AFLPA boss Paul Marsh hits back at suggestions player push for 22-game season is about money
The AFL Players Association has hit back at suggestions their push for a 22-game season is about money after the league announced it would push for a 17-game campaign.
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AFL players have strongly denied pushing to play 22 games this season is a cash grab amid the growing coronavirus crisis.
It emerged yesterday players want to keep open the possibility of playing a full season this year despite the AFL on Monday announcing it would be cut to 17 rounds.
The Herald Sun reported on Wednesday players were not consulted by the AFL before chief executive Gillon McLachlan made the bombshell announcement about the 17-game season.
It has ignited suggestions it is a push by the players to play a full season so they don’t have to take a mooted 20 per cent pay cut.
“Absolutely not. I think the direction this has taken yesterday is incredibly disappointing,” AFLPA boss Paul Marsh said.
“What we’ve said, I want to be really clear about this, players both male and female are prepared to play. They are not going to play in circumstances where their safety or the safety of the community is going to be compromised but we’re relying on the AFL and the government to tell us whether it’s safe or not.
“Our point is: Why would we lock into a 17-game season right now when potentially we come out the other side of this and there’s still an option to play a 22-game season.
“This industry and the broader community is going to be bleeding, everybody is going to be affected by this and all we’re saying is, can we keep that option open?
“When we come out the other end it may be possible to play 22 rounds, it may be that we can only play 10, it may be we can’t play any at all but it just seems if we lock into 17 right now, we have no chance of getting to a 22-game season.
“Right now is a time for cool heads, not rash decision-making.”
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Geelong star Tom Hawkins said the players aren’t thinking about money.
“We’d love to play not because we want to be paid but because we understand the importance of football for our environment and the community,” he told Triple M.
“If and when we do go into isolation and lockdown, if it’s a safe environment for players to play, what an opportunity we have to provide some sort of entertainment that are in isolation or lockdown.”
Marsh said the players don’t want a decision on the length of the season this year to be rushed because the football industry is relying on them.
“The AFL were completely aware that that was our position going into yesterday and I don’t think we’ve come out at all and demanded 22 games. What we’ve said is we just want to defer this decision until we can actually make it at a time where we’ve got a bit more certainty,” he said on SEN.
“This is not us saying we need to push ahead under any circumstances and play 22 games. This is, right now, we don’t know what’s in front of us and listening to that (Scott Morrison) press conference, the prospect of us playing 22 games is much less likely than it was when you and I started this discussion.
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“But all we’ve said is we want to keep that option open. We don’t understand why we need to make this decision right now.
“We are going to have a period of great uncertainty ahead of us where we’re all going to have to sit down, reassess and put a plan together.
“All we’ve said is this industry is relying upon the playing group for its future, for the industry’s future. For all the people that work at the football clubs and the AFL and the players are part of this, we just wanted the opportunity to not make that decision right now until we can sit down and work with some certainty.”
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Marsh said he was aware a 17-game home-and-away season was being discussed a possibility but as far as he knew, no decision had been made.
That was, before McLachlan announced it late on Monday.
“For transparency, Gillon and I had been talking about this as something they’d been thinking about, but we certainly hadn’t got to a point where we knew that that decision had been made,” Marsh said.
“Everyone is in shock at the moment. We’ve got a situation here where we’ve got to react to what’s come out of this.
“I don’t think that was ideal, I think Gil would probably acknowledge that, but at the same time we understand why he made that decision the other day. All we’re doing is saying let’s keep our options open as we work through what’s going to be the most uncertain time any of us has ever faced.”