AFL players playing for Australia’s ten Victoria clubs are in agreement with the league’s plan to cram as many games into the next couple of weeks as possible, says AFL Players’ Association big-boss Paul Marsh. But those same players are only willing to run the increased risk of injuries sustained due to games played nearly daily, if the AFL were to agree to suspend the current discussions surrounding the indefinite freezing of player contracts. The gist of it is that players want some form of security for their futures, explained Marsh.
What the league is essentially proposing is a total of 11 games (both home and away) games played over the course of only 8 weeks. The increased risk of future-compromising injuries isn’t worth the potential damage if the league isn’t willing to compromise from the other end of the bargaining table.
The idea, according to fixtures boss Travis Auld, is to re-align the schedule in such a way that a couple of weeks previously lost are re-gained. And then, after the initial couple of weeks of hard play, to normalise the rest of season on the backend of things. This particular approach, said Auld, was the approach that had garnered the bulk of the support.
But a compacted couple of weeks’ worth of play isn’t the only issue players will have to deal with within the scope of a new and unprecedented situation. Since Victoria is no longer a viable option for the purpose of a central hub, players will also have to up and move to Queensland for the duration of whatever emerges as a “rest of season”.
Getting out of Victoria is the only way to successfully continue the season, said Auld.
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