AFL Now: Latest updates, injury lists, tribunal and team news on Tuesday ahead of Gather Round
AFLPA CEO Paul Marsh will depart the game in May for cricket, but the boss of the players’ association says he still has much to achieve before leaving footy.
Outgoing AFLPA boss Paul Marsh is hopeful of negotiating a way out of the quagmire of negotiations with the AFL over a new drugs policy before he swaps footy for cricket.
Marsh announced on Tuesday he would depart his post as AFLPA CEO at the end of next month and return to cricket by taking up the equivalent post at the Australian Cricketer’s Association.
One of a group of things left as he begins to pack up his desk, the AFLPA and the league go back and forth on a new illicit drugs policy.
Marsh said the players were still waiting on details from Sport Integrity Australia after it believed the AFL handed over a list of players for target testing.
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“I am still here until the end of May, we’re working on that and we’ll see where it lands,” he said.
“We’ll certainly try. It is a complex issue but we’ve got the best part of two months to work through it.
“There’s two issues that are running parallel with the drugs policy. There’s the actual negotiation of what it looks like.
“Then there is the Sport Integrity Australia issue that we’re waiting on some answers from the AFL around what’s taking place there.
“I think that’s an important part of this. We won’t actually get an outcome until we understand what’s taken place and whether that was appropriate. The ball is in the AFL’s court on that at the moment.”
AFL CEO Andrew Dillon said the league will “look forward to working with Paul in finalising a number of initiatives before his departure, including strengthening the illicit drug policy and also working through the final changes to the injury and hardship Fund to provide increased support for former players, including those who have suffered the impact of concussion”.
The constant push and pull over the drugs policy is something Marsh will leave behind when he returns to the summer game.
Having recently chaired a subcommittee for the World Cricketer’s Association into international fixtures and revenue distribution, Marsh had his toe dipped back into cricket already before the ACA came knocking.
The son of legendary cricket figure Rod, Marsh said cricket was “in my blood”.
“I’ve been lucky enough that the AFLPA about 10 years ago tapped me on the shoulder and asked to be part of a process and the same thing happened with cricket and it was a good conversation,” he said.
“It has been a really difficult decision, I love what I do. I love the people we work with, it was just the timing and these things don’t come up all the time.”
In close to 11 years running the AFLPA, Marsh oversaw a dramatic increase in player wages, with the average salary of AFL players up to $459,173 last year.
He also led AFLW players further into professionalism, while navigating Covid.
“It is often hard when you are sitting on opposite sides of the table but I have always respected Paul’s commitment to the playing group and to issues that are important to players,” Dillon said.
AFLPA president Darcy Moore, who replaced Patrick Dangerfield in that role last month, said Marsh “has been a true player advocate”.
He will soon begin the hunt for Marsh’s replacement.
AFLPA board chair Kristen Hilton said the player body “will immediately begin the process of appointing the new CEO”.
In an expansive session with the media on Tuesday, Marsh also revealed:
- THE ongoing AFLPA investigation into Christian Petracca’s traumatic King’s Birthday injuries has yet to appoint a panel to oversee evidence of the incident.
The AFLPA has begun looking into how and why the Melbourne star was let back on the field with a lacerate spleen, four broken ribs and a punctured lung, and what medical facilities were available at the MCG that day.
The injury occurred on King’s Birthday in June.
“We are still putting the final touches on the panel, the approach, but we will work with the AFL on that,” Marsh said.
“There has been a fair bit of work don't on it, in terms of understanding what took place at the time and we have spoken to a lot of people, the AFL has spoken to a lot of people. In terms of the information gathering, it has largely been done but now it is about what does that all mean.”
- OSCAR Allen’s meeting with Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell and the subsequent media firestorm was “blown completely out of proportion”.
“There’s players doing this all the time, the players get this, they respect each other as individuals,” Marsh said.
“I have spoken to a lot of players about this and they’re wondering why such a big issue has been made of this because it is happening all the time.”
Marsh said the firestorm around the Eagles captain meant no player in the foreseeable future would go public mid-season on a desire to move clubs, which is common practice in the NRL.
“There is no incentive for players to announce this stuff,” he said.
- MENTAL health remains the No.1 issue in the game for players.
In Marsh’s time, clubs have taken strides forward to help the mental health of players, including adding psychologists to every AFL club.
“One of the things we do annually is we survey the players and get a sense of what their big issues are and mental health has been consistently the No.1 issue for the players,” he said.
“One of the things we are really proud of is the reform we have led throughout the industry. I think this is a high pressure industry and we have come a long way in this space in the last 10 or so years.”
- INTENSE scrutiny from the media was “going to be a bigger challenge going forward”.
“You would like to see a little bit more rationality in the media, I guess everyone is competing now for who can make the boldest, biggest statement,” he said.
Originally published as AFL Now: Latest updates, injury lists, tribunal and team news on Tuesday ahead of Gather Round
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