Essendon has been forced to apologise to its players after initially planning to withhold a percentage of their salaries.
The Bombers notified players via email last Friday that nine percent of their wages for the month of November would be withheld due to the AFL’s cuts to the salary cap.
Essendon CEO Xavier Campbell conceded the club could have handled the situation better.
“I have apologised to the players for how this matter was handled,” Campbell said in a statement.
“We should have done it better, we needed to do it better, and we will do it better moving forward.
“In recent days, I have had productive discussions with members of the leadership group and playing group, including captain Dyson Heppell, and the players are aware the club was not acting with any ill-intent.
“I’d like to thank the players for their understanding. We look forward to working through this with them over the coming weeks to finalise the process.”
Bombers players have been paid in full for November following the club’s backflip.