Re: AFLW 2022b - R9 vs Gold Coast - Friday @ Metricon.
Reply #25 –
I'm not saying AFLW is exclusively half-ar5ed, or that other sports are exclusively more professional, but it's pretty clear to me that while some in AFLW are trying their very very best to build a long term professional pathway, and are prepared to do the hard yards now to get that result, others are just making hay while the sun shines.
What worries me is that it seems to be the hay makers who are also the loudest voices of complaint, and as such I doubt they have best interests in mind for the game or those who come to the game after them.
Mind you this isn't exclusive to any sport, it's just a difficult time for AFLW. Jus a year or so ago Women's sport around the country was complaining that it was being deconstructed by the largess of AFLW, the money was too big, other sports couldn't compete. Not much has changed, except now many are using a lack of money as an excuse for the game not being an AFL like spectacle, it never will be no matter how much money gets thrown at it, and the problem isn't money at all, the problem as I see it is one of expectations!
I do not expect VFL players to earn money like AFL players, yet VFL games pull larger crowds than AFLW, while some in the AFLW bemoan wages and claim it would be an better product if wages had some parity, yet I doubt it will ever even match VFL!