AFL players support play in Round 1 as AFL proposal could see 2020 season run until Christmas
AFL players are set to take a pay cut as the coronavirus crisis deepens but just how much are they actually willing to sacrifice? Jack Riewoldt and player manager Liam Pickering weigh in.
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Richmond star Jack Riewoldt admits players will need to sacrifice cash to ease the financial strain on the game amid what he described as a scary threat to the AFL’s future.
The league has mooted a 20 per cent pay cut for players given the 2020 season will be shortened to 17 home-and-away matches.
Players did not come to an agreement over pay during the phone hook-up with the AFL Players’ Association on Monday night, with some unhappy about losing wages.
Riewoldt conceded sacrifices will need to be made, but not just by the players.
“There’s going to be cost-cutting in every part of the football world fraternity and it’s not just players and people who report on the games, you’ve got to think bigger picture as well – cameramen, people that work in the MCG that might be a part time job, it affects so many areas,” he said on Nova100.
“When I think about playing, I want to go there and play because it’s my job and I love to do it but I also think of the bigger pictures as well – if this season isn’t doesn’t go ahead it’s a $1.8 billion hit and the game can’t afford it and they’ll need some sort of bailout from government or something like that.
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“It is a pretty scary thought and one that I think the whole football community is going to have to unite behind.
“I don’t know what the pay cut looks like. The number 20 per cent has been thrown out there by the AFL and that’s certainly not fixed at the moment.
“But everyone is going have to look at their own backyard and look at the bigger picture as well.”
Player manager Liam Pickering said players will take a pay cut and stressed a decision on how much needs to be made before Thursday night’s season opener should it go ahead.
“Across the industry there’ll be a shared responsibility, so whatever the players agree on, it goes all the way down the food chain,” Pickering said.
“As you can imagine, we share in the spoils of the competition, so of course we’re going to have to take the hit like everyone else, managers will, everyone will.”
What complicates matters is the fact all players don’t earn the same amount of money, so a blanket 20 per cent pay cut would hit some harder than others.
“It’s a bit simplistic to say that because players are on all different numbers,” Pickering told SEN.
“20 per cent of a million dollars is $200,000 … is it fair that because you’ve got a million dollar contract because you’re a star of the competition that you cop $200 (thousand) and you (players on less money) cop $10,000 for example.
“That’s what needs to be worked out, there needs to be a number that everyone is comfortable with and everyone will be prepared to do it, it’s just where they get to.
“They’ll be prepared to do something, absolutely they will.
“We’re going to play five less games, obviously there’s going to be a hit, it’s what is the number?”
With the season still scheduled to begin on Thursday night at the MCG, Pickering said the AFL and the players must come to agreement before Richmond and Carlton take the field.
“There’s going to be clubs running around on Thursday not knowing what their entitlements are,” he said.
“I reckon they’ll get through it today, personally.”
The average wage in the AFL is approximately $370,000.
Pickering declared a fair pay cut would be “10 per cent” of that wage.
“It might end up somewhere between that, if some are flagging 20 (per cent),” he said.
PLAYERS VOTE TO START SEASON NOW
AFL players want to play this weekend.
A majority of players at Monday night’s landmark meeting, convened by the AFL Players Association via teleconference with more than 800 of the cohort from around the country, supported a plan to kick off Round 1 on Thursday night.
The players were presented with a range of options that could have been available today but have united to play from this weekend if the landscape remains as it is today.
A lot can change by Thursday night but, at this stage, the season will kick off at the MCG between Richmond and Carlton.
There has been no resolution to the issue of pay, with the league having proposed players take a 20 per cent pay cut as clubs and the league desperately seek to cut costs amid the crisis.
A government health official was also part of the teleconference.
The AFLPA will speak to the AFLW contingent next on Monday night.
The consensus from the discussion that was run by AFLPA boss Paul Marsh was that it would be counter-productive to waste a weekend where football could be staged.
Marsh did almost all of the talking during the lengthy call.
The vast majority of players want to play, despite earlier reservations about a stop-start season.
No formal vote was conducted however players were required to fill out a survey.
Players were canvassed on their preferred season structure, to which the Herald Sun understands the majority supported starting this weekend as opposed to postponing the season.
They were also asked about whether they felt concerned about their health, and whether they would have preferred to play a 22-game season.
The survey — which closed at 9.30pm — will help to form the AFLPA’s position on the matter.
It appears inevitable that the 17-round season will be shutdown at some stage, either because the coronavirus outbreak takes over society or an AFL player becomes infected.
The ideas of playing up until Christmas – and with a potential 20 per cent pay cut — were also raised.
Players have been advised that the risk of playing in the current climate is very low, but one player testing positive to the COVID-19 virus could drastically change the landscape.
It would mean that perhaps the season is begun, and then suspended for a period when the virus peaks in Australia.
Players have been told that the league has proposed a 20 per cent pay cut as a result of the crisis, which the Herald Sun understands a number of players are unhappy with.
AFL executives are also bracing to have their remuneration reduced as clubs desperately search for ways to cut costs.
Players will also be consulted on further protection methods, including further restrictions to club access, chartered flights and designated floors at hotels for away games.
AFLW PLAYERS GIVEN FOUR SCENARIOS
AFL Women’s players were provided their own teleconference on Monday night as the game grapples with coronavirus.
They were presented with four options.
All players were given the opportunity to have their say, with the results to form the AFLPA’s position in further conversations with the league.
The women — who are preparing for two more home and away games before a three-week finals series — were asked to nominate their preferences of the following four options:
■ Play the Grand Final this week between the top team in Conference A (North Melbourne) and Conference B (Fremantle) to ensure a premier.
■ Begin a finals series between the top two teams in each conference.
■ Continue the season as scheduled.
■ Stop the season in its tracks now.
The results of the AFLW survey are expected to be known on Tuesday, but The Herald Sun understands that there has been a push by Fremantle to stage the grand final this weekend.
UNDERAGE CHAOS WON’T AFFECT DRAFT
A leading recruiter has said he would be comfortable picking this year’s draft order based off what prospects had produced as 17-year-olds in 2019.
All Under-18 football is likely to be canned in 2020, although some talent spotters held out hope last night that some matches could be staged from June.
That would mean the 2020 crop of draftees would enter their first season of AFL football underdeveloped when compared to previous talent pools.
“That’s OK. There’s enough evidence to make good calls,” one chief said.
GIL’S PROPOSALS
Speaking Monday evening, AFL boss Gillon McLachlan could not say whether the 2020 season would be postponed as no decision had been reached, but he announced a raft of alterations, including:
■ AFL season cut to a 17-round season, with no double-ups
■ No decision on whether AFL or AFLW will be played this weekend
■ Mini-draft likely to help supplement lists
■ SANFL, NEAFL, WAFL, VFL starts May 31
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All 18 teams will play each other once, with the first four rounds of games to run as scheduled before a new draw is created for the rest of the campaign.
A decision on whether the season starts as planned at the MCG on Thursday night will be delayed until Tuesday.
“If it’s done by the end of September — fabulous — but if we need more time we’ll do that,” McLachlan told reporters.
“We have flexibility now with a 17-round season that buys more time.”
McLachlan said if one player tested positive for COVID-19 then the AFL will suspend the season.
“This unprecedented community challenge requires an unprecedented response. Football will find a way through,” McLachlan said.
“What we do know is we will get a season away.
“We don’t have all the answers at the moment.
“We’re in constant contact with the clubs and the AFLPA.”
Originally published as AFL players support play in Round 1 as AFL proposal could see 2020 season run until Christmas