The AFL and the players association have failed to resolve their pay dispute after a second day of negotiations, with both parties remaining frustrated.

It comes as one of the game’s greatest ever players and legendary coach Leigh Matthews slammed the current group of footballers as "embarrassingly disappointing".

League heavyweights reiterated their position on Tuesday that a 50 per cent pay cut by the players for eight weeks would not be enough as the game continued to bleed cash.

Sources have told The Age that league officials are pushing for players to take a 75 per cent cut, but it’s unclear for how long that would apply.

“I’ve lost a lot of respect for this collective playing group over the last two months,” Matthews told Sportsday on 3AW.