Geelong AFLW player Meg McDonald explains why she voted against the current CBA proposal
As the AFLW moves into its third season, Geelong’s Meg McDonald, who voted against the proposed CBA, explains why the attitude of players should no longer be that they’re just ‘happy to be here’.
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The AFL Women’s playing group might be divided at the ballot box but it is united in its intent, Geelong defender and deal-opposing Cat Meg McDonald has declared.
And she is adamant that the 2020 season is not under threat.
McDonald, 28, is part of the 30 per cent of players that rejected the collective bargaining agreement that was put to the playing fraternity last week.
She said players are “more engaged than ever before” and committed to a competition that they simply want to see succeed.
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“It’s the first time it’s a three-year deal, you’ve got (a) more and more educated playing group that is living in 2019 when it’s a completely different year for women in sport around the world this year,” McDonald told the Herald Sun.
“That’s in the backs of peoples’ minds. Also, a bunch of us have been in AFLW for three to four years. You are moving beyond the ‘grateful’ and the ‘happy to be here’, which remains to be true, but you also know the reality of the pressures you face and the day to day living experience and are therefore more engaged in what you think the conditions need to be.”
The AFLPA has said it intends to meet with players this week to determine where their concerns lie.
McDonald said the decision of a group of players, which also includes Carlton forward Darcy Vescio, to engage lawyers Maurice Blackburn in the process had not been as a result of questioning the intent of the AFL or AFL Players’ Association, but to seek advice and consult in what has been a new process for many.
Players are pushing for more clarity around season length, which they want increased to 13 games by 2022, conditions for players and more involvement in negotiations.
“Whether you’re in the 70 (per cent that voted yes) or the 30 (per cent that voted no) … we all want the same thing,” she said.
“Fundamentally, every player wants it to be successful and a sustained competition and working towards that. We absolutely all fundamentally agree on that point. We’ve got different ideas on how we might get there and a timeline, because the playing group is so diverse and we’ve all had different understanding.
“In some of it the word pay comes up, but we just want to be paid for the hours of work that we do. All of us … are hustling and trying to make this as good as it can possibly be and you just want that to be recognised.”
McDonald said requests to have vision for the competition and clear measures written into the CBA were simply there as safeguards for the future should key competition personnel change.
She said players are ready to start pre-season next month and said all players were committed to playing in 2020.
“(While we’re looking to) improve the conditions of the CBA, we fully expect to start the season on time and don’t expect the season is under threat at all,” she said.
“Of course we want to play. And I believe that we will play.”
She said her passion for the fight had stemmed from a childhood where she never thought playing AFL would be a possibility, which had only been fuelled by an interest in gender theory and the competition.
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“It’s about women exploring their rights in an industry that hasn’t always included them but that is really trying to,” she said.
Legitimacy of the competition was also a key pillar in the push.
“It’s trying to grow it and make it a fully-fledged competition,” McDonald said.
“We want it to be fair and to have integrity in the way that the men’s does, but that’s the motivation — we want to win a premiership off the back of full pre-season, full home and away.”
Originally published as Geelong AFLW player Meg McDonald explains why she voted against the current CBA proposal