But with Thursday's announcement of the new $1.25 billion television deal, the current Brisbane Lions coach expects players may be able to afford a little more than a tuckshop pastry.
Voss was in a jovial mood at Friday's press conference before his team takes on Richmond on Saturday night and was happy to reflect on his early playing days.
He is still the youngest 'Brisbane' player to lace on the boots for his debut, 17-years-old and finishing his schooling at the time (Fitzroy's Andrew Kuka, 16 in 1967, is the youngest Lions player).
"In my first contract I received $500 for a loss and $1500 for a win.... I went to school and bought a Big M and a sausage roll for lunch every day and shouted my mates a sausage roll too; it was pretty significant," he laughed.
"The fact these guys can enjoy a few more sausage rolls is quite extraordinary."
Voss said he expected the players' earnings to go up "pretty significantly" with the new deal and that they deserved every dollar.
"They're the entertainers and they've put the work in to build the game," he said.
"People are watching and I think it’s going to continue to grow, especially with the expansion of the code."
The deal will also be a huge boost for the game in Queensland with live Friday night matches on free-to-air and weekly coverage of Lions and Suns games.
Currently Friday night matches are replayed in Brisbane on free-to-air after 11pm.
"The AFL made a fairly strong stance in terms of where it wants to take footy in Queensland and NSW so the fact we can get that exposure to our members and fans... and be able to expand that in our volume and content that we can see on TV and what we read and what we hear (is great)," Voss said.
"So if that means we get more people playing the game, more people watching it, then that's a fantastic broadcast rights deal for us as Queenslanders.
"We've probably felt like we've always been the ones that have missed out, (but) I don’t think we can claim that any more. I think we're going to get our exposure and get our run and it's incredible. This game's growing very fast."
