AFLPA boss Paul Marsh believes clubs will need more players, not less in 2021
AFL Players’ Association chief executive Paul Marsh believes clubs may need more players, not fewer, to deal with future congestion on the AFL calendar.
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AFL Players’ Association chief executive Paul Marsh believes clubs may need more players, not fewer, to deal with future congestion on the AFL calendar.
With clubs and the AFL under serious financial pressure due to the competition shutdown, there have been calls to cut playing lists by up to five each as part of a leaner club model for 2021.
But Marsh believes the time between matches this season – when it finally gets underway – is likely to be shortened, while the break between seasons is also set to be condensed, making life tough for players even before cutting lists.
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“We’ve always said our job’s not to maximise the number of contracts for players it’s to get the right number, but at this point in time we haven’t seen any good arguments to suggest we need to cut list sizes,” Marsh told Fox Footy Live.
“When we think about potentially how the next 18 months is going to play out, potentially we’re bringing the two seasons closer together (and) we’re compressing the breaks between games, so I think there’s a very strong argument to say we’re going to need more players, not less.
“We’d need to see some compelling arguments to suggest we need less players, but like everything at the moment we’ve got to remain open-minded and we’ll keep talking to the AFL.”
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Originally published as AFLPA boss Paul Marsh believes clubs will need more players, not less in 2021