This year’s premiers to split $1million

This year’s AFL grand finalists will be playing for a $1million jackpot. AFL boss Andrew Demetriou revealed on Saturday that the prizemoney to the 2010 premiers had risen dramatically in recent years.

Of the $1 million, half will go to the players and the remainder goes to the club.

The losing grand finalists will split $500,000 this September.

Demetriou said the flag prize was up from $300,000 three years ago.

However, Demetriou said that with 18 teams in the competition by 2012 a flag will be extremely hard to win.

He said the Greater Western Sydney team would be “super competitive” within a few years, as would the Gold Coast Suns which enter the competition next season.

GWS would in a short time be a tough side with a mix of top draft picks and uncontracted senior players.

Demetriou said the fact that clubs such as St Kilda and Collingwood had moved in the past week to sign a clutch of their star players would not mean the new club would be starved of talent.

“They have done an enormous amount of research and they’ve got one of the best (recruiting bosses) in the business in Scotty Clayton and they way they are building the team is incredible,” Demetriou told ABC radio.

“On average, the good teams — the Geelongs of the world — have probably got around about 12 or 13 first-round draft picks in their squad over time.

“This club (GWS) has probably already got six first-round draft picks because of the 17-year-olds that they’ve recruited.

“They’re going to get nine of the 15 first-round draft picks in the draft so they’re already starting off with 15 before they sign uncontracted players.

“So I would think in two or three years they are going to be a super competitive football team,” he said.

Demetriou also said in the next broadcast rights contract due to be negotiated shortly for the 2012-2016 seasons, the league would reach more homes than ever before.

“That’s simply because you have different avenues of reach — you have the free-to-airs, the free-to-air multi-channels, obviously the pay television element and what’s going on with new media and new technology is becoming quite frightening,” he said.

“Overall I’ve got no doubt that football will be going into more homes in more metropolitan and regional areas in Australia than ever before.”

Demetriou said all the networks were interested in the rights which he said would be a “very competitive process”.

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© 2010 AAP