The highest paid AFL players of 2025, ranked
AFL players are being paid more than ever. Here, we rank the league’s highest earners
By Cayle Reid
IN THE AFL, a million-dollar salary was once reserved for hall of famers, but nowadays just about every team has a player on its payroll making seven figures a year. It’s a side effect of the league’s growth. The AFL easily has the highest attendance numbers of any Australian sporting league, while attracting even more viewers at home; at the beginning of the 2025 season, a new seven-year TV rights deal with Channel 7 worth $4.5 billion kicked in.
So yes, there’s plenty of money going around, and some of it does indeed trickle down to the league’s top players. But who are the highest paid players in the AFL for the 2025 season? Dustin Martin’s retirement means he isn’t on top for the first time in years, and while Mac Andrew signed a record-breaking extension with the Gold Coast Suns in 2024 worth $12 million, he is also absent, as his new salary won’t come into effect until 2026. The AFL’s highest-earning players are all taking home more than $1 million this year, though, so the coffers are hardly bare.
Read on to discover the highest paid players in the AFL for the 2025 season, ranked from ten to one.
Who are the highest paid AFL players?
10. Patrick Cripps, Carlton Blues. Zak Butters, Port Adelaide. Isaac Heeney, Sydney Swans (tie)
2025 salary: $1 million
It’s a three-way tie for tenth place, and we’re not willing to exclude any of these three superstars. Cripps, a two-time Brownlow medallist, is practically worshipped among Blues fandom and admired by footy fans from across the spectrum. Butters, a two-time All-Australian selection, is bound to have a Brownlow in his future after finishing in the top four for two consecutive seasons. And Heeney, another two-time All-Australian, has already taken the Swans to three grand finals – albeit with no wins. All worth every penny.
9. Darcy Moore, Collingwood Magpies
2025 salary: $1.05 million
Collingwood captain Darcy Moore has established himself as one of the league’s best defenders. You might not see too much of Moore during a broadcast, but that’s an indication of his skill rather than an example of lack thereof. Moore has the ability to put his opponents on an island, isolating them from the ball and locking them completely out of games. Off the field, he’s also a nice guy with great style. Why wouldn’t you want him on your payroll?
Clayton Oliver, Melbourne Demons
2025 salary: $1.05 million
A three-time All-Australian selection, Clayton Oliver forms one of the AFL’s most dominant midfield partnerships with Christian Petracca. But in spite of the team’s talented midfield, the Dees have taken quite a few steps back since winning the premiership in 2021. Melbourne are trending towards the bottom of the ladder and a major rebuild could be looming. In any case, the Demons would likely want to hold onto Oliver.
7. Shai Bolton, Fremantle Dockers
2025 salary: $1.1 million
After spending the first eight years of his career with Richmond, Shai Bolton made the move back home to Western Australia via a trade to Fremantle during the offseason. He subsequently signed a five-year contract with the Dockers, making him one of the AFL’s highest paid players and tying him to the club until at least 2029.
Tim Kelly, West Coast Eagles
2025 salary: $1.1 million
Tim Kelly has been one of the AFL’s highest paid players since requesting a trade to West Coast and signing a multi-million-dollar, six-year deal with the club in 2020. Armchair experts would argue the Eags haven’t gotten a great return on their investment though, making the finals only once in Kelly’s five years with the team, with that lone appearance resulting in a first-round exit. But can we pin that all on a single player?
Marcus Bontempelli, Western Bulldogs
2025 salary: $1.1 million
Considered by many to be the AFL’s premier player, Marcus Bontempelli has made the All-Australian team a whopping six times and the 22under22 team a record five times. An all-important Brownlow still eludes the dominant, premiership-winning midfielder, although he has finished second twice. Maybe this year will be his year. Yet shockingly, Bontempelli isn’t the Bulldogs’ highest paid player.
4. Christian Petracca, Melbourne Demons
2025 salary: $1.2 million
Another important cog in Melbourne’s star-studded midfield, Christian Petracca spent most of the 2024 season on the sidelines after sustaining a horrific injury midway through the year. Petracca suffered a lacerated spleen, four broken ribs and a punctured lung after an on-field collision, which understandably prompted a long period away from the game. Now that he’s returned, the pressure is on Petracca to lift the Demons from the doldrums.
Aaron Naughton, Western Bulldogs
2025 salary: $1.2 million
It takes a special kind of player to be deemed worthy of a higher salary that Marcus Bontempelli, but in the eyes of the Western Bulldogs, Aaron Naughton is that kind of player. Further proof that forwards get the big bucks, Naughton is one of the competition’s most prolific goalkickers. Given the size of his contract, it should come as no surprise that Naughton has faced criticism for his inconsistency in front of goal, but there’s no denying that if he’s firing the Bulldogs are a tough team to beat.
2. Ben McKay, Essendon Bombers
2025 salary: $1.3 million
The Bombers pinned a lot of their finals hopes on Ben McKay’s shoulders when they signed him to a six-year contract worth upwards of $5 million in 2023. His tenure with the Dons has largely been a disappointment, however, with injuries plaguing McKay’s start with the club. A considerable drop in several key statistics has also raised questions over whether he was ever worth such a huge contract.
1. Tom Lynch, Richmond Tigers
2025 salary: $1.45 million
Tom Lynch signed a backloaded contract worth $6.5 million with Richmond in 2018. At the time, the deal seemed like a bargain as Lynch’s salary was considerably below his market value. The start of his tenure with the Tigers also coincided with their back-to-back premiership run in 2019 and 2020. Since then, though, Lynch has become a symbol of the Tigers downfall as they’ve slid down the ladder while his salary has only risen. He’s managed to play only a combined eight games over the last two seasons, with Richmond hitting rock bottom as wooden spooners in 2024. Now in the last year of his contract, no doubt, the Tigers will be looking forward to getting Lynch’s monster salary off the books so they can use the freed-up funds to continue their rebuild.
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