Mark Duffield: AFLW’s collective bargaining agreement is progress on a ‘work in progress’

Some collective bargaining agreements have the feeling of a destination reached. The AFLW CBA announced on Thursday, with a late August start to the season, reeks more of ‘let’s suck it and see’. I am not saying that’s not the prudent approach by the AFL, which is dealing with many unknowns and variables in this next season. But the 10 game home-and-away season followed by the finals extended by a week to four weeks has the look of a league which knows which direction it has to take its fledgling women’s competition, but is wary of the speed humps that may lie in its path. What had to happen was a significant pay increase and AFLW players will get that, with the very best players earning more than $71,000 per year and all players earning at least $39,000. The challenge will be meeting the AFLW’s stated goal of “year-round” athletes by 2030. The length of the home-and-away season has been pruned by a month and that is probably because of concerns about how the introduction of four more teams will affect the standard and competitiveness of the competition. Many were hopeful that one of the new teams, Port Adelaide, might ‘thin out’ Adelaide, who have clearly been the AFLW’s dominant club. But Port, who have been active in their list build, appear to have thinned out a few other clubs as well, while the struggles of strong clubs like West Coast and Geelong to build competitive AFLW teams sounds a serious warning. Having an AFLW grand final at some point in early to mid-December, in clear air from the men’s game, is a good move. But the shortened season with 18 teams leaves a lot of unanswered questions about the draw and whether competition fairness and integrity are compromised. This announcement was progress, but progress on something which is still very much a work in progress.