Tigers star Jack Riewoldt defends players after AFL legend’s ‘irresponsible’ pay cut criticism * March 25, 2020
* Source: FOX SPORTSRichmond star Jack Riewoldt says he’s disappointed in Leigh Matthews’ “irresponsible” comments about the playing group, as he strongly defended them from criticism surrounding pay cuts.
AFL legend Matthews poured fuel on the fire when he declared he had “lost respect” for today’s players because of the current debate over how much money should be withheld from them during the coronavirus hiatus.
The AFLPA has agreed to accept a 50 per cent pay cut, while the league is keen on a higher portion, given the lack of revenue coming into the AFL while games aren’t being played.
The players have said they’re working with the league to ensure the financial security of the competition, but that they need to be able to survive in the interim and to train fully for when the season resumes.
Riewoldt told AFL 360 the players are keen to re-evaluate the situation ahead of the May 31 target date for a possible return to normality, and fully understand they’re not going to be paid fully this year.
“I don’t think I can sit here and say one thing that would make everyone happy. That’s the crux of it,” Riewoldt said on Fox Footy.
“I was really disappointed by what Leigh Matthews said. ‘Disillusioned’ in the current playing list.
“We’ve only got to go back, what three weeks ago, and 45 or 50 of the best players of the game put their hand up and said we'll help Australia raise eight million dollars, and put our bodies on the line - which we do for a job and we love doing.
“We’ll do that, for what we want to do, we want to be apart of helping people who’ve been through bushfires.
“So for an AFL great of the game to say that about the current playing list I think is really disappointing. And Leigh has a strong opinion, and a well-heard voice, so I thought that was maybe a bit irresponsible.
“It's hard. We aren’t going to please anyone. I think the decision the PA has taken which is look, we’ve got 10 weeks, this is when we’re looking at getting the game up and going, any negotiations further on that need to be done when we actually know where the game’s going to be going.
“So at the moment we’ve put a position to the AFL that says let’s re-evaluate in 10 weeks’ time, probably six weeks’ time I think because we’ll know what’s going. People shouldn’t be under illusion that we’re gonna go, no no, we want to be paid fully then.
“If the game isn’t going, we understand that there’s a massive role for the players to take here. There'll be plenty of other cuts, we may see lists cut, we may see players’ jobs lost.”
Herald Sun lead football writer and AFL 360 co-host Mark Robinson then suggested the AFLPA’s position had come out “combative”, in a time when the sides should be working together.
But Riewoldt defended the players and said they voted to play 22 games this year, rather than 17, because that would mean more money for the league as a whole - and save jobs.
“You think that we wanted to pay 22 games because we want all of our pay,” he said.
“It’s a direct correlation - 50 to 100 million dollars a round is lost when we don’t play footy. If we play five less rounds, say 250 million dollars, they’re the jobs that are being cut now.
“We’re not saying ‘we definitely want to play this’, we’re saying if you want us to play 22 games in a shortened time, we’re happy to do it. Because we don’t want jobs to be lost.
“It’s a pretty simple equation. More games, more money, more people have jobs.”
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/tigers-star-jack-riewoldt-defends-players-after-afl-legends-irresponsible-pay-cut-criticism/news-story/4a3cb5d39392fa1a766c337e19b92136
