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Scott Bailey

Pay talks explode as stars hit out at NRL

ARLC chairman Peter V'landys is at odds with a high-profile rugby league players' advisory group. (Dean Lewins/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

The schism between the NRL and its players has grown wider with several senior stars slamming the ARL Commission for its handling of pay talks.

In the latest development on Friday, the unions' player advisory group hit out at the NRL over their claims players had been misled by their union on the league's offer.

It comes with the collective bargaining agreement between the NRL and Rugby League Players Association now 11 days overdue and with no clear end in sight.

Included on the player advisory group are Daly Cherry-Evans, Wade Graham, Christian Welch, Damien Cook, Ali Brigginshaw, Kezie Apps, Millie Boyle and the only active 300-gamer in James Tamou.

"To have the Commission publicly claim that the wider playing group has been misled during the CBA negotiations, purely because we are refusing to roll over for the Commission, is not only false but offensive," the advisory group said in a statement.

"And (it) demonstrates a lack of regard to the sophistication of the playing group.

"As leaders of the players' association, we could not have been more transparent with the wider playing group around the status of the negotiations and why we have rejected unsuitable and sub-standard proposals put forward by the NRL on behalf of the Commission."

The comments come 24 hours after financial details of the NRL's offer to players was published in News Corp newspapers, infuriating the player group.

Demands from players have also regularly been voiced throughout the nine months of negotiations, with an injury hardship fund for retired players the latest to be pushed this week.

The union has also been public in requests for agreement and consultation rights on integrity issues, a point that is known to be a major sticking point.

While the league is likely to offer up consultation rights through a body, head office has made clear they would not hand over power on those matters.

"Players have regularly attended CBA bargaining meetings, however not one Commissioner has attended a meeting. Not even once," the players said.

"It was for this reason that it was surprising to read comments from the Commission that accused both us as player leaders, and the RLPA as a whole, of misleading the playing group.

"This couldn't be further from the truth."

The NRL on Friday refused to engage in a tit-for-tat with the union.

"We will continue to negotiate in good faith, and hopefully we will reach a resolution sooner rather than later," V'landys told AAP.

"I will always act in the best interest of the game as a whole. That includes the players, the fans, the clubs and everyone."

Funding talks between the NRL and its clubs are also still yet to be resolved, but CEO Andrew Abdo is confident it soon can be with an in-principle agreement of $5 million per year above the eventual total player spend.

Clubs fear they will be $500,000 out of pocket on each of the men's and women's leagues next year, with Abdo asked to make either a revised offer or provide modelling that shows less of a deficit.

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