AFL chief Gillon McLachlan told club CEOs at their recent two-day meeting to budget for a player wage increase in 2017 of between eight and 11 per cent. While McLachlan did not give an outline for the TPP beyond next season most clubs believe the increase in 2018 would fall to about three per cent with that figure to fall to two per cent in 2019.

But that offer is set to be rejected by the players who remain steadfast in their push for a set percentage of the game's revenue and who believe a 10 per cent uplift remains a wage decrease in real terms.

The players' view is that the AFL is offering them materially less than the game's overall revenue increase.

With talks set to resume on Thursday between head office and the players' union the two bodies remain significantly apart in terms of the next collective bargaining agreement. With a genuine possibility of no deal being struck before the end of the season industrial action remains a strategic tool for the players looking beyond 2016.

Players' boss Paul Marsh, speaking at a function last week alongside Geelong boss Brian Cook, questioned why the union would take the strike option from the negotiating table but reiterated he doubted that the players would walk off the job and that it was not their preference.

The Cook view was players should not receive a percentage share of revenue due to the significant differences between overseas professional sports such as the NFL in the US. The clubs remain concerned at players pushing for a percentage of the game's gambling revenue.

McLachlan, who has spent the past six days at the Olympics as a guest of the Seven Network, is not expected to attend the meeting with AFL Players Association boss Marsh and his team with league executives Mark Evans, Ray Gunston and Andrew Dillon running the AFL negotiation.

McLachlan has made it clear to the clubs he would not contemplate working in an official financial partnership with the players and handing them a fixed percentage of the game's revenue after achieving the new six-year $2.5 billion broadcast deal.

The players are understood to be looking at between 24 and 26 per cent of that revenue and have been frustrated by the AFL's refusal to contemplate setting parameters around various revenue streams. They now earn an estimated 22 per cent of the game's revenue but that percentage would drop with a 10 per cent pay-rise next year.

The clubs' view is that a new collective bargaining agreement, which was expected to cover the life of the next six-year broadcast deal, could remain in limbo for 2017 contracts should no deal be reached.

Six clubs contacted by Fairfax Media indicated they were negotiating new deals on the basis of a 10 per cent uplift, while a further three were leaving new contracts with a clause to be completed once next year's TPP was announced.

The current salary cap sits at $10.3 millIon with next year's total player payments further complicated by the impending abolition of the veteran's allowance. Each club will be compensated to the tune of $400,000, a bonus for some clubs and a burden for others — like Geelong and Hawthorn — which have a long list of veterans.

Clubs and player managers remain unclear as to whether the AFL plans to roll that $400,000 per club into the TPP increase. With Andrew Mackie and Jimmy Bartel contracted and indicating their wish to play on next season the Cats have yet to make a call on Corey Enright or Tom Lonergan. Hawthorn face a similar dilemma over Luke Hodge.

In a bid to reduce Bartel's playing wage the Cats offered to also employ him as a part-time assistant coach, but that offer was rejected.