CHIEF executive Cameron Schwab says the club wants to be at the forefront of the AFL’s equalisation debate.

Schwab acknowledged that Melbourne needed to grow its profit model, but he was emphatic about the club championing the conversation on this pressing topic.  

“There will be a big debate about the AFL equalisation … and we want to lead that discussion,” he said at Melbourne’s annual general meeting at the MCG on Wednesday night.

“I agree with [president] Don [McLardy] … there’s a greater good [of the game] associated with it, but we want to be opinion leaders in that area.

“We’ve done a lot of work in this over a period of time.”

In late January, the AFL sent an equalisation discussion paper to all clubs outlining the facts about the position of AFL clubs.

It also looked at why problems exist in the competition. Clubs have been asked for feedback on how the AFL might address some of these issues.

The widening gap between clubs’ ‘haves and have nots’ has become an issue in the competition, particularly the disparity in clubs’ football spending.

One idea which has been mooted publicly has been a ‘luxury tax’ for football spending.