CDG Sports Management player-manager Robbie D'Orazio believes top-line AFL players should have the capacity to earn up to $5 million a season.
D'Orazio said the stars of the competition and their earning capacity are limited by the salary cap, and the AFL should explore franchise tags to allow greater reward for those bringing in fans to the stadium.
Players of the highest ilk can top into significant endorsement deals and cash in on the new $35 million marketing fund, which is spread across the league's best 54 names.
D'Orazio also floated that each club should have the capacity to place one star player outside the salary cap.
“I have been talking to the (AFLPA) about this for a while, not loudly and proudly and punching the chest. But I think someone like Nick should really be on five million. Let's be honest. People go to watch him play,” D'Orazio said on the Trade Secrets podcast.
“He's a franchise player, and I think there must be a way that sometime, maybe in 2032 with the next TV rights deal, that a player can sit outside the cap on every list.
“How that looks, I'm not sure, but I know other leagues do it around the world. There is Nick, there is Nick Watson, there is Harley Reid, there is Sam Darcy, Marcus Bontempelli. He should have made more money than he has. And I think we need to look at it because Nick should (at least) be on two million, but the salary cap is what it is.
“The market here is obviously a lot smaller, and how we grow the game internationally is going to be really difficult, so it might not be in our lifetime, but Nick Daicos should be paid what he is worth, and unfortunately the rules and regulations don't allow us to do that.
“You grow up watching ‘Buddy' Franklin, and they are the players you want to watch. Nick is doing that now. Kosi Pickett is doing an amazing job; Max Gawn has done it forever. They are a special lot that you think to yourself, ‘gee, you should be paid more than what you are'. And how do we get to that point in 2032? I think that will be important.”
St Kilda star Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera became the first player in the AFL to win a $2 million playing contract when he signed a two-year deal to remain at the Saints.
Port Adelaide free agent Zak Butters is understood to be receiving offers in the realm of that large figure, although spread out over seven and eight years from Richmond, Collingwood, Geelong and the Western Bulldogs.
West Coast's Harley Reid is in a similar boat to Wanganeen-Milera, while Daicos, who is categorised as the best player in the competition, is contracted until the end of 2029.
