The NRL is bracing itself for potentially fractious negotiations on multiple fronts as the league faces up to reports of a breakaway competition amid stalling collective bargaining agreement talks.
Several clubs have threatened to form a rebel competition, according to a News Corp report, amid significant frustration among the players and clubs, primarily over how the protracted negotiations are progressing.
While there is no real desire for such an idea to become a reality, the framework for a breakaway league exists – current club licensing agreements essentially ensure that clubs are tied to playing in the NRL but those licences expire in 2023.
It leaves open the possibility, however slight, of clubs going it alone as they and their players express dissatisfaction with new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) talks.
Concerns lie over a lack of attention to detail and a breakdown in trust that has resulted in significant damage to goodwill between the parties. A belief that the NRL chief executive, Andrew Abdo, is not empowered enough to drive talks is also believed to be a significant factor in stalling negotiations.
Guardian Australia spoke with several high-ranking club officials and while there is little appetite to start a new competition, there is a desire to drive real change. The NRL did not respond to a request for comment.
The ARLC chairman, Peter V’landys, defended Abdo and his performance on Monday.
“I respect the fact that everyone is trying to maximise the returns to themselves,” V’landys told News Corp.
“However what I find most disappointing is that they are attacking Andrew Abdo with falsehoods. You’ve got to play the ball, not the player.
“I’m confident we will get a resolution which not everyone is going to like but at the end of the day that’s why you have an independent commission.”
Relations between the players’ union, the Rugby League Players Association, and the NRL took a significant blow when the league offered the RLPA $11m as an outperformance payment to make up wages players had sacrificed in 2020 when they agreed to a pay cut during the height of the first Covid wave.
The RLPA requested an audit and was eventually paid $38m, with one club official expressing dismay at the NRL’s tactics.
The failure of the NRL to prioritise CBA negotiations has also frustrated clubs and players as they enter the new rugby league year without a salary cap figure or a draw.
A united and disgruntled group of clubs are also now leveraging the impending end of their club licensing agreements to drive a stronger financial outcome as well as enact change as to how the game is governed.
The failure of the NRL to enact perpetual licences for clubs in 2016, as was agreed in principle, is viewed by some stakeholders as a major error in judgment.
Dissatisfaction in clubland around the lack of transparency when it comes to the game’s finances led one club figure to characterise the relationship between the NRL and the 16 teams as having “slowly degraded” since 2020.
Clubs believe the NRL is between $1.7m and $2.5m a club short in proposed funding for the next five years and are readying for a standoff with the NRL to ensure they get it.
The NRL now faces a fractious period as it tries to reach agreements with both clubs and players, who are seemingly in lockstep when it comes to frustrations around how the game is being run.
While a breakaway competition is not genuinely being pursued, it is a stick clubs and players are willing to wield to enact change.
