FRUITFUL discussions between the AFL and the AFL Players' Association have both parties optimistic a collective bargaining agreement can be reached without disruption to the season.

AFLPA CEO Paul Marsh confirmed a News Corp report that positive negotiations since the beginning of the year have the parties inching towards an agreement. 

"There is a lot of work to be done, but we are having positive discussions and hopefully we can get there soon," Marsh told SEN radio.

Radical fixture change still on the cards for 2018

Players are demanding the salary cap be based on a set percentage of AFL and club revenue, while the League has been reluctant to agree to such a model.

Recent discussions are understood to have focused on a compromise position where players are granted a percentage of revenues that exceed the AFL forecast.

The players have been rankled in the past that recent agreements based on AFL revenue forecasts have seen them receive what they consider less than their fair share, when League revenues have far exceeded the forecast the initial agreement was based upon.

"The issue has been that when the revenue ends up being more than [forecast revenue] - and every single year it is more than what the numbers are forecast - then in our view the players haven't been getting their share of that revenue," Marsh said.

At a media briefing this week, AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan said he was confident a deal could be struck without the players taking industrial action. 

"Players having a mechanism where they share in the upside of the game is a principle we absolutely agree with," McLachlan said.

"It's the detail of the mechanism we are talking about and we are working on that at the moment. 

"All I'm focused on is a fair deal for the players because they are an incredibly important part of the industry."

Marsh remained hopeful an agreement could be reached before the home and away season kicked off, with clubs currently working on an interim basis that the TPP will lift by 10 per cent in 2017. 

"I think there is a way through this," Marsh said.