A Bigger Bite Of The Cherry: The AFLW’s Second 2022 Collective Bargaining Agreement

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On 19 May 2022, the Australian Football League (AFL) and Australian Football League Players’ Association (AFLPA) made an announcement concerning the launch of a second 2002 season for the AFLW. It will be an eighteen team competition with the inclusion of four new teams – Hawthorn, Port Adelaide, Essendon and Sydney Swans. Pre-season training will be nine weeks, down from the 10.5 weeks prior to the first 2022 season, which began in the week beginning 25 October 2021. The second 2022 season will involve ten rounds, kicking off on 25 August, coinciding with the bye before the commencement of the AFL men’s finals. There will be a final eight played over four weeks with the Grand Final penciled in for the last weekend of November.

 

The AFL and AFLPA also announced broad details of a new collective bargaining agreement which substantially increased payments to players, to the tune of 93.6 per cent. Such an increase may be a record not only for sport, but Australia as a whole. The AFLW makes use of a player roster of 30 players. It stipulates the level of payments for four Tiers of players. Tier One comprises two players, Tiers Two and Three six each and Tier Four 16. There are also extra payments for finals, Additional Service Agreements and Ambassadorial roles; plus, a number of players earn extra income from product endorsements and commentary gigs for both the men’s and women’s games. The AFL has also agreed to allocate $925,714 to the AFLPA to provide broad ranged support for AFLW players.

 

On 4 November 2019, I published ‘A Second Bite Of The Cherry: The 2020 to 2022 Wages Deal For the AFLW’ on the Footy Almanac website. It provided information on base payments, income from finals, Additional Service Agreements and Ambassadorial roles. Details on such additional sources of income were not contained with the release of this second 2022 agreement.

 

Table One provides a summary of the payments players received over the seasons 2019 to the first competition for 2022, and for the second 2022 season, with its four extra teams. Payments across the tiers have increased to a range of $39,184 to $71,935. Average payments, noting the above caveats concerning additional income sources, have increased from $15,827 in 2019 for 300 players, to $46,280 for 2022(II) for 540 players; almost tripling average incomes. ‘A Second Bite Of The Cherry’ provided details on additional sources of income available for players. Estimates, ‘best guesses’ have been made on increases to these sources for 2022(II); $450,000 for finals, $2 million for Additional Service Agreements and $200,000 for Ambassadors. If these ‘calculations’ are included, the average income for 2022(II) would increase to the vicinity of $52,000.

 

Table One

 

Club Player Payments 2019 to 2022

 

Tier	2019	2020	2021	2022(I)	2022 (II)
1 (2 players)	$24,600	$29,856	$32,077	$37,155	$71,935
2 (6 players)	$19,000	$23,059	$24,775	$28,697	$55,559
3 (6 players)	$16,200	$19,661	$21,124	$24,468	$47,372
4 (16 players)	$13,400	$16,263	$17,473	$20,239	$39,184
Total Payments Per Club	$474,800	$576,240	$619,109	$717,122	$1,388,400
Percentage Increase	(43.0%)	21.4%	7.4%	15.8%	93.6%
Total Player Payments	$4,748,000	$8,121,555	$8,722,078	$10,098,097	$24,991,200

 

Source: AFL and AFLPA websites.

 

 

AFLW players want to participate in a longer competition where all of the teams play each other once; a 17 Round competition. While this is shorter than the AFL’s 22 Rounds, AFLW players want to participate in a more fully fledged league and be employed on a full time basis in seeking to develop themselves to their full potential. They expect the AFL to provide them with the same training and medical support afforded to male players. The AFL has resisted this due to apparent broadcasting problems and part time players being unavailable for Friday night games and interstate travel due to secular work commitments. Going full time would solve such problems.

 

Another way to think about the announcement of a second AFLW 2022 season is to look at Table One and combine the income players will earn for both of the 2022 seasons; assuming we can ignore those who only played/will play in one season. This is done in Table Two.

