Do You Gain or Lose Respect For 'Your' Team When They Dish Out a $400 Million Dollar Contract?

In order of the big 3 football codes Rugby Union is the toughest. Constant ruck and mauls and played by absolute yetis. Rugby League is next. Plenty of hard hits, but played by athletes so more refined skills wise than union. AFL is an endurance test. Elite mid fielders cover 12 miles in a game.

Average career length in AFL is 3.5 years. Little lower in League and Union at about 3. You do get freaks like Brent Harvey who played 438 games over 21 seasons (and was still an elite player when he retired), but they are a rarity.