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AFL Players Association boss Paul Marsh admits he had to get his own house in order before achieving the most complicated collective bargaining agreement in the game\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
Having brought together Australian football\u2019s elite men and women for the first time in a complex $2.2 billion, five-year pay deal, Marsh said he was forced to put his hand up four years ago when the players\u2019 association\u2019s uneasy relationship with key AFLW players threatened to reach breaking point.<\/p>\n
Carlton, St Kilda, Geelong and Greater Western Sydney \u2013 led by Darcy Vescio, Cat Phillips, Meg McDonald and Pepa Randall \u2013 initially had rejected the AFLW\u2019s new CBA in a move that threatened to derail the 2020 season as the fledgling competition considered splitting with the AFLPA to form its own union.<\/p>\n
Gender workplace advocate Prue Gilbert quit the AFLPA\u2019s women football advisory group, saying the union had failed over four years to provide a level playing field for the women\u2019s competition.<\/p>\n
While an agreement was eventually reached, the lingering bad blood resulted in Marsh to move to review the players\u2019 association and its relationship with the women\u2019s competition. The research project was overseen by consumer psychologist Anna Box and her findings transformed the players\u2019 union.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe realised we needed to take stock,\u201d said Marsh of Box\u2019s findings. \u201cThe piece of work we did spoke to a lot of our players and we learned what we weren\u2019t delivering on and probably revealed a lack of communication.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re going to run a body that represents AFLW players and genuinely to be representing them we needed to ask ourselves: \u2018How do we resolve this?\u2019 We developed a vision to change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marsh said the women players needed to be treated differently from the men for a raft of historic and potentially gender-specific reasons. \u201cWith the men, there\u2019s an inherent trust built up over years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were treating both groups equally, but the women wanted a higher level of detail. Whether that\u2019s an inherent trait we needed to tailor our communication.\u201d<\/p>\n
The results of the project \u2013 Box was later recruited by the AFL to study the roles of women in football departments across the 18 clubs \u2013 led to Marsh finally appointing Julia Chiera 12 months ago as the players\u2019 association\u2019s head of AFLW. And three AFLW players, including Phillips, were added to his board.<\/p>\n
While the historic pay deal will also be remembered as Gillon McLachlan\u2019s last major deal as CEO, its major significance lies also in Marsh\u2019s ability to bring together two vastly different playing groups pushing for vastly different outcomes.<\/p>\n
Only weeks ago he hinted at industrial action while also working to appease male players growing frustrated with the AFLW\u2019s insistence upon holding out for more games and the best deal possible. This in an environment where several powerful club bosses around the county had continually pushed against a joint deal in the first place.<\/p>\n
A reported 99.2 per cent of AFLW players ultimately voted for the deal, which has guaranteed them two extra games in 2025 and potentially 14 by the end of the agreement, depending on broadcast ratings. And it almost doubles the average wage over the life of the agreement.<\/p>\n
Frustrated at not having achieved 17 home-and-away games by 2027, a level of disenchantment lingers among the players, but the prevailing view is that Marsh and his lieutenant Brett Murphy fought valiantly for their increased annual fixture.<\/p>\n
The disenchantment has been largely levelled at AFL headquarters, although Laura Kane\u2019s appointment has already improved those relations.<\/p>\n
In 2019 Patrick Dangerfield chaired a players\u2019 board that included just one AFLW player, which proved divisive when the women\u2019s CBA was initially rejected. Now the split is 50-50.<\/p>\n
By all reports there was occasional tension too in the corridors of the Cattery, around the time Geelong\u2019s AFLW players overwhelmingly rejected the original CBA proposal put to them by Marsh.<\/p>\n
Dangerfield agreed with Marsh\u2019s assessment that the AFLW players had rightly demanded more detailed explanations of what they were being asked to accept.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe players\u2019 association was well-known to the men,\u201d said Dangerfield, \u201cand it had a track record of delivering. That wasn\u2019t the case with the women. We needed to break down those barriers and build that trust.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s been an integral part of this deal. Without that solid build-up of trust you don\u2019t get the uplift we\u2019ve seen from where AFLW was to where it is now. We know there\u2019s more to be done, but I honestly don\u2019t think this deal could have been pushed any further.\u201d<\/p>\n
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