AFL deal has players on a good wicket

AFL clubs and out-of-contract players can look forward to a bumper October.

Australia’s top cricketers cannot look with any confidence beyond July 1. The AFL players’ six-year, $1.84 billion pay deal unveiled on Tuesday is in stark contrast to the heated pay talks between Cricket Australia and its players.

Australian cricket’s current pay deal expires on June 30. Neither party is backing down.

The AFL, of course, had its own problems before the league and the players association presented a united front at Tuesday’s announcement. In early February, Collingwood captain Scott Pendlebury said if players association boss Paul Marsh asked him to lead a sitdown protest at a pre-season game, he would do so.

For now, the big difference between the AFL and cricket is that the league and its players found common ground.

What it means is that this year’s post-season AFL trade period is certain to be a frenzy.

A key feature of the new deal is a whopping, front-loaded pay increase of 20 per cent, effective immediately. That means players coming out of contract this year, such as Mitch McGovern, Jake Lever, Steven May, Joe Daniher and Daniel Rioli are set for big pay rises and clubs will have deeper war chests for recruiting drives. Top players are certain to secure million-dollar deals. Sev- eral Victorian clubs are trying to entice emerging GWS midfielder Josh Kelly back to his home state with massive offers.

Just over a month after the AFL trade period ends, the Ashes series opens in Perth.

Such is the stalemate in Australian cricket, vice-captain David Warner has warned the Ashes could be in doubt.

A keen observer of Tuesday’s AFL announcement, the Australian Cricketers Association took a thinly-veiled swipe at Cricket Australia. “Partnership works — that’s the message. And it’s what the AFL and the AFLPA are starting to embrace,” ACA chief Alistair Nicholson said.

“What these two parties are trying to achieve is what cricket has enjoyed for 20 years.

“The AFL is at a different stage of evolving the partnership than cricket. But what’s clear is that this sense of co-operation is the way to go.”