ST KILDA chief executive Carl Dilena has fired back at Brisbane coach Chris Fagan's suggestion the Saints' lucrative contracts pose a "danger" to the AFL, insisting the threat lies in unequal access to talent.

As Brisbane hopes to re-sign gun free agent Zac Bailey amid huge rival interest, Fagan told AFL.com.au this week that the Saints' big money spree last year had inflated the market.

Superstar Saint Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera re-signed at the club for two years to become the first $2 million player in the competition after Adelaide and Port Adelaide's offers reached similar levels, while Carlton free agent Tom De Koning joined on a mega eight-year offer at $1.7 million a season.

In discussing the Lions' bid to re-sign Bailey, which has seen them table a six-year offer to the back-to-back premiership star, the dual premiership coach said he hoped St Kilda had not changed the rate for the best players. 

"I'm hoping those numbers we saw last year, via St Kilda, don't become a reality. I saw that as a bit of a danger for the game," Fagan said in AFL.com.au's Your Coach series. 

"I think the best players in the competition deserve to be paid the most money and that's not the case at the moment.

"That's not an insult to Nasiah. I think he's going to be a really good player and how far he goes I don't know.

"And 'TDK' has shown a lot of promise for a long time but hasn't probably played up to expectations, and they're getting paid extremely well. I'd rather see the better players get all the big money."

In response to Fagan, Dilena told AFL.com.au that the access to talent at the top end of the draft had "flipped the script" to make the high-price deals the mechanism for St Kilda to gain a foothold. 

"I can understand fears about having to pay fair value for players. I appreciate it's a novel concept for some people. Doing anything for the first time can be intimidating," Dilena said. 

"The reality is, the danger arises from a system that distorts access to talent, not in amounts paid to players, which must sit in a cap. 

"The market system dictates behaviour and prices. Historically northern clubs have paid the biggest contracts in the history of the game, but now benefit from talent access concessions which have flipped the script."

Dilena, president Andrew Bassat and coach Ross Lyon have led St Kilda's charge for the AFL to tighten its bidding system and restrict the access to northern Academy talents. 

It saw changes to the bidding at last year's draft, with further alterations to come this year, after the Saints had long lobbied for an overhaul, including fronting the AFL Commission last year to present their case.