Where the big dollars go.

[saynta]

From the herald sun.com.au

"ST KILDA

Bradley Hill DEFENCE, $850,000-$950,000

Jack Steele MIDFIELD, $700,000-$800,000

Dougal Howard DEFENCE, $625,000-$725,000

Jade Gresham MIDFIELD/FORWARD, $625,000-$725,000

Max King FORWARD, $600,000-$700,000

Brad Crouch MIDFIELD, $600,000-$700,000

Zak Jones MIDFIELD, $575,000-$675,000

Spending fairly big across all positions and missing the finals is an unenviable middle ground to be, and the Saints need to be clever in the coming years. The Saints spent big to win the race for ex-Docker and Hawk Bradley Hill in what was a hectic 2019 trade period, where they also brought in Dougal Howard and Zak Jones (among others). Those three all featured in the Rich 100, joining dual club champion Jack Steele, Max King – who will surge on this list from next year – Jade Gresham and 2020 free agent signing Brad Crouch. In that sense, St Kilda has spread the wealth across the ground positionally, but still with an understandable midfield emphasis. The Saints enjoyed immediate success after their 2019 trade hit-and-run mission, winning a final the following year. But they are set to miss finals for the second straight year, which led ex-player Leigh Montagna to call for the club to trade some of its more experienced stars in a “reset”. Whether or not St Kilda goes down that path remains to be seen, but more money must be spent to retain first-round draftee Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, Gresham, Hunter Clark, Jack Higgins and co.

[1971]

Only two 'home grown'.

[WellardSaint]

Overpaid:
Hill, Howard, Gresham, Jones, King (not in any order)

King doesn't deserve that much.
Why do I say that?
Because if (and it's a big 'if') he manages to get consistency and accuracy, then his manager will push him towards $900k.

I'd be happy paying him $6-700k at the moment if he was nailing most of his shots and actually getting more than 4-6 touches in a game.

[IluvHarvey]

Surprised to see Jones in this group. I'd expect that his name would drop off over the next contract negotiations.

[CQ SAINT]

Overpaid:
Hill, Howard, Gresham, Jones, King (not in any order)

King doesn't deserve that much.
Why do I say that?
Because if (and it's a big 'if') he manages to get consistency and accuracy, then his manager will push him towards $900k.

I'd be happy paying him $6-700k at the moment if he was nailing most of his shots and actually getting more than 4-6 touches in a game.

Kings 4 year contract extension starts next year I believe. Locked in for 4 more.
If he kicks straight next year and ends up with 65-70 goals. He's worth every cent.

[IluvHarvey]

Overpaid:
Hill, Howard, Gresham, Jones, King (not in any order)

King doesn't deserve that much.
Why do I say that?
Because if (and it's a big 'if') he manages to get consistency and accuracy, then his manager will push him towards $900k.

I'd be happy paying him $6-700k at the moment if he was nailing most of his shots and actually getting more than 4-6 touches in a game.

Kings 4 year contract extension starts next year I believe. Locked in for 4 more.
If he kicks straight next year and ends up with 65-70 goals. He's worth every cent.

Disagree with King being overpaid. There were only 5 players who kicked more than him this season.
Other clubs would pay above $800K to get a 22 year old in his third season who kicks 50+ goals a year right now.

[Life Long Saint]

These figures are, according to agents, overblown.
It's also worth noting that clubs must pay 95% of the cap, so players that "don't derserve" the money will get it anyway.
Contracts will be front-ended to account for a developing list or back-ended for a list that is in the window.

If these are our highest paid players, I'd suggest we have some money to spare to throw at a free agent.
Of course, Rohan Marshall would be somewhere on that list now with his new contract.

[avid]

Just for a sense of completing the picture, how much were Paddy Ryder and Hannebery being paid this year?
Is the Sun's list our top seven? or were either of them in that top bracket too?

How much are Billings, Membrey, Higgins paid?

[1965 Saint]

If Hill is the top earner, I would understand team friction given his mediocre performance.

[SinCitySainter]

King kicked over 50 goals this year making him 6th on the goal kicking list.
He has been our only target up forward for a large portion of the year and has been knocked from pillar to post for the majority of it.
I would say if anyone has earnt their money he has.

[Life Long Saint]

Just for a sense of completing the picture, how much were Paddy Ryder and Hannebery being paid this year?
Is the Sun's list our top seven? or were either of them in that top bracket too?

How much are Billings, Membrey, Higgins paid?

That was from the H-S top 100.
So all those players would be on less than 600k

[Trev from the Bush]

Just for a sense of completing the picture, how much were Paddy Ryder and Hannebery being paid this year?
Is the Sun's list our top seven? or were either of them in that top bracket too?

How much are Billings, Membrey, Higgins paid?

Hanners dropped into the lowest bracket at his own initiative. Paddy, I don't know but he was worth it.

[SaintJohno]

It's such a flawed system where you have to pay 95% of the salary cap. It leads to younger players getting paid overs and thinking they're worth those high dollars, or other players being brought to the club for silly dollars getting other player's noses out of joint (see Hill, Hannas and Rankine for Adelaide next year).

