Phillips hits out at AFLW uncertainty
As AFLW clubs around Australia began their pre-season, the league’s most decorated player, Erin Phillips, declared it was “not ideal” to have neither a start date or a pay deal locked away.
The start of the next AFLW season will be the first weekend of September, but who plays who and when and where remains a mystery for not just Phillips and Port Adelaide but every team.
The players’ union and AFL officials are also yet to finalise a collective bargaining agreement as talks continue, with the length of the deal believed to be a sticking point. Having so many significant unknowns remains a concern but Phillips, a triple premiership player at the Adelaide Crows and a dual league best-and-fairest winner, said that it was not important to get distracted by them.
“Obviously, it’s not ideal,” Phillips said on Monday as the 38-year-old began pre-season training with Port Adelaide.
“But it’s not something we’re thinking about. “We know roughly about when the season most likely will start and that will probably be, from what I hear is that (AFL men’s) bye weekend in August, September.
“And that‘s all we’re really focusing on at the moment ... we have got 12 weeks at the moment to get as good as we can in that time and get ready to play our first game. So, control the things that you can control and we’re doing that.”
Contracts for a full year, rather than the current ninemonth deals, are among those issues the AFL Players Association is trying to sort out.
Phillips said it shouldn’t hold up a call on the date to start the season.