In a week in which boxer Anthony Mundine vowed to sit during the playing of the Australian national anthem, Collingwood captain Scott Pendlebury says he would also consider sitting as a form of protest.
With a resolution between the AFL and AFL Players' Association on the next collective bargaining agreement still elusive, a players' strike during the upcoming JLT Community Series was flagged as a possibility late last year by Brownlow medallist Patrick Dangerfield.
While AFLPA chief Paul Marsh said earlier this week a strike was unlikely, Pendlebury said that wasn't the only industrial action option open to the players during the pre-season matches.
"I think it's something that we've got to fight for and I don't think the players are going to blink either," Pendlebury said on a Collingwood club podcast.
"If the AFL's not going to blink and the players don't blink who knows what happens when the ball goes up in that first NAB Cup [JLT Series] game.
"I have no qualms sitting down at the first quarter, not at all."
The classy midfielder said AFL players could use the actions of players in major American sports as a reference point in fighting for better terms.
"You model yourself off what the best businesses in the world have done.
"The NBA has had two lockouts and played a 50-game season instead of an 82-game season to prove a point that, as players, we need to be more respected than what they felt they were.
"We listen to Marshy, we take his advice. If he comes to this football club and he said, 'Scott, in order to get this deal moving, we need you to sit out the first quarter'.
"And [Essendon midfielder] Jobe Watson has already put it on the agenda a few years ago."
Pendlebury said fans were unlikely to take kindly to industrial action. "They'll be spewing, and rightly so.
"But they will understand when the media print the story and print all the facts, they will read about it and educate themselves and understand it's all for a bigger product.
"And they will enjoy the game in the next season when the game is so much better when they get so much more player access."
Marsh played down the prospect of a strike when interviewed on Monday.
"I'm not going to sit here and pre-empt a strike or anything like that. That is the last thing we want. We want to get a fair deal done and we will keep negotiating hard until we get to that point," Marsh told SEN.
"I think it's a possibility but I'll give you another word, it's unlikely. I don't think that is where it will end up."
The players have long insisted they receive a fixed share of "football revenue", which has been their primary focus in negotiations with the league, while the AFL has largely kept quiet on the intricacies of the talks.
Meanwhile, Pendlebury looked ahead to the possibility of playing long-time teammate and now Western Bulldogs forward Travis Cloke when the Pies take on the Bulldogs in round one. Cloke became a Bulldog during last year's trade period after more than a decade at Collingwood.
"Trav wanted to go, the club was happy to facilitate a trade and it's been great for him to get to the Bulldogs," he said.
"It's weird when I see him running around in the red white and blue, but at Collingwood, we wish him all the best for round two."
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