From Pullman to pulling power: How Nick Blakey profited from scandal and the AFL’s strange economy

October 13, 2026 — 6:53pm

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Whereas the police investigation into the Pullman hotel incident has conceivably cost Isaac Heeney millions of dollars via loss of sponsors, Nick Blakey has garnered millions from the Pullman imbroglio.

It’s a strange economy, the AFL.

At the least, Blakey will be paid an extra $400,000 or more per season over the next five years by dint of his move south to North. And he has added a further three years on the same kind of remuneration, becoming one of the highest-paid players in the competition, at least until Tasmania arrives.

How does a player who found himself in strife – and suspended by the Swans alongside four teammates for breach of standards and professional conduct – end up profiting from his mistake (aside from some sharp work by his agent)?

There are many subplots to North Melbourne’s successful pursuit of Blakey, the father-son recruit whom they’ve landed eight years after he preferred the Swans, where his father John had worked under another Shinboner John Longmire.

North has overpaid Blakey in pure dollar terms, at close to $12 million over eight years, although North believes Blakey would have earned the same amount elsewhere. As they acknowledge, North had to go hard to get the player and could not be under-bidders........

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