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The AFL is at it again with letting their 'journalists' have a free voice of one meaningless paragraph on huge topics that seemingly never get discussed by actual footy journalists (although there are about 3 of those)... Today is Should player salaries be made public? http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-01-22/should-player-pay-be-public Now, this one is a tricky one, and I don't really hold a strong opinion on a desire to see it become public knowledge, however, the benefits of having it open are, IMO, quite obvious - if Player X knows exactly what Player Y is getting, then he can make a more informed decision on his own worth. Geelong made a mockery of the salary cap when they were enjoying their dominance form 2007 to 2011. Players might have known they were getting well paid relative to the teammates but not the competition. Their stars were underpaid and while that is the dream of every team's supporters to have players underpaid and outperform - it is against the ideals of a salary cap equalised game. Ablett should not have been comparing himself to Bartel's wage, but all the other very best players in the game. While player agents have some - to very good - knowledge on what people are being paid - having wages public would make it profoundly more an effective way of making sure players, and their representation, knew their market value. It also wouldn't hurt for the public to know the exact reasons how and why Sydney and Carlton can always apparently chase all the biggest names every year...