NRL 2022: Clubs urge players to back trade window, think of the fans
NRL clubs have urged players to consider the fans and support a proposed trade window to bring an end to contracted players signing with other teams.
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Melbourne’s general manager of football Frank Ponissi has urged players to think about NRL fans before rejecting the move to a trade window model as a replacement for the November 1 system.
The Daily Telegraph polled fans on the issue and an overwhelming majority, 92 per cent, said the NRL should introduce a trade window.
The current system, which allows players to sign a new deal 12 months before their contract ends, is growing increasingly unpopular with fans, who are forced to watch their favourite players commit to other clubs while contracted.
“As a fan of the game, I’m a huge fan of it and it’s what our fans want. We have to start listening to fans a bit more I think,” Ponissi said.
“Leaving out player interest, club interest, what is best for the game going forward … we have to look at some form of a trade window.
“If we all put our heads together we’ll come up with a system. We need to put the game first. What that perfect model is, I don’t know. But, I’d be disappointed if we didn’t give it a crack and try to get it done.”
The NRL proposed a trade window model to the Rugby League Players Association on Wednesday as part of ongoing contract talks.
It included a main trade period, from October to the Monday before round 1, for players in their final year of a contract. And two more trade periods, in the pre-season and mid-year, for players to move clubs via mutually agreed contract releases.
Brisbane’s head of football Ben Ikin believes while a trade window has merit, the current player transfer system gives struggling clubs a chance to rebuild into a competitive outfit.
“The Broncos don’t have a position on this but my view is, while fans are upset to see good players leave, there is also another side to the story, the fans of the club getting the quality player,” Ikin said.
“But the fluidity of the current system, if you are performing poorly, your list is not strong but you get someone who can recruit well and manage the salary cap then very quickly you can attract the necessary talent to get yourself back up and in the space of a few years you can go from bottom four to genuine contender.”
All major leagues across the world, including the NBA, NFL, Premier League and the AFL have trade window and/or draft models.
Ponissi, a highly respected figure in the game, said the NRL would benefit from the publicity a trade window can generate in the off-season.
“I saw the last two weeks what the trade window does for the AFL down here in Victoria,” Ponissi said.
“Just the media attention, the interest from the fans. It was the post season and it was just in the media every day, it was great to watch.
“In cafes, restaurants, it’s the talk, ‘where is this, that player going’.
“It would be great to have something similar … where there is a period of time where it’s done.
“Soccer is a big sport and they have a pure trade window. The AFL have done it, if the AFL can do it, why can’t we. I just don‘t understand it.”
The Storm felt the brunt of the pitfalls of the current system when the future of star playmaker Cameron Munster, who was linked to moves to numerous clubs, months before he was supposed to come off contract on November 1.
“You are never going to get rid of the rumour and innuendo about when players are going but it tidies up a lot, which is a good thing for the game,” Ponissi said.
Wests Tigers chairman Lee Hagipantelis echoed Ponissi’s sentiments.
“Trade windows provide some degree of certainty, which could assist of course in trying to limit what otherwise could be construed as a bit of a circus with players and managers and clubs being able to negotiate through the entire year,” Hagipantelis said.
EXCLUSIVE: HOW NRL TRADE REVOLUTION WILL END CONTRACT CIRCUS
NRL players will only be able to sign with a new club in the final year of their contract under a proposal by the governing body to replace the current transfer system with a trade window.
News Corp has obtained a copy of the ‘contract window’ model which was sent to the Rugby League Players Association on Wednesday as part of Collective Bargaining Agreement talks.
Under the proposal, recruiting clubs can only sign a player if they are in the final year of their contract, and any negotiating and contracting must happen after the grand final in the first weekend of October.
The window will remain open until Monday before Round 1.
For example, if a player is contracted until the end of the 2023, they can only start negotiating and sign a deal to join a new club from October 2023.
In contrast, under the November 1 system, players can sign a new deal up to 12 months before their current deals expire.
Around 200 players are set to flood onto the open market for the 2024 season under the November 1 model.
But if a trade window had been in place, those players, including the likes of Matt Burton, Dylan Brown and Herbie Farnworth - whose deals expire at the end of 2023 - would not be able to negotiate and sign until October that same year.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal two more trade windows are being proposed for players under contract that are seeking a release on mutually agreed grounds.
The first is a pre-season window, that will run alongside the main trade window, where players can move clubs from Monday after the grand final to Monday before Round 1.
The second is a mid-season window that allows players to move clubs from Monday after Round 10 to Monday after Origin III.
The NRL is pushing to introduce trade windows despite a reluctance from the playing group to completely overhaul the November 1 model.
But NRL CEO Andrew Abdo believes the two parties can reach an agreement.
“The CBA is about negotiation and compromise and we are trying to get a better outcome for the game and we’re looking at windows when these transfers and/or when new contract negotiations can happen in an orderly fashion,” Abdo said.
While players have been opposed to changes to the current system, The Daily Telegraph understands there is consensus among clubs to introduce the trade windows and have backed the NRL’s proposal.
The November 1 model is also growing increasingly unpopular with fans, who are forced to watch their favourite players agree to join opposition clubs with 12 months left on their deal.
The current CBA deal is set to expire in less than two weeks and the NRL and RLPA are in deep discussions to finalise the new agreement, which will run for five years.
Abdo is hoping a trade window can be introduced as soon as next season.
“The new CBA which starts from November 1… it will be effective in the new CBA period which will probably be for the end of next season,” Abdo said.
“We have to discuss all of that. If we did come to an agreement we would have to think about the transition of it.”
Abdo hit back at suggestions that the opportunity to commercialise the player movement market was a reason behind the push to overhaul the system.
“That’s not the driver here at all… the driver here is just professionalism and modernising, and taking into account what’s best for our fans and the customers,” Abdo said.
Some of the top sporting leagues in the world operate under a trade window and/or draft model like the English Premier League, the NBA and NFL. The AFL has a national draft for the game’s best rising players and a trade window.
The NBA, NFL and AFL have turned their respective drafts into television broadcast events.
While no draft models have been proposed by the NRL under CBA talks, there is a view a trade window has the ‘potential’ to be the first step towards a rookie draft.
“Potentially, but that’s a very different discussion,” Abdo said.
“A draft is linked to investment and who invests in the participation and development of players which is a really complex issue for us
“So that’s not something that is on the horizon in the short term.”
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