements saga, nor did it include the salaries of former Bombers Stewart Crameri (Western Bulldogs), Patrick Ryder (Port Adelaide), Angus Monfries (Port Adelaide), Jake Melksham (Melbourne) and Jake Carlisle (St Kilda).
