Peter Helliar and Steve Price in frosty TV clash over AFLW comments

Peter Helliar and Steve Price have clashed in a frosty on air-debate on The Project about the latter's recent opinion piece about the AFL women's competition.

Price found himself at the centre of controversy last week after penning a scathing column about the AFLW in which he declared that high school players could serve up a better product than the women.

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The shock jock took aim at a number of low-scoring contests in recent weeks, saying he doesn't think AFLW can be classified as 'elite sport'.

“Last weekend – in week five of the nine-round AFLW – one team managed a solitary point for the whole game,” Price wrote.

“In many sports, elite women’s competition is every bit as exciting to watch as any men’s equivalent.

“But AFLW is not elite sport and the female version of the Australian game of football is substandard. It is not deserving of the attention and funding it gets.”

Price appeared on The Project on Monday night in which Helliar, Waleed Aly and Carrie Bickmore applied the blowtorch to his claims.

“You knew exactly what you were doing and executed it perfectly. So it’s in its fifth year, things take time to build," Bickmore began.

Price defended his column and said everyone is entitled to their opinion.

“Great thing about sport is you can all have an opinion and debate about it, which is what I was doing. I genuinely, whenever I write a column like that I absolutely 100 per cent believe it,” he said.

“Again yesterday you had a one-point score from one of the teams and the crowds are simply not going. You had a crowd about two weeks ago of 540 people only.

“That was a game between North Melbourne and the Cats, Geelong, played in Melbourne.”

Aly pointed out that a crowd of 20,000 attended a recent game at Adelaide Oval.

“Adelaide is an exception in this for some reason," Price said.

"There is nothing else to do in Adelaide so they are going to AFLW clearly. When the men’s game is not on the crowds are not improving.”

Peter Helliar clashes with Steve Price

Helliar then suggested that Price simply doesn't "like women playing physical sport”.

"What was disappointing about your article - you know how I feel about this - two weeks ago you were supposedly cancelled and now you are using one of your very powerful media forums to, I feel, you are very successful and you have worked hard but I feel like you have put your foot on the throat of an industry that is trying," Helliar said.

"I think of my sisters who are footy mad and they would have loved to have dreamt to play AFLW. This is better than it was four years ago, it will continue to get better.”

Price responded: “Let me clear up what I am saying simply. I think the AFL went too early and too hard.

"There is not enough talent to fill 18 teams. They should have gone more quietly and you wouldn’t have the issues you are having at the moment. I think the media exposure is extraordinary for something that is not very good.”

Helliar said: “I suspect you don’t like women playing physical sport is that true?”

Price: “Did you read the column? I gave about seven examples of great female sport, golf, racing..”

Helliar: “Not physical crash and bash sports.”

Price: “Netball, basketball, I gave all those examples in that column. I don’t have a problem with women’s sport, women’s sport is fantastic, AFLW isn’t.”

Helliar: “Punching down to this industry that is five years in. We have had this debate for a while but to see it in print, to use this megaphone that you have to bash a league.”

Price: “I’m not doing anything. I’m simply saying it is not good quality. How can one game with one point scored be good quality.”

Social media users were highly critical of Price's article when it was published last week.

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