Some of Australia’s biggest sporting stars built their fortunes at the height of their careers. Others kept getting richer even as their performances began to fade.
Daniel Ricciardo may have slipped down the Formula One pecking order, but his huge personality kept him in the spotlight – and his estimated fortune continued to grow.
Cameron Smith went from a Queensland kid whose father did not care whether golf ever earned him a dollar to a major champion with a dream home in Florida and a reported fortune from LIV Golf.
Ben Simmons remains near the top of Australia’s sporting rich list despite years of injuries, missed games and intense criticism.
Then there are the athletes who proved just as shrewd away from the field, investing their earnings and building lucrative businesses and side hustles.
These are the remarkable money stories behind the Australian sporting stars who have climbed to the top of the wealth rankings.
AFL star Lindsay Fox: estimated net worth A$5.57 billion
The empire that Lindsay Fox built far surpasses what any other Aussie athlete has made in their career
Lindsay Fox’s story makes even the biggest modern football contracts look modest.
Long before his surname became a familiar sight on trucks across Australia, Fox played for St Kilda, making 20 senior appearances between 1959 and 1961.
But his business career was already gathering momentum. In 1956, he bought his first truck and began hauling coal and briquettes during winter and soft drinks in summer.
As the operation grew, Fox continued playing for the Saints before eventually hanging up his boots to focus on business full-time.
That single truck grew into Linfox, one of Australia’s biggest logistics companies, turning the former footballer into one of the country’s best-known businessmen.
His estimated $5.57 billion fortune on the Australian Financial Review’s 2026 Rich List puts him in a financial league far beyond even today’s biggest sporting salaries.
NRL star Adam MacDougall: estimated net worth A$635 million
Former NRL star Adam MacDougall turned a simple idea into an Aussie health revolution
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The biggest money-making move of Adam ‘Mad Dog’ MacDougall’s career came with a shaker bottle.
The former Newcastle Knights premiership winner and his wife Belinda built Cranky Health, the company behind The Man Shake and The Lady Shake.
Their estimated combined fortune reached A$635 million in 2024, putting the couple on The Australian’s wealth list. Behind the familiar sales pitch was a much more personal motivation.
‘My best friend died of a heart attack suddenly,’ MacDougall said in 2016 while discussing The Man Challenge, his exercise programme.
He wanted busy people to stop putting off their health and find a manageable way to exercise.
That simple idea exploded into a juggernaut, and when Pacific Equity Partners invested in January 2022, it rocketed MacDougall to the top of Australia’s sporting rich list.
Golfer Greg Norman: estimated net worth over A$600million
Greg Norman’s golf-course design and lifestyle businesses helped turn the former world No. 1 into one of Australia’s biggest sporting fortunes
Norman never settled for simply slapping his name on a polo shirt. He built an empire around his brand.
His golf-course design business became the foundation of the operation and is now responsible for more than 100 courses across six continents and 34 countries.
From there, the famous shark logo spread into apparel, wine, real estate, Wagyu beef, restaurants and even an investment fund.
Then came his biggest move outside traditional business. In 2021, Norman became the first CEO of Saudi-backed LIV Golf, helping lure stars including Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm away from the PGA Tour.
He stepped down in early 2025 and was replaced by Scott O’Neil.
By then, Norman had already amassed an enormous personal fortune, with Sports Illustrated estimating his net worth at about A$600million in 2019.
NBA star Ben Simmons: estimated net worth A$260million
Ben Simmons’ A$260million Young Rich List estimate stands out after injury troubles and a full season away from the NBA
Simmons is perhaps the list’s most striking sporting contradiction: his NBA career has been repeatedly derailed by injury, yet his personal fortune remains enormous.
He missed the entire 2025-26 season while recovering from back and leg problems, following several years in which his absences and performances drew heavy criticism.
Despite that, the 2025 Australian Financial Review Young Rich List estimated his wealth at A$260million, built largely on the multimillion-dollar NBA contracts he secured earlier in his career.
Even while sidelined from basketball, Simmons continued to make headlines, including by buying a controlling stake in a professional fishing team – a move critics pointed to as evidence his focus may have shifted away from the sport.
