Lance Franklin at the SCG on Wednesday.Credit:Anthony Johnson
The star forward is due $1.3 million in the sixth year (2019),$1.4 million in 2020 and is contracted to get close to $1.5 million - expected to be more than 10 per cent of the salary cap even then - in 2021,when he will be 35.
Overall,Franklin's deal is worth $10.2 million - slightly higher than the $10 million that has been widely reported.
His modest payments of $700,000 in both 2014 and 2015 appear timed to coincide with the hefty payments to Kurt Tippett,who was lured to the Swans on a long-term deal 12 months ago.
Two of Sydney's other highest paid players,Adam Goodes and Ryan O'Keefe,will have almost certainly retired by the third year of the Franklin deal,as it climbs by $500,000 and stays at the level for three years before increasing gradually until the eighth season.