The Western Bulldogs' former captain, Ryan Griffen, will remain the highest-paid player at the Whitten Oval next season despite walking out on the club post-season.
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It has emerged that the Bulldogs will cover a staggering $800,000 of Griffen's 2015 pay packet as part of the extraordinary exit agreement reached with Greater Western Sydney, where Griffen requested to go.
Desperate to sign the apparently unavailable Tom Boyd from GWS, the club not only traded away its first draft pick to snare the promising young forward on a massive seven-year deal, but also agreed to cover $900,000 of Griffen's four-year Giants contract.
Griffen began training with his new club on Monday after providing the shock of the trade period when he announced he wanted out of the Bulldogs. The club subsequently sacked coach Brendan McCartney and, under trade deadline pressure, went after Boyd.
The Bulldogs remain one of the AFL's most heavily subsidised clubs under the equalisation policy, meaning the competition will indirectly cover Griffen's pay packet.
The 27-year-old joined the Giants under a front-loaded deal because under league rules the Bulldogs could not cover 100 per cent of Griffen's contract. He will earn close to $1million next season and about $1.5million over 2016, '17 and '18.
Western Bulldogs chief executive Simon Garlick would not comment on the Griffen deal when contacted on Monday. He said the deal was subject to a confidentiality agreement.
However, members of the AFL executive were surprised that the financially struggling club had agreed to cover so much of the Griffen contract.
The deal was overseen by club chairman Peter Gordon, a generous Bulldogs benefactor, at a time of deep crisis for the club.
A further $100,000 will be paid to Griffen by the Bulldogs in 2017, his third season with the Giants.
The Griffen money was front-loaded by the Bulldogs, who needed to clear space in their total player payments for Boyd in 2016. As a second-year player he will earn about $200,000 next year and then an estimated total of $6million over the subsequent six years. That record remuneration for a player of his experience has also raised eyebrows among the managers of some of Boyd's talented young teammates.
