Australian cricket risks cannibalising itself if the ugly pay spat continues to fester, with Monday bringing no positive progress in the saga.
Cricket Australia (CA) and the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) remain deadlocked over the issue of revenue sharing.
CA boss James Sutherland continues to ignore the union's pleas for him to enter emergency mediation.
Frustration has been building among past players, current stars, state scrappers, coaches, selectors, support staff, officials, broadcasters, sponsors and indeed fans for some time.
Disbelief over the lack of progress in negotiations is now bubbling to the surface more than ever.
The bitter divide was laid bare on Monday, when former Test openers Michael Slater and Ed Cowan shared a heated argument on breakfast radio.
"What is this partnership rubbish?" Slater quipped on Sky Sports Radio, kickstarting a terse back-and-forth.
"You're telling me this whole fight is not over money?"
Cowan disagreed and fired back as tempers flared.
"Let me finish, let me finish. Otherwise it's not a fair conversation. I think your view is seriously impeded by your job at Channel Nine," Cowan said.
It is becoming an increasingly emotive issue for all involved, and is already starting to cost multiple stakeholders.
Some 230 players are unemployed. Most of them won't feel the pinch immediately but domestic players on the other end of the pay scale to Steve Smith certainly will.
An Australia A squad assembled in Brisbane on Monday and will train on Tuesday but the prospect of them flying out on Friday remains almost non-existent.
The boycott will deny Usman Khawaja, who hasn't played a match since January, and Glenn Maxwell crucial time at the crease ahead of this summer's Ashes.
It will infuriate selectors and coach Darren Lehmann, who has kept an eye on the stoush while on holidays in the United Kingdom.
Lehmann would rightly cringe at the prospect of anything that could help England in their bid to retain the urn.
"For me I just want them (CA and the ACA) to start talking ... as long as they get to the table that is the biggest thing," former ACA president Lehmann said almost a month ago.
CA will also pay - figuratively and literally - if the Australia A trip is abandoned.
It's understood the total cost of the trip is more than $250,000. It is unclear how much of that money CA will be able to recoup.
Contracts for coaching staff Jason Gillespie, Chris Rogers and Brad Haddin will be honoured despite the prospect of them twiddling their thumbs for the better part of six weeks.
Should Australia A be a no-show for the tri-series, CA risk damaging their relationship with Cricket South Africa and the powerful Board of Control for Cricket in India.
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