Simmons has rejected suggestions he no longer loves basketball and is now attempting to revive his NBA career with Sacramento.
AFL star Andrew Welsh: estimated net worth A$254 million
Former Essendon star Andrew Welsh swapped the footy field for property development
Most footballers would be happy to retire with a couple of investment properties. Andrew Welsh went much bigger: he helped build an entire community.
The former Essendon player made 162 senior appearances before retiring in 2011, but some of his biggest wins came off the field through his property development company, Wel.Co.
Its first major project began that same year with the purchase of 1,000 hectares in Melbourne’s west. After six years navigating the rezoning process, the land was transformed into Thornhill Park.
But it was no overnight success. Welsh had been preparing for life after football while he was still playing for the Bombers, tapping into the club’s network to learn from experienced figures in the property industry.
As he later told Forbes, a coffee with the right person could deliver ‘years of experience in half an hour’.
F1 star Daniel Ricciardo: estimated net worth A$194million
Daniel Ricciardo’s F1 results faded, but his big personality kept him a fan favourite, and his estimated wealth rose after his racing career ended
Ricciardo’s star power ultimately outlasted his results on the track. He won eight Grands Prix, but his final years in Formula 1 became a gradual slide from the front of the grid, culminating in his mid-season exit in 2024.
By then, his trademark grin, shoey celebrations and easy-going media charm had made him one of the sport’s most recognisable personalities, helped by his prominent appearances on Drive to Survive.
The surprise is that his fortune continued to grow even after his F1 career ended. The 2025 Young Rich List estimated his wealth had risen by A$7million to A$194million.
His Enchanté clothing label and DR3 wine collaboration have given Ricciardo ways to capitalise on that fame beyond the paddock, although the revenues of those businesses and his personal returns have not been made public.
Golfer Cameron Smith: estimated net worth A$176million
Cameron Smith went from a Queensland kid whose father did not expect golf to make him rich to a major champion with a Florida dream home near TPC Sawgrass
Smith is an unlikely-looking entry on a rich list: the low-key Queenslander whose father once said he ‘didn’t care if Cameron ever made a dollar out of golf’.
His early years were about life experience and keeping him out of trouble; the money came later, after he became a major champion and made the high-profile move to LIV Golf.
Away from the course, the understated golfer has a Florida dream home in Ponte Vedra Beach, close to TPC Sawgrass, where he upgraded to a roughly 5,000-square-foot property in 2020.
Golfer Jason Day: estimated net worth A$167million
Jason Day’s bold Malbon outfits made headlines at the Masters. He also has an equity stake in the golf fashion brand and helps with its designs
Golfer Jason Day’s deal with Malbon Golf came with an unusual bonus: equity in the brand and a say in the designs.
Then came the outfits.
His loose-fitting, streetwear-inspired looks quickly became a talking point, particularly at the Masters. At Augusta in 2024, Day appeared in a Malbon sweater vest emblazoned with oversized black and red lettering, only to be asked by Augusta National to remove it before his second round.
The scrutiny continued in 2025, when Day said he was required to submit his planned outfits for approval and tone down some of the looks. Even at golf’s most famous tournament, there were limits to how much wardrobe drama one Australian could bring.
For Malbon, however, the attention was priceless. And Day had more riding on the publicity than a standard sponsorship deal: the Associated Press reported that he held an equity stake in the brand and contributed to its designs.
His overall wealth was estimated at A$167million on the 2025 Financial Review Young Rich List, although the value of his Malbon stake was not disclosed.
F1 driver Oscar Piastri: estimated net worth A$122million
Oscar Piastri moved to England with his father at 14 to pursue motor racing, years before his Formula 1 success made him a rich-list newcomer
Piastri’s fortune is even more remarkable given how early he still is in his career. The 2025 Young Rich List estimated his wealth at A$122million, with most of it accumulated since he secured a seat in Formula 1.
Getting there, however, was a family effort long before the major contracts arrived. At just 14, Piastri moved to England with his father to pursue his racing ambitions, leaving his friends and the rest of his family behind in Melbourne.
His father’s business helped fund those expensive early years in karting and junior racing.