 

Table Two

AFLW Player Payments 2022

Tier	2022(I)	2022 (II)	Total 2022	Twelve Month Equivalent
1 (2 players)	$37,155	$71,935	$109,090	$93,506
2 (6 players)	$28,697	$55,559	$84,256	$72,219
3 (6 players)	$24,468	$47,372	$71,840	$61,577
4 (16 players)	$20,239	$39,184	$59,423	$50,934

 

This shows that payments for individual players, ignoring income from other sources, for the two 2022 seasons ranged from $59,423 to $109,090. Training for season 2022(1) commenced in the last week of October, comprising 10.5 weeks of pre-season training, 10 Rounds, 5 Finals with the Grand Final on 9 April – a 25 to 26 week season. Season 2022(II) will involve 9 weeks of pre-season training commencing on 13 June, 10 rounds and 4 weeks of finals with the Grand Final in the last week of November – a 24 week season. If we add the two 2022 Seasons together we have players playing 20 Rounds and seven weeks of finals, which is almost the equivalent of AFL players – 22 Rounds, four weeks of finals and two weeks of byes. It is difficult to escape the conclusion that AFLW players have been successful in their quest to have the AFL agree to them playing in a ‘yearlong’ competition, even if it is played over what is called two seasons!

 

The income players receive over the two 2022 seasons was/will be paid over 14 months, from late October 2021 to late November 2022; though their contracts for 2022(II) are from 15 May to 31 December. It should be noted that they have had more than a month off since the end of Season 2022(I). All told, in 2022, they will have nine to ten weeks off from football training and playing commitments. Table Two provides a calculation of a twelve month equivalent of the total 2022 income that players have/will earn recognising that they actually received such income over 14 months. Additional income should also be added for the caveats noted above. While the average for the two 2022 seasons is in the order of $6,000 to $7,000 per player, its distribution would be highly skewed towards players in the top two Tiers. The discussion which follows will be based on the twelve month equivalent contained in Table Two.

 

The minimum annual wage for an adult who works full time, as last determined in 2021 by the Fair Work Commission, was equal to $40,172. A new determination is pending which, on the assumption of a five percent increase would increase the minima to over $42,000, for 2022. The average annual wage for all workers (part time and full time) in 2022 is equal to $67,860. For full time workers, the annual average wage for 2022 is equal to $90,324.

 

This information helps to put the increases contained in the 2022(2) collective bargaining agreement into a broader context. Prior to this agreement, there was no player whose base payments were more than Australia’s national minimum wage. Additional payments may have pushed 40 players above this minimum level. The 2022(2) agreement has pushed players from Tiers One to Three well above the minimum wage, with players on Tier Four being only slightly below it. Playing in the finals would probably push Tier Four players closer to or even above the national minimum. When we combine income from both 2022 seasons, all players, even on a twelve month equivalent, are well above the minimum. More significantly, approximately 150 players will be earning incomes higher than the national average income for all workers, and possibly 40 or so above the average for fulltime workers; in the vicinity of over $100,000.

 

AFLW players still receive incomes well below those earnt by AFL players. For 2022(I) their total income was below that of the salary cap for one AFL club. The agreement for 2022(II) has seen this increase to slightly less than two salary caps. But if we add them together they have received the equivalent of approximately 2.5 AFL club salary caps.

 

The AFL and AFLPA are committed to the AFLW being a fully professional full time competition by 2026. Given their incremental approach to introducing changes, it is likely that the future will witness a slow and steady pace in the number of rounds played to 12, then 14, 16 and ultimately 17. This will push the start of the AFLW season further back to overlap with the AFL season. This may provide the AFL with more broadcasting opportunities and for the AFL to spread the ‘Footy Gospel’ with more games being played across the length and breadth of Australia. With a lengthening season there will presumably be a need to increase the size of playing squads, given the ever present risk of injuries.

 

The AFL has also indicated it wants the AFLW to be the highest paid female players in Australian sport; though they have a long way to go if they want to catch up with the cricketers and Matildas. This presumably means that future deals will be associated with increases in payments coupled with increasing the number of players on higher paying Tiers and/or abolishing them altogether and instituting higher minimum payments across the board. Interesting, is it not, to speculate that by 2026 there may be 630 plus female players able to make decent levels of income, above that of average full time earnings, from playing AFLW; if it in fact happens it will be something that occurred in a single decade.

 

 

You can read more from Braham Dabscheck Here.

 

 

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