AFLW players will immediately start preparing the case for a longer season after the improved one-year collective bargaining agreement struck last month laid the foundation for them to become fully professional by 2026.

They will do so in the knowledge they have a united playing group that is also working in lockstep with the AFL Players Association, overcoming the discord and rancour that punctuated the two parties’ relationship during CBA negotiations in 2019.

Essendon recruit and new AFLPA board member Cat Phillips was involved in discussions on both occasions.

“It’s definitely come a long way. I could not be happier with where we have got to,” Phillips said.

“Both the playing group and the AFLPA have put a lot of time and effort between then and now into learning how to work well together and learning what we both need from each other.”

One of the biggest steps forward occurred at Tuesday night’s annual general meeting when the AFLPA board became for the first time made up of four current AFL players and four current AFLW players.

Giants pair Isabel Huntington and Annalyse Lister, Carlton’s Kerryn Herrington and Phillips joined Collingwood’s Darcy Moore, the Giants’ Phil Davis, Geelong’s Patrick Dangerfield and Port Adelaide’s Tom Jonas on the board. Carlton’s Ed Curnow will continue on an interim basis while the structure settles.

Phillips said equal representation would increase understanding of each cohort’s needs as she complimented those who had sat on the board previously, such as Daisy Pearce, Leah Kesler and Meg Downie, for the work they had done under difficult circumstances to advance AFLW.

The AFLW players will now earn incomes in 2022 that reflect the time they spend developing playing careers. But they also showed their unity with the men when they rejected an attempt from the AFL to use the $55 million they owed the male players to fund pay increases for the women this year.