[terry smith rules]

So players switching clubs nearly always are going to get overs (that is why they are switching)

You only have to see the figures thrown around today on Rankine (ridiculous for a small forward) and Amon (same sort of money as Jones apparently, Amon is ok but no star)

So the money is tilted towards the transfers, whilst the homegrown have to work their way up the list

For mine King is worth every cent, he is going to be a star. And will become a marquee player for us

[B.M]

Only two of them played and performed in line with their pay packet - for a variety of reasons

Imo

Steele should be our highest paid player
Marshall second
Crouch third

Rest should all be on 400-600

[vacuous space]

These figures are, according to agents, overblown.

I was going to say this as well. I'm not a HS subscriber, so I can't check their math, but the league does release an overall summary of salaries. The cap this year is $13538993, which is an average of around $300K-$350K per player. Star players probably skew that higher. We won't get 2022 figures until next year, but in 2021, 158 players made >$500K, of which 90 players earned >$600K. My guess is most of them were on better teams. First- and second-year players earn $200K or less, with the bulk of the rest of players getting in between $200K and $400K.

My understanding is that King should still be on his initial extension, which would be for relative peanuts, since he signed it before he'd even played a game. I wouldn't be surprised if they've overshot the value of his next extension as well, since he still doesn't have a ton of leverage in negotiations. The HS seems to equate on-field value with dollar value way too often. It should still be a bargain, though, even if they're right. The next contract (2026) is the one where King is eligible for FA and so likely pushes him into the top end of contracts, almost certainly in the >$1M range.

I noticed they're still trying to push the narrative that Crouch got big money, but I think it's pretty clear he didn't. They've tried to explain away the band-3 compensation as a result of easily achievable bonuses, but I think they're completely full of it. I doubt Jones is on that much either - it would be great if he was, though, as that contract is done.

We're probably a team with way too many players in the $300K-$500K range, since we've got way too many experienced players who are not stars. It's a shame, since we've been able to find a lot of bargain recruits either from mature-age draftees or from cast-offs from other clubs. We now have the capacity to pay stars that we don't have, which is the reverse of back in the GT/RL days when we had overpaid stars and our depth was rubbish.

[CQ SAINT]

Just for a sense of completing the picture, how much were Paddy Ryder and Hannebery being paid this year?
Is the Sun's list our top seven? or were either of them in that top bracket too?

How much are Billings, Membrey, Higgins paid?

Those figures were published in 2019. Lots of changes since then.
Ross and Billings extended on much less than previously.
Marshall Wilkie and Battle rewarded.
Geary, Ryder, Hanners and Kent freeing up just under $2m or there abouts.

[CQ SAINT]

Higgins was cheap to begin with and hasn't done much to raise his cap.

[ausfatcat]

Could have sworn there were articles about Crouch only getting less per year on his contract and so Adelaide only got a second rounder for him

[vacuous space]

Could have sworn there were articles about Crouch only getting less per year on his contract and so Adelaide only got a second rounder for him

The HS was pushing the line that we were luring Crouch to Moorabbin on big money. I think there was some suggestion that we had to overpay to get players to choose us. When it came back as band 3 compensation, they started claiming that Crouch had signed an incentive-based contract that lowered the compensation rather than admit any kind of fault in their reporting.

This is still a little lower than they initially suggested (IIRC, they said he was being offered $800K), but seems likely more than he's actually making. The compensation was in line with what GWS got for Aidan Corr and I'm guessing North don't have him on $600K-$700K.

[desertsaint]

Jones, Hill, and Gresham getting paid well over their output. Hill was worth it at the start of his contract, hard to argue for anything close to that now. Should keep nonetheless as no one will take up that contract. Marshall deserves a bigger contract.

[saynta]

Overpaid:
Hill, Howard, Gresham, Jones, King (not in any order)

King doesn't deserve that much.
Why do I say that?
Because if (and it's a big 'if') he manages to get consistency and accuracy, then his manager will push him towards $900k.

I'd be happy paying him $6-700k at the moment if he was nailing most of his shots and actually getting more than 4-6 touches in a game.

Not your money or mine so I don't give a tu'penny f*** what anyone is paid.

Seems what money a player is paid is a continual reason to abuse certain players, to the point where they consider leaving.

[Beno88]

It does say "From the herald sun.com.au", so there's every chance those figures aren't even remotely accurate.

[WellardSaint]

Overpaid:
Hill, Howard, Gresham, Jones, King (not in any order)

King doesn't deserve that much.
Why do I say that?
Because if (and it's a big 'if') he manages to get consistency and accuracy, then his manager will push him towards $900k.

I'd be happy paying him $6-700k at the moment if he was nailing most of his shots and actually getting more than 4-6 touches in a game.

Not your money or mine so I don't give a tu'penny f*** what anyone is paid.

Seems what money a player is paid is a continual reason to abuse certain players, to the point where they consider leaving.

If players don't have the thick skin to handle media critics, then they'll cave under any sort of sledging on the field.

[Viscount Jeremiah]

These figures are rubbish.

Hill for one had a front-loaded contract and like everyone in the team took a 7.5% pay cut post-Covid. There is no way he's still on anything like that.

My guess is he's now on much less due to the front loading of his contract and the pay cut and now he's looking to move on again to North for another payday.