Here are the top earning Australian sportspeople for the year 2017, as published by the Australian Financial Review (formerly BRW). Every year it publishes the Top-50 Sports Earners.

Golf player Jason Day topped the list, but don't expect him to stay at the top for much longer, as second on the list, basketballer Ben Simmons, is expected to continue his stardom in the NBA and his earnings will no doubt rise. Basketball and the USA are where the money is.

Australian NBA players make up six of the top 10. The highest-paid cricketer was opener David Warner ($4.73 million). Only three women made the top 50 list this year: tennis player Ashleigh Barty ($1.84 million), surfer Stephanie Gilmore ($1.8 million), and golfer Minjee Lee ($1.3 million).

Compare this list to the Forbes highest paid athlete for 2017.

Rank Name Sport Earnings ($AUD millions)
1 Jason Day Golf 18.29
2 Ben Simmons Basketball 14.35
3 Matthew Dellavedova Basketball 12.49
4 Adam Scott Golf 10.82
5 Joe Ingles Basketball 10.65
6 Daniel Ricciardo Motor Racing 10.45
7 Marc Leishman Golf 9.57
8 Patty Mills Basketball 9.29
9 Andrew Bogut Basketball 8.84
10 Aron Baynes Basketball 7.04

Source: Australian Financial Review, as published in online in December 2017.