Carlton's AFL stars are playing hard-ball on the club's plea for a pay cut, demanding access to the club's finances to determine if they were being told the truth about its predicament.

Carlton players met with the AFL Players Association on Thursday, which in turn met with player agents and then forwarded a response to Blues president Ian Collins.

Negotiations will continue, but the players appeared highly unlikely to agree to Carlton's request for a 25 per cent salary sacrifice by the club's top-paid on-field earners, with a compromise deal the best Collins could now hope for.

The players were seething that Collins went public on the needs for a pay cut and also threatened to sack Carlton players if they did not agree.

The players had demanded access to the details of player contracts and the financial position of the club to determine if Collins' claims were legitimate.

The AFL would also play a role, being asked to verify the particulars of Carlton's player contracts.

"The players are prepared to enter into discussions with the Carlton Football Club on re-negotiation of their contracts with a view to assisting the club in meeting its obligations under the AFL Player Rules and specifically the TPP (Total Player Payments) for 2003," a joint statement from Carlton and the AFL Players' Association said.

"The players' offer to enter into those discussions is conditional upon agreement by the club, the players and the AFL on an appropriate time frame over which the negotiations will be conducted and agreement that the discussions be conducted on a without-prejudice basis with details of those negotiations to be kept confidential to the parties.

"Players believe the appropriate way to deal with this is through confidential discussion, with the first step involving the provision of information to the senior group of players which involves detailed player contract information to be confirmed by the AFL and other financial information by the club.

"Once this information has been provided, discussions will then proceed with a view to rectifying Carlton's current predicament in a manner that is acceptable to both parties."

Carlton must register estimates of its 2003 player payments with the AFL by December 6.

The Blues contracts were thought to currently total $7.3 million for 2003, vastly above the $5.95 million cap - hence the need for rapid and radical pay cuts.

The club has already been fined $930,000 and suffered major draft sanctions for breaches of the salary cap in recent years and a further breach is likely to result in even more draconian penalties.

The nine players involved in the talks were captain Brett Ratten, the club's highest-paid player Anthony Koutoufides, Lance Whitnall, Scott Camporeale, Simon Beaumont, Glenn Manton, Adrian Hickmott, Corey McKernan and veteran Andrew McKay.

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