AFL Players' Association chief executive Matt Finnis says his organisation never threatened to use a strike as a way of breaking the pay dispute with the League.

It was widely reported that the players were threatening to boycott the 2012 NAB Cup if their demands were not met, but Finnis insists that was not the case.

"I don't think either party have sought to conduct negotiations where you're trying to hold a gun to someone's head," he said after the new five-year collective bargaining agreement was announced at Lorne on Thursday afternoon.

"It's been something where I guess each party does their research, and understands the various negotiating positions of each party, but at the end of the day we've been very focussed on trying to get an agreement.

"AFL players are fantastic athletes and they want to play footy, and they want to play footy for the fans.

"So [a strike] would always be a last resort."

Finnis says the AFLPA was very content with the deal.

"I don't think it's a matter of how hard we played," he said.

"I think it's about how smart we were trying to be in the goals and objectives we had.

"At the end of the day we made it clear, even when the players came together in June, that our ultimate goal was to be able to negotiate an agreement with the AFL.

"What we're really proud of is that we've been able to do that.

"We wouldn't have been able to do that if we had not kept the doors open, kept the lines of communication open, when things were at their most robust.

"I think what's happened through that is we've been able to develop a capacity to work in good faith, with goodwill, to be able to achieve an outcome that I think is a great result."

The average AFL player will earn around $300,000 per year by the end of the new agreement.

With this in mind, Greater Western Sydney recruit Luke Power, who is the president of the AFLPA, says the players were conscious of not appearing greedy to the fans.

"I think there's always that risk," he said.

"Did we want to hold the game to ransom? No. We were just after a fair and reasonable share of the game, as we'd said all along.

"I think we've achieved that. [I am] very proud of the job that all of the players have done in sticking together through this.

"Not one player stepped out of the line. Everyone held the line, which is just a great achievement.

"It's a credit to Matt and all his staff at the AFL Players' Association, who've handled themselves with absolute class throughout this whole process."

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs