Brisbane Lions AFLW coach Craig Starcevich has called for the sport's elite male counterparts to "give up a piece of the pie" to help fast-track women becoming full-time professional footballers.
Speaking to ABC Podcast 'The W with Sharni And Sam' the reigning premiership coach said if he was granted one wish from AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan it would be making female players full-time professionals, tomorrow.
"It has to happen," Starcevich said.
Currently, just two players at each AFLW club will earn a competition-high maximum wage of $37,155, with most players (16 per club) to earn $20,239 per season in the semi-professional competition.
Starcevich, who's been at the helm of the Brisbane Lions since the inaugural AFLW season in 2017, said the next Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) was going to be decisive.
"The tricky bit now is I see a lot of the boys' representatives on the PA (Players Association) talk about their support for women's footy, which is absolutely brilliant," Starcevich said.
"That will be the absolute clincher."
"Because I can hear you Paddy [Patrick Dangerfield] (President of the AFL Players' Association) right now saying how much you support women's footy, but when it comes down to sitting down at the table and working out what piece of the pie you're prepared to go into bat for the women or even perhaps sacrifice to bump up the women's slice of the pie, how hard are you prepared to go at that?"
"It may not require a sacrifice, but if it did, to make sure that our players are fast-tracked towards full-time professionalism, are you prepared to do it?"
In December, the AFL launched its vision for the Women's competition over the next 10 years.
Under the plan, the league outlined its intention to have AFLW players be paid more than any other domestic women's competition in the country.
The plan also included the AFL's vision to have more than half of the competition's head coaches be women by 2030.
Starcevich said 10 years was too long.
"I think five years is a long term plan as far as football goes."
Starcevich believes that pulling the trigger on making the players full-time professional athletes would see all other objectives achieved, faster.
"If we went full time with our players, everything else underneath would come up to speed to make sure that we supported that.
"But it would be linked to the broadcast rights cycle and the next CBA, which is coming up shortly.
Carlton captain Kerryn Harrington told SEN Breakfast yesterday the demand on female footballers was at a tipping point.
"Each season, the expectation on the players continues to grow — as it should — towards a fully professional league," Harrington said.
"The challenge for the players which is ongoing, and it becomes harder and harder every year, is the balance between having a professional job outside of football and trying to reach the commitments and expectations that the football world holds.
"To be quite honest, the players are squeezed to the absolute max at the moment.
"The joy of playing football and the novelty of football I don't think will ever wear off. I think if you ask a group of men's players, they would feel the same."
Harrington is also a full-time physiotherapist.
"We're already training like we're fully professional. We spend close to 20-25 hours a week [at the club], so we're not far off," she said.
"The difference is we're also having to work somewhere between 30-40 hours outside of that to maintain our lives. It's difficult, particularly with the times at the moment and things chopping and changing."
