Mark Robinson: AFL and players can now settle pay cut dispute after finding out where each other stands
It may appear the AFL and its players are at war, but they’re not. While the two parties are yet to settle their differences on pay cuts they are closer to a resolution than what they were earlier in the week, writes Mark Robinson.
Mark Robinson
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Footy is a mess.
Life is a mess.
Fear abounds, as do egos and agendas, and everyone has to try to take a deep breath.
It’s easier said than done as reality hits every nook and cranny of normality, and while emotion is running hot.
Footy itself is in a tumble drier. The AFL, the players, the clubs, the presidents and the personalities are being tossed around and what started two weeks ago under an umbrella of collaboration amid the carnage, has become a bit of s--t fight.
Excuse the language, but to borrow a line from the great Sandy Roberts, what more can you say?
The AFL maintains it is confident an agreement will be made with the players sooner rather than later.
Yesterday, AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan held further talks with AFL Players’ Association boss Paul Marsh.
The players wanted more financial transparency from the AFL, which was voiced by PA president Patrick Dangerfield on Wednesday, and it’s understood McLachlan delivered to Marsh what the players wanted.
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The players had every right to demand from the league that information. It’s not that the players don’t trust headquarters — well, maybe a group of Essendon players might not — but they wanted to find out if the league was bluffing.
Was it as bad as McLachlan and club presidents were saying? If so, then show us.
So, well done to Dangerfield for talking publicly, and for being transparent about what the players wanted from the AFL.
A deal is being worked on, and as we outlined 10 days ago, it might involve players taking massive cuts now and into the foreseeable future and in return they get some of that money back when football is back on its feet.
Sounds like a plan.
While others are giving the players what-for as the negotiations drag on, the AFL has not been critical of the players’ stance. Nor have the players been critical of the AFL.
While those two parties are trying to work it out, however, others are throwing emotional bombs.
Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett has always been an interesting man. So, too, Eddie McGuire.
In this space, they have played important roles.
Both are members of the coronavirus crisis cabinet which also includes Western Bulldogs president Peter Gordon, Sydney’s Andrew Pridham and a bunch of commissioners.
Kennett said last week it was a collaborative group working for the good of football and that, basically, everyone was on the same page.
Hmmm.
This week McGuire said “we need to not screw the players’’ as savage cuts are made across the industry.
Then Kennett said on Wednesday the AFL season could be cancelled and all 850 players stood down if they refused to accept the league’s demand for an immediate 80 per cent pay cut. So much for singing from the same page.
It was an outlandish threat from former premier Jeff and one that certainly didn’t impress the AFL.
And then we have Leigh Matthews, the AFL legend who carries the moniker as the most pragmatic man in football.
He has savaged the players several times.
“I’ve lost a lot of respect for the collective player group over this last couple of weeks,’’ he said.
It prompted Richmond’s Jack Riewoldt to whack Matthews for his “irresponsible’’ attack.
“For an AFL great to say that about the current playing list I think is really disappointing,’’ Riewoldt said.
It’s messy and hopefully it will all be forgotten when Matthews next presents the Leigh Matthews Most Valuable Player award at the AFLPA awards dinner.