SANFL head of talent Brenton Phillips has shed some light on what happens after a player\u2019s name is read out on draft night, detailing the sacrifices clubs make when securing young talent.<\/p>\n
Phillips has been monitoring South Australia\u2019s homegrown products since 2007 and has seen how well draftees get treated.<\/p>\n
He said steps are put in place as soon as a player officially joins an AFL club, when the teenagers are whisked away to live with a host family if they\u2019re moving states.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as a player has been drafted, they\u2019re basically handed across to the player welfare manager, who then liaise with family, liaise with host families in the state they\u2019re going to,\u201d Phillips told Sportsday SA<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cThey put them in with a host family for at least the first six months to get themselves settled, and then they work out which way they want to go from there.<\/p>\n \u201cThen they might start to look to go out into their own units or house or whatever their circumstances might be after that, I must admit they do it very well these days the AFL clubs.\u201d<\/p>\n While living their new lives, the draftees are well compensated for their talents.<\/p>\n Phillips said the salaries they receive are \u201cawesome\u201d and many draftees have very few expenses, due to the levels clubs go to look after them.<\/p>\n \u201cPicks one to 20 you\u2019re on a base salary of $105,000 a year, 21 to 40 you\u2019re on $95,000 and 41 and up you then go onto $90,000 a year, and rookies are rookie listed at 85,000 a year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey get a bonus on top of that in terms of $4000 per game bonus\u2026 if you\u2019re a top 20 draft pick, you might average 10 games in your first season, so you\u2019re looking at probably taking home $145,000 in your first year of football straight out of school, which is a fair wage.<\/p>\n \u201cFor your first wage, it\u2019s awesome.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are looked after\u2026 they\u2019re not paying board, they\u2019re not paying add-on fees, so that sort of money goes straight into their pocket.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re at the club 24\/7, they\u2019re fed when they\u2019re at the club, so there\u2019s not a lot of expense that come out of that wage either.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s all part of a $200,000 investment to turn the draftee into the best possible player, which is why clubs invest so much energy into getting it right.<\/p>\n \u201cThe amount of data that they receive on these young men these days\u2026 the amount of data we pump through to AFL clubs about our players is quite remarkable,\u201d Phillips said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt costs a club about $200,000 to draft a player, so they want to get it right and they have done that quite well over the last 10 to 15 years, you don\u2019t get too many misses inside your first-round draft choices.\u201d<\/p>\n The National Draft is to be held on November 24 and 25, with Phillips anticipating \u201ctwo or three\u201d South Australians to be taken in the top 20.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n