So if Wells if going to earn 500k for 3 years, where does this put him? 5%, 10%, 15% or 20%?
CLUBS will only receive a first-round compensation pick after losing a free agent in 2015 if the player's new contract ranks them among the top five per cent of AFL wage earners aged 25 and older.
The AFL last week gave club CEOs their first indication of the factors taken into account when determining free agency compensation.
It is believed the CEOs were told the 2015 threshold for a first-round compensation selection is significantly higher this year compared to 2014, when Melbourne received pick No.3 as compensation for losing defender James Frawley to Hawthorn.
It was revealed that the AFL adds all the base and additional services agreement (ASA) payments of players aged 25 or older, of whom there are about 270, to determine where the free agent's new contract sits.
AFL.com.au understands that if a free agent's new contract puts them in the top five per cent of that group at the time the free agency offer is lodged, then their former club is eligible to receive a first-round compensation pick.
To put that figure in perspective, a wage that ranks in the top five per cent of players aged 25-plus would put the free agent among the game's top 15 earners.
Despite the clubs' push to know what that might mean in dollar terms, the AFL explained it was impossible to attach a specific dollar figure to compensation because the numbers constantly changed.
That means the minimum threshold for a first-round compensation pick can change from year to year – or even week-to-week – depending on how many players aged 25 and above move into the higher earning wage category when the offer is lodged.
However, clubs left the meeting with the impression the minimum threshold had increased this year, compared to 2014, due to a surge in the number of AFL players aged 25 and above earning a high wage in 2015.
The AFL also explained that if a player's contract offer ranked in the next 10 per cent band then he would command compensation at the end of the first round, the next 15 per cent earned a second-round pick and the next 20 per cent earned a pick at the end of the second round.
It means that of all 2015's mooted free agency moves, only the new contract reportedly being offered to Adelaide's free agent Patrick Dangerfield is close to earning first-round compensation in this year's trade period, although even this remains uncertain.
In 2014, the AFL annual report showed that six per cent of AFL players (which includes those under 25 and therefore not part of the sample relevant to compensation) earned more than $600,000. However, the figure needed to earn a first-round pick would be different this year.