But that’s only half as much as some clubs in other country Victorian leagues.

A picture of just how much cash is pumped through football clubs was painted at this week’s AFL Victoria community leagues conference in Healesville, where a working party presented findings of a survey of 369 clubs from across the state.

The data has not been officially released because the working party is continuing to work through the information.

But AFL Western District region general manager Lachy Patterson said information provided by clubs revealed the budget for player payments ranged from zero to $350,000 across the state. 

Closer to home in his region, which includes the Hampden, Warrnambool and District, Mininera and South West leagues, the range is zero to $100,000-$150,000.

That’s a lot of tickets in the half-time raffle.

Armed with this information, the working party is now digging deeper into the issue. But such is the concern about rising player payments, 83 per cent of the clubs which responded to the survey support an AFL Victoria-led solution, with more than half calling for a statewide salary cap.

The working party is proposing the introduction of a salary cap, equalisation provisions and an enforcement policy. Just how things will work are yet to be decided but Patterson said several leagues had already agreed to trial initiatives in 2015 before an official introduction in 2016.

Patterson said there was evidence in northern Victorian  leagues, where player payments reached $350,000, that rivals were spending “half to three-quarters” of that trying to keep up, only to finish middle of the table.

“They are putting themselves in a big hole. They are spending more than their means,” he said.

Patterson said AFL Victoria was aware a one-size-fits-all approach would not work. He said a salary cap and equalisation provisions like a points-based system that regulated recruiting had to be tailored to individual regions and leagues.

“There’s lots and lots of work they still have to do,” he said.