AFL superstar Patrick Dangerfield says the threat of players striking is greater in cricket than football as both sports continue to broker new pay deals.
Dangerfield, a director on the AFL Players Association, has had an important, and sometimes public, role in negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement with the AFL. The two parties are close to a deal, which will see the salary cap increase by $2 million this year, among other initiatives.
In what has been a time of industrial upheaval for sportsmen and women in several codes, Dangerfield has kept a close eye on the ugly spat between Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers Association, which has descended into turmoil ahead of the June 30 deadline.
Players want mediation but CA continue to refuse this, with an internal CA document obtained by Fairfax Media highlighting why the governing body wants a major change to the set-percentage revenue model which has been used since 1997.
Brownlow medallist Dangerfield said on Saturday he did not believe the cricketers would budge from what they wanted in a new memorandum of understanding.
"Cricket have had that - they have had an agreement where they were partners in the game but what Cricket Australia want to do at the moment is renege on that deal and change how it is set up. I can't see Cricket Australia players changing their position on a percentage share because that's what we as AFL players have been fighting so hard to achieve," he said on 3AW.
"We [the AFLPA] are very, very close to finalising a deal. I imagine that would be done in the next few weeks, so it's positive from our front. The same can't be said about cricket.
"For us as AFL players, we have got to negotiate with 850 players. Everyone talked about a strike early in the season. For us to do that, which we never wanted to do in the first place, it's a lot of players you have to deal with.
"For Cricket Australia, they really only have to do deal with 12 players. It doesn't influence that many. The profound influence in terms of the sport would be huge. There is a greater risk for industrial action I think from a cricketer's perspective."
The ACA, however, is fighting for CA-contracted and state-based players to be treated equally and share in the percentage-of-revenue model - many more players than the dozen in the Test side.
The AFLPA negotiations have been led by chief executive Paul Marsh, who previously had been in charge of the ACA and enjoyed a relatively friendly partnership with CA.
Under chairman David Peever, CA has adopted a more hardline approach, with the ACA of the belief the governing body wants players to be more like employees than partners.
If there is no deal by July 1, CA says it will lock players out and they won't be paid. Players have moved to establish their own image rights company, giving rival CA sponsors and broadcasters the opportunity to establish rebel leagues should the players be "unemployed".
The cricketers have said in their submission they would be prepared to take a pay cut should revenues fall but Dangerfield suggested AFL players would not follow that lead in their CBA.
