AFL Players’ Association set to reject to new AFL pay deal as negotiations continue

FOOTY’S pay war has escalated with players set to reject a new offer from the AFL that would deliver massive gains in year one before dropping significantly.

Patrick Dangerfield is a AFLPA board member.

FOOTY’S pay war has escalated with players set to reject a heavily front-ended AFL deal that would deliver massive gains in year one but increases of 1 per cent a year to follow.

AFL chiefs gave the AFL Players’ Association details of the offer verbally last week, with a formal document to be tabled within days.

The league’s proposed agreement is for six years. An initial 20 per cent boost would increase the pay of the average player to around $300,000 to $360,000.

But the player union believes the much smaller pay increases in years two to six would result in the stars’ current cut of the game’s wealth falling over the course of the agreement.

The development is poised to further delay resolution of already protracted negotiations.

The union and league have reached broad agreement on a mechanism for players to receive a slice of any unbudgeted AFL revenues.

AFLPA board member Patrick Dangerfield, president Matthew Pavlich and CEO Paul Marsh. Picture: Alison Wynd

While parties have agreed on what AFL moneys would be part of that arrangement, they are still apart on what club revenues should be counted.

Clubs are becoming increasingly frustrated by the salary standoff, which comes more than six months after the expiry of the last agreement.

Clubs and player agents still do not know how much players will earn this season, let alone future years.

One club chief said if the dispute continued for another month, it would become a serious issue for the game.

Superstars Nat Fyfe and Dustin Martin are being courted by rival clubs, but the lack of certainty over the size of total player payments is complicating matters.

The club salary cap stands at $10.37 million, and the AFL’s proposed initial increase would inflate that figure to $12.4 million.

Separate player marketing and promotional payments of just over $1 million per club are excluded from the proposed increases.