Pendlebury says he'd take action over pay

Collingwood captain Scott Pendlebury is willing to be part of a player protest during AFL pre-season matches as pay negotiations continue.

Pendlebury said it might be time for the players to take a stand, with no clear indication of when their association and the AFL will reach a deal.

The players are adamant they want a fixed percentage of the game's revenue.

"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 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 (pre-season) game.

"I have no qualms sitting down at the first quarter, not at all."

Pendlebury said he would take the counsel of AFL players association chief executive Paul Marsh.

"You model yourself off what the best businesses in the world have done, and sporting (leagues)," he said.

"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'..."

Pendlebury also acknowledged that any player action would not be popular with fans.

"They'll be spewing, and rightly so," Pendlebury said.

At the end of last month, Marsh said a strike was unlikely, adding it was the last thing the AFLPA wants.

Six years ago, Essendon star Jobe Watson flagged a player sit down at the start of a match to protest against the league's new substitute rule, but it did not go ahead.

"Jobe Watson's already put it on the agenda ... he's one of the most respected figures in the game," Pendlebury said.