Brownlow Medallist Gerard Healy is sure that Nick Daicos will be the highest-paid player in the history of the game when he retires.
Daicos is two years into his AFL career and has already asserted himself as one of the competition’s elite. He won a premiership in 2023 to go with a third-place finish in the Brownlow Medal despite missing the last month of the season with injury.
The Collingwood gun’s status as perhaps the AFL’s best player already at age 20 earned him a new contract despite him being previously tied to the Magpies until the end of the 2025 season.
Daicos is now contracted until the end of 2029 on a big-money deal where he’ll enter restricted free agency.
The young Pie has been tipped to be the game’s highest-paid player once he reaches free agency and given that he’ll already be a top earner in his third season, Healy expects him to break cumulative earning records by the time he retires.
He discussed Daicos’ earning potential with Kane Cornes on SEN Sportsday.
Healy: “I would imagine Nick Daicos is going to be the highest-paid player in the history of the game when he retires surely.”
Cornes: “Cumulatively?”
Healy: Yeah.
Healy: “I think so too, definitely.
Healy: “I mean, somebody may come on and take his mantle (as the top-paid player), but there's no one at this stage showing that they can do what he's done in his second year.”
“There's no one as accomplished as him in the early stages of their career.
“So rightly, so (he’d be the highest paid in the game’s history).
“He's played every game nearly since he's come in apart from that knee injury this year and his accolades are there.
“He will deserve it.”
Daicos has played 47 games since making his debut in Round 1 of the 2022 season.