The Australian Football League Women's pay deal is "set to be renegotiated at season's end," according to Eliza Sewell of the HERALD SUN. A belief that players are committing more than their contracted nine training hours per week -- and 20 hours of appearances over the season -- "is expected to lead to a fresh deal." The AFL's original offer of A$5,000 ($3,816) for the majority of players in the inaugural season was rejected by the AFL Players' Association "and a two-year deal struck," with the base wage set at A$8,500 ($6,488). The A$8,500 base wage was "calculated pro-rata on an AFL male rookie wage" of A$29.32 ($22.38) per hour. Players are "in reality spending between 12 and 17 hours training each week." On the current pay scale, those "extra hours are valued at" between A$1,495 ($1,141) and A$3,987 ($3,043) for the "17 weeks of official training of the 24-week contract." The AFL started a series of meetings with AFLW clubs to review "all aspects" of the competition, but declared discussions about a pay rise as "premature" (HERALD SUN, 2/8).
