COLLINGWOOD'S drive to keep pace with interstate giants has led it to plough extraordinary resources into recruiting, coaching and player development, areas in which the club is now clearly the biggest spender in the AFL.

Comprehensive financial figures for the 16 clubs obtained by The Age show that the Magpies spent an astonishing $1.85 million on coaching — which includes its burgeoning player development budget — in 2006 and that it now out-spends premier and interstate goliath West Coast in this category.

Collingwood also spent $787,000 on recruiting, more than $250,000 more than the next biggest spender on recruiting, Fremantle, and a staggering $643,000 more than Richmond (which did not count football director Greg Miller in its recruiting budget) and $573,000 more than St Kilda.

The Magpies were the only Victorian club among the top six in football spending, with Fremantle and Adelaide rounding out the top six. Essendon was seventh.

If player payments are subtracted, the Magpies had the most expensive football department — a title held by Sydney in 2005. The Brisbane Lions were first in football department costs ($14.25 million), largely due to their enormous player payments' bill, caused by huge backloaded payments to retiring stars Michael Voss and Justin Leppitsch, half of whose salaries did not count under the salary cap.

Collingwood was second ($13.92 million) in football costs, Sydney third ($13.79 million) and the Eagles fourth ($13.55 million). The Kangaroos again had the leanest football department ($10.537 million).

Collingwood's 2007 coaching budget is likely to push the $2 million barrier, given that it has hired another full-time coach in Brad Scott, while its recruiting budget — bolstered by a full-timer in Perth and incursions into South Africa and Ireland — will exceed $900,000 this year.

Hawthorn had the cheapest coaching panel, at $765,000 — more than $1.1 million less than Collingwood — but the Hawks, too, have invested heavily in recruiting, ranking fifth last year ($458,000).

Collingwood's acting chief executive Eugene Arocca said yesterday the club would continue to spend heavily in recruiting and development/coaching to keep pace with interstate clubs.

"To maintain a competitive edge on the field, particularly with the resources that are being devoted interstate, the key areas of recruiting, development — which includes coaching — are paramount.

"This club made a decision a number of years ago to channel as much as could be possibly channelled into those areas to achieve results …"

While Richmond and St Kilda have argued for a cap on football spending to keep the competition even, Arocca said restrictions on football departments would hurt the game. He said there wouldn't be as many indigenous or Irish players in the AFL if clubs had not opened up areas such as the Northern Territory and Ireland.

In other big revelations from the survey of 2006 financial figures for all clubs:

■Once mighty Carlton's plight was demonstrated by the fact that it generated the least football-derived revenue of any club ($13.738 million), below the Kangaroos.

■Brisbane easily had the highest player payments, $9.62 million, some $845,000 more than second-ranked Sydney, even though the Swans had a higher allowance than Brisbane's $360,000 extra. The Lions lost their allowance this year.

■The awesome financial might of West Coast was underscored by the $11.04 million it earned from membership — a roughly $8 million dollar head-start compared with the bottom three Victorian clubs, and even $3 million-plus ahead of the Crows.

The Eagles, assisted by their favourable stadium deal, also made $5 million from corporate boxes and $4.7 million from merchandising. Their football income was $34.528 million, well ahead of the next club, the Magpies ($27.319 million). Collingwood posted higher overall revenue once investments outside football were included. They turned over $12.119 million in non-football activities — mainly hotels and gaming — while the cashed-up Bombers generated $6.787 million outside football, and perhaps surprisingly, the Bulldogs were fourth in external revenue, with slightly under $6 million.

■Hawthorn did extremely well from its Tasmanian venture, figures showing that it received just under $1.5 million for its three games in Launceston.

■The Western Bulldogs had the third-highest coaching outlay, a misleading figure given that they spent only $23,000 on other team-related staff and nothing on "player welfare."