The AFL Players' Association is staring down the AFL over the league's deadline of Thursday to accept the latest pay offer.

AFLPA player relations general manager Ian Prendergast engaged in political brinkmanship on Tuesday, implying that the players were miffed at the short turnaround following AFL chief Andrew Demetriou's decision to present a "final offer" on August 31.

"We're in the process of finalising what our response will be at the moment and hopefully we can meet that deadline in terms of providing the AFL with a response by Thursday," Prendergast told SEN Radio.

"But if it takes us a little bit longer, so be it.

"We're hopeful we can respond within that time frame.

"But the AFL did have our counter proposal for about six weeks and we've now got two weeks to respond.

"So if it takes a little bit longer, I don't think there's any real issue there."

Demetriou has offered a five-year deal worth $1.144 billion, in line with their next broadcast agreement.

The AFLPA wants a fixed-share revenue model, which Demetriou says simply won't happen. The players are also seeking a three-year deal.

Demetriou's final offer over five years is a $54 million improvement on the AFL's earlier proposal.

"We've taken our time to analyse the offer the AFL have put to us," Prendergast said.

"We've exercised a willingness to compromise leading up to this point.

"It may be that there's further compromise needed from either side before we can reach the agreement.

"The negotiations are pretty complex in terms of the number of claims on the table."

Carlton captain Chris Judd said if the AFL was willing to give ground on the duration of a new collective bargaining agreement, it might be a circuit-breaker.

Judd said if the deal was limited to three years or less, the fixed-percentage claim would become less important.

"If you wanted a five-year deal then I think the players would be more focused on having a share of revenue, because obviously a lot can change in five years," Judd said on Monday night.

"If it was a shorter deal, then it would make sense that perhaps that wasn't as important an issue, because you could foresee what's going to happen in one or two years, or maybe even three years."

AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said last month the fixed-share revenue bid from the AFLPA was a "destructive" system that would further widen the gap between the rich and the poor.

Media reports on Tuesday suggest the AFLPA could expect a heavy-handed response from the AFL if Thursday's deadline isn't met.

Demetriou told Triple M Radio he would be extremely surprised if the AFL's final offer was rejected.

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