AFL Salary Cap 2025: How Your Hourly Rate Converts to Annual Pay with Casual Loading and Super
Based on a 38-hour week, your annual gross pay is your hourly rate multiplied by 1,976 hours (38 x 52). Add 25% casual loading if applicable, and super is paid on top.
AFL Salary Cap 2025: A Benchmark for Your Pay
When you hear about the AFL salary cap 2025, it’s easy to think professional athletes earn far more than the average worker. While that’s true for many players, the cap itself is a total team limit – individual salaries range from rookie contracts to multi-million dollar deals. For most Australians, a more useful exercise is converting your own hourly rate into an annual figure, especially if you’re a casual worker receiving 25% loading, or if you want to understand how superannuation adds to your total package.
This article explains the standard conversion formula, highlights the latest minimum wage rates, and shows how casual loading and super are paid on top of your hourly rate.
The Standard Conversion: Hourly to Annual
The basic formula for converting an hourly wage to an annual salary is:
Annual gross pay = hourly rate × hours per week × 52 weeks
For a full-time employee working 38 hours per week (the standard under most awards), the calculation becomes:
Annual gross pay = hourly rate × 38 × 52 = hourly rate × 1,976
This assumes you work the same number of hours every week, with no unpaid overtime, penalty rates, allowances, or salary sacrifice. It’s a starting point for comparing job offers or understanding your total earnings.
Why 38 Hours?
The Fair Work Act and most modern awards set 38 hours as the ordinary weekly hours for a full-time employee. Some enterprise agreements or contracts may specify different hours, but 38 is the default used by the minimum wage and the Australian Bureau of Statistics when reporting average earnings.
National Minimum Wage and Award Rates
The Fair Work Commission reviews minimum wages each financial year. In its 2024–2025 Annual Wage Review, the Commission increased the National Minimum Wage by 3.5% to $24.95 per hour from 1 July 2025. The National Minimum Wage Order 2025 formalised this rate.
From 1 July 2026, the National Minimum Wage rose further to $26.44 per hour (or $1,004.90 per week for 38 hours). Most employees are covered by an award that sets higher minimum rates for their industry or occupation. You can check your award using our pay guides or the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Pay and Conditions Tool.
Casual Loading: 25% on Top
Casual employees are entitled to a 25% loading on top of the base hourly rate. This loading compensates for not receiving paid leave entitlements such as annual leave, personal leave, and public holidays. The loading is added to the minimum award rate or the National Minimum Wage.
When converting a casual hourly rate to annual pay, you must include the loading. For example:
- Base rate: $26.44 per hour (National Minimum Wage from July 2026)
- Casual loading: 25% → $6.61 per hour
- Casual rate: $33.05 per hour
- Annual gross (casual): $33.05 × 1,976 = $65,306.80
Our casual loading page explains how to calculate this correctly. Never enter a rate that already includes casual loading – our calculator has a checkbox to add the 25% on top of the base rate you type.
Fortnightly Pay
If you’re paid fortnightly, multiply your weekly gross by 2. For the casual example above:
- Weekly gross: $33.05 × 38 = $1,255.90
- Fortnightly gross: $1,255.90 × 2 = $2,511.80
Superannuation: Paid on Top
Superannuation is an additional payment your employer must make into your super fund. It is not deducted from your hourly rate. From 1 July 2025, the super guarantee rate is 12% of your ordinary time earnings, up to a maximum contribution base of $270,830 per quarter (indexed).
For casual employees, super is calculated on the loaded rate (including casual loading). Using the same example:
- Annual gross (casual): $65,306.80
- Super (12%): $7,836.82
- Total annual package: $73,143.62
Super is paid on top of your gross pay, so your take-home pay is based on the gross amount before super. See our super and packaging page for more details.
Tax and Take-Home Pay
Your annual gross pay is not what you take home. The Australian Taxation Office applies progressive tax rates and the Medicare levy. For 2026–27, the resident tax rates are:
- $0 – $18,200: Nil
- $18,201 – $45,000: 15% on excess over $18,200
- $45,001 – $135,000: 30% on excess over $45,000
- $135,001 – $190,000: 37% on excess over $135,000
- $190,001+: 45% on excess over $190,000
Plus a Medicare levy of 2% (with reductions for low-income earners). Use our take-home pay tool to estimate your net income.
Putting It in Perspective: AFL Salary Cap 2025
The AFL salary cap for 2025 was reported as a total player payments limit per club, but individual player earnings vary. For context, the average full-time adult ordinary time earnings in Australia were $2,083.70 per week (May 2026), according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. That’s equivalent to an hourly rate of about $54.83 (based on 38 hours).
Even a minimum wage casual worker earning $33.05 per hour (with loading) would take home around $65,000 gross per year – a far cry from an AFL star’s contract, but a solid income for many Australians.
Summary
- Annual gross = hourly rate × hours per week × 52 (use 38 hours unless your contract says otherwise)
- Casual loading = 25% added to base rate; super is paid on the loaded amount
- Super = 12% of ordinary earnings, paid on top, capped at $270,830 per quarter
- Tax = progressive rates plus 2% Medicare levy
For a quick calculation, visit the timesheet. Remember, this is an estimate – your actual pay may differ due to overtime, penalties, allowances, or salary packaging.
Open the same rate on the home timesheet. Read the reference tables before treating a figure as your pay.