Legendary AFL coach and player Leigh Matthews has declared he has an issue with how the best players in the league are looked after financially.
His comments come after St Kilda star and likely highest-paid player in the game, Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, was well held in a tag against Geelong on Thursday.
The former Hawthorn star, and one of the greatest players of all time, said he struggles with the fact the top players in the league are not paid as such.
"I find it disturbing that the best players in the game, and they are probably (Marcus) Bontempelli, (Nick) Daicos, (Isaac) Heeney, (Max) Gawn, (Luke) Jackson, (Jordan) Dawson, Lachie Neale; I just wonder whether Wanganeen-Milera is in the top five," Matthews said on the 3AW broadcast on Saturday.
"He is certainly close to the top 10. It always discerns me the way our system works that our best players don't actually get (paid the most).
"The players I just mentioned should be the highest paid players in the game, and they are probably not for a whole lot of circumstances about when they were contracted, when their contract comes up, how the salary cap is moved over the years.
"Value for money is always an interesting concept, and that's why the Wanganeen-Milera discussion will always be live.
"If salaries were made public, would that be closer to the best players being paid top dollar because everyone would know what everyone is getting. Because at the moment I just don't know if the best players are getting the top dollar is happening right now."
Wanganeen-Milera is reported to have signed a record-breaking two-million-dollar-per-season contract in 2025.
