Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes has said player should ‘just zip it for a while’ on their pay-cut negotiations, or risk alienating fans even further during the footy shutdown.
The AFL Players Association and the AFL remain at loggerheads over what is a fair pay cut for the playing group, with AFLPA president Patrick Dangerfield calling for more financial transparency from league headquarters.
Cornes, known for not holding back an honest opinion, gave his take on the standoff this morning.
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50% pay cut is pretty painful
2:16
“I think the reputation and the divide between the average fan, who most have lost their job this week and are facing unforeseen circumstances like everyone are going ‘you’re going about this the wrong way’,” he said on SEN’s ‘The Captain’s Run’.
“So the last thing the players can do is afford to get the fans offside and tarnish their reputation a little bit with the way they’ve gone about this… right now the players have got to be really careful about how they’re being perceived by the average fans.
“I really thought it was in poor taste for Dangerfield when he came on with (Gerard) Whateley during the week to demand that the AFL show them their books.
“I just thought Danger, you’re a smart guy, you’re representing the players, what more evidence do you need from the AFL for them to show you their books than they laid off 80% of their staff on Monday, like surely that is enough evidence of what the AFL books look like right now.
“I’ve had so many text messages from just your average footy people that are mates of mine saying what are the players doing, the way they’re going about this is wrong, and perhaps it’s time that they just zip it for a while, let the key people negotiate this pay deal and the players perhaps don’t need to comment on this because the way they’ve gone about it is completely wrong.”
