2010 Directors and Delegates Conference

On a frosty November’s morning, the AFL’s biggest stars began their 2010 AFL Players’ Association’s Directors & Delegates conference at the Sands Hotel in Torquay to discuss the issues facing current players and prepare as a united group for this important year ahead.

Over 40 players attended the annual event, with a major focus on ground surfaces, the upcoming CBA negotiations, player advocacy and engagement, authentication, board leadership and the new AFL Players’ Association branding – “For Players, By Players.”

Players also raised topics of their own, with one of the major player-driven issues being the AFL’s changing of travel partners to Virgin, which was raised by West Coast’s Adam Selwood during the AFL’s “Rules of the Game” session, run by Adrian Anderson.

Selwood was concerned that the taller players at his club would not be able to recover properly when returning from interstate trips due to inadequate leg room on Virgin’s planes.

“Our big guys like Cox and Naitanui need space to ice their legs and quite often they have to do this in front of families, which is an embarrassing situation for all involved and there is really no privacy. Why didn’t the AFL consult the players or at least the AFLPA before making this decision as we could have told them about these issues straight away” queried Selwood.

“The professionalism of our game has grown immensely, which is wonderful, however it doesn’t seem like the travel arrangements for players match the professionalism. International sporting stars certainly don’t travel like this, so I think it is time that we started treating the stars of our game in a similar manner,” Selwood added.

Many players in the room echoed his views, stating that their clubs had raised similar concerns.

Since this conference, the Players’ Association has been able to address this matter with the AFL on  behalf of players. We have succeeded in getting improved travel standards for players, after significant work with the AFL and Virgin, to ensure that this need for more room and privacy is taken into consideration.

AFL Players’ Association CEO Matt Finnis applauded Selwood for raising this issue.

“This is exactly what the conference is designed for. Players were aware of this issue and took the opportunity to bring it to the attention of the AFL and we have now worked with the AFL to improve this situation for our members.”

“This Association was created ‘For Players, By Players’ so it is crucial that the players are aware that we are there to serve their interests and the more feedback and engagement we can get from them the more effectively we can deal with the interests of our members.”

Another session which sparked great interaction was the ground surfaces discussion. Will Minson was particularly passionate about this topic and was very clear that elite athletes should not be expected to play on anything but elite surfaces and that the current standard of grounds, particularly at VFL level, was not satisfactory at all times.

General Manager Player Relations, Ian Prendergast explained the measures the Association is currently taking to ensure the surface of grounds reaches the highest standard.

“We regularly inspect playing services and are trying to ensure the safety of our players is at the forefront of everything we do. At this conference we are looking for further ideas and discussion with players to discover the best way to regulate ground surfaces and it helps when they provide feedback after their games as they are the best judge of how it feels when they are out there”.

At the conclusion of the sessions dinner was served and players were privy to the views of guest speaker Peter Maher, a former director at the Melbourne Storm, who spoke of how he and three other former directors took on media giant Fairfax Media in a legal battle after the Melbourne Storm salary cap issue arose.

During breaks throughout the two days, players took the opportunity to show their prowess on the golf course through putting competitions while others just relaxed in the players’ lounge playing competitive Xbox 360 tournaments.

Overall, the conference was a great success and ensured that the players and their Association are moving in the same direction as we prepare for one of the most important years in our history during which we will fight for a fair deal for players through the next CBA negotiations.