Upon landing a second major sponsor for the Pies' women's outfit – insurance company CGU, signed for three years but is looking for a longer term commitment –  Pert's candid take on pay highlights an emerging contradiction.

Collingwood is not the only AFL club saying sponsors are clamouring for a commercial slice of the female league, which launches  as an eight-week, eight team competition in February and which Pert considers a "potential juggernaut".

According to clubs, businesses that have never shown interest in associating with men's AFL are coming forward to be involved with the women's game. Pert has told Fairfax Media it is the tip of the iceberg: "I think it's very realistic that some of our current major sponsors would be spending as much, if not more, in the women's [Collingwood AFL and netball] teams as they are in the men's in future."

Yet as it stands the AFL will pay the vast majority of players who will be recruited in Wednesday's draft  just $5000 to train from November and play the inaugural season.

Pert, who sits on the Victorian sport Male Champions of Change group, said before the drafting of some 145 female footballers: "To most people it wouldn't make sense that the men get paid so much compared to the women … The figure, to me, is something that is a long way from ideal.

"I think it's frustrating for us all to actually see those small numbers, which is why I want more sponsorships in and I want there to be new flexibility so we can encourage more sponsors in there.

"We literally have more sponsors than we can take on board, so help us find a way to do it because the more money in the competition the more we can say 'that justifies the girls getting paid more money' and that absolutely has to be a priority. One, it's not fair; two it will irritate not only the players but the supporters – we all want to see them paid well – and the most critical thing on this is that you'll lose the young athletes to netball and other sports where they will get rewarded at a much higher level."

Sixteen "marquee" players – already handpicked by clubs – will receive $25,000 in the AFL's proposed tiered pay structure that is being challenged by AFL Players' Association head Paul Marsh, even if not openly by leading female footballers. In a previous guise, Marsh brokered major pay wins for Australian female cricketers.

Under the AFL pay plan all female draftees can earn additional sums from their clubs, and the AFL itself, through ambassadorial, sponsorship and employment opportunities.

By comparison, Netball Australia announced in September that in a landmark deal the average salary for 80 players on 12-month playing contracts will be $67,500.

The average wage of a male AFL player hit $300,000 this year; essentially for a 12-month commitment.

While the women's AFL competition is so short – this is deliberate so that female state league competitions continue to grow – top female players will commence training with their elite clubs from November for a February-March AFL season.

Pert has rationalised his feelings on a pay increase but says it must happen post haste.

"I think we've all got to look at it as something that has to start at a point, like the men's competition. It's actually got to be commercially viable and if it's done really well, without overextending in the early parts, it allows for quick growth," he said.

"I think that as a target the women's AFL athletes need to be paid as quickly as possible what the elite netballers are being paid … I don't know how quickly the AFL, the sponsors, the broadcasters, everyone is going to get to that point but you will lose athletes if there's a difference."

In a bid to maximise dollars from – and for – women's footy, Collingwood is pushing the AFL to move the league logo to the back of female jumpers. The value of sponsorships will become clearer still once the AFL, which on Tuesday announced NAB as naming rights sponsor for the league, lands a television broadcast deal.

It's understood the AFL wants a minimum of two matches per week of the inaugural women's season fixture broadcast on television, plus the grand final.

Channel Seven's broadcast of a women's game between the Western Bulldogs and Melbourne was the most watched Saturday night game this season before finals. A raging success, it also attracted about 6000 spectators to Whitten Oval.