Unlike Ricciardo, Piastri has yet to build a substantial public business portfolio away from the track. For now, his biggest money-making asset remains his talent behind the wheel.
Basketballer Andrew Bogut: estimated net worth about A$120million
Andrew Bogut’s post-NBA career has taken him into business, including a part-ownership stake in the Sydney Kings
Bogut’s second career has been less about endorsements and more about getting a stake in the game.
After a long NBA career, he became part-owner of the Sydney Kings and has spoken about keeping a diversified investment portfolio.
That gives him a direct role in Australian basketball’s business side, rather than simply returning as a familiar face courtside.
His last clearly reported Young Rich List valuation was about A$120million in 2024; the 2025 list included him again but did not publish a fresh figure.
AFL star Brad Moran: A$78 million
Former AFL player Brad Moran scored his biggest payday in tech, co-founding CitrusAd and building a personal fortune estimated at A$78 million
Forget kicking the winning goal. Brad Moran’s biggest payday came from helping brands win a better spot in your online shopping basket.
The former North Melbourne and Adelaide player co-founded CitrusAd, a technology business that turned retailers’ websites into valuable advertising space. Think of the prime position on a supermarket shelf, then put it on a screen. Brands paid to get their products noticed, and retailers earned money from those digital shopfronts.
It might lack the roar of a packed footy ground, but the business attracted a spectacular offer. Advertising giant Publicis bought CitrusAd in 2021 for a reported A$205 million, just four years after it was founded.
Jordan Mailata: estimated net worth over A$49million
Jordan Mailata had never played American football before the Philadelphia Eagles drafted him. He went on to become a Super Bowl winner
Mailata’s NFL career began with a simple but astonishing fact: he had never played American football before the Philadelphia Eagles drafted him.
He had come through rugby league pathways in Australia, then made the leap through the NFL’s International Player Pathway.
Now a Super Bowl winner with a major NFL contract, he has turned a gamble on an unfamiliar sport into a remarkable career.
His A$49million estimate dates from the 2022 Young Rich List, before his later contract extension. The AFR included him again in 2025 but did not publish an exact new figure.
Ash Barty: estimated net worth about A$45million
Ash Barty retired at 25 while still world No. 1, then took her name into children’s publishing with the Little Ash book series
Most players hang on as long as their knees allow. Barty walked away at 25, still world No. 1, with the Australian Open trophy barely out of the box.
No farewell tour, no grinding out a few more seasons for the prize money. She packed up the racquets and got on with life, and part of that new life was writing the Little Ash kids’ books, a series inspired by her nieces and nephew.
So what are the book deals and sponsorships worth? Nobody outside the room knows, because the figures have never been made public. Our A$45million is a ballpark figure, and a conservative one at that.
Barty came in at No. 92 on the 2025 Young Rich List, and you needed roughly A$44million just to sneak onto it. Think of it as the floor, not the ceiling.
Steve Smith: estimated net worth at least A$44million
Steve Smith’s reported A$100,000 early investment in Koala was valued at more than A$13.2 million after the mattress company’s 2026 sharemarket debut
Smith’s shrewdest shot might have been played off the field. In 2015 he reportedly put A$100,000 into Koala, then a fledgling mattress start-up, and after Koala’s 2026 sharemarket debut reports valued his stake at more than A$13.2million.
That’s a paper gain, not cash in hand. He hardly needed it anyway, having already made the 2025 Young Rich List, where the cut-off sat around A$44million.
The cricket cheques have been handsome too, even the ones that never got cashed. Back in 2018, Rajasthan Royals retained him for roughly A$2.4million, making him and David Warner the best-paid Australians in IPL history at the time.
Then Cape Town happened. The ball-tampering scandal earned him a 12-month ban, and the IPL refused to let him play that season, so he sat the whole thing out.
Delhi Capitals later picked him up for about A$390,000 in 2021, and the IPL has left him unsold ever since. Pakistan was keener: Sialkot Stallionz made him the PSL’s priciest signing at about A$750,000.
Closer to home, he’s ditched ODIs but still holds a Cricket Australia contract, plus a Sixers deal running through 2026-27.
