Locker Room: Latrell Mitchell drama, Tom Trbojevic injuries raises fresh call for NRL to return to match payment system

Superstars like Tom Trbojevic and Latrell Mitchell are paid too much by their clubs for the amount of time they spend on the sidelines, which is why the NRL would benefit from a return to match payments, writes DAVID RICCIO.

Tom Trbojevic and Latrell Mitchell. Credit: NRL Images.

South Sydney would never have had to fine Latrell Mitchell $40,000 if NRL clubs went back to paying players in the form of match payments.

A selfless Tom Trbojevic would never have walked into the office of Manly coach Anthony Seibold and suggested he take a pay cut.

If there were match payments, Ryan Matterson may even have paid the $4,000 for a crusher tackle instead of opting to miss three crucial matches for Parramatta back in 2022.

The greatest game of all would be an even better competition with an overhaul of the player payment system by the return of match payments.

Player accountability would sky-rocket. Player performance might just too.

And for the fans, they might just hold back from a social media spray if they knew that their underperforming player was headed back to NSW Cup where match payments don’t count.

Rabbitohs star Latrell Mitchell in the stands watching his teammates during their loss to Penrith. Picture: NRL Images.

It’s wrong to say that Mitchell’s $40,000 fine from a salary of $950,000 won’t hurt the Rabbitohs star. $40,000 is a decent whack.

But what if Mitchell, under a match payment system, was on a guaranteed base salary of $750,000 and had the potential to earn his $950,000 through match payments?

The Rabbitohs wouldn’t have waited more than two weeks to fine Mitchell, they would just stand him down for as many matches as they liked.

Suddenly, his loose decision-making to appear in a photo with a white substance might have garnered greater thought from the fullback.

Even more to the point, would Mitchell have played only 11-games this season for the Rabbitohs if he could earn an extra $10,000 a game?

We’ll never know.

Ultimately, that was the reason we’ve been told that Trbojevic recently tapped on Siebold’s door.

Tom Trbojevic is assisted from the field against the Bulldogs. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

“Turbo (Trbojevic) came to me and said that he wanted to take a pay cut because he felt like he’d missed a whole heap of football,‘’ Seibold said last Thursday.

“It was a really difficult conversation for him to come to the coach and say that. That’s all been buried, the NRL have said that he can’t do that.

“I just think that says so much about his character (to make the offer).‘’

With the fingers and toes of every Manly fan crossed, Trbojevic is hoping that a shoulder injury suffered against the Bulldogs last Friday night won’t keep him out for long.

Prior to the injury, he was headed towards his most games played (18-games) in a season since 2018 (22).

As brilliant as the Manly fullback is, there’s not a person in the game - which clearly includes Trbojevic himself - that can say he has been able to repay the Sea Eagles yearly $1.15 million investment.

Tom Trbojevic and Latrell Mitchell are two of the game’s best, but don’t spend enough time on the field. Picture: NRL Images.

However, what would the issue be from the club, fans, or even the man himself, if Trbojevic was on a guaranteed base salary of $800,000 with the opportunity to earn his $1.15 million in the way of match payments?

The more he plays, the more he’s paid. $800,000 is still a super salary, particularly if you can only manage seven and 11-games, as Trbojevic did in 2022 and 2023.

Prior to the introduction of Super League in 1997, every contract had a win-loss payment system.

A player could earn $1,500 for a win and $750 for a loss.

Every player playing at that time will still tell you stories of how when one of their teammates had a poor game and his performance cost his team victory by two-points, there was no hiding from the accountability of that player inside the dressing room.

Match payments would decrease risk of club’s paying players with a history of injury or suspension, which would then allow the decline of wasted salaries sitting on the sideline.

Clubs like the Wests Tigers, who in desperation to recruit have had to pay massive overs for fading stars, would be huge beneficiaries of a match payment system.

They previously had prop Russell Packer on $750,000 per-season. Across three seasons, between 2019 and 2021, he played a total of 15 NRL-games.

The Players Union have previously performed a deep dive into match payments for players. It fell short ahead of the most recent CBA agreement.

It’s time to put the model back on the table for discussion.

It’s the only payment system that protects fans and clubs, while rewarding players for doing what they’re paid to do, which is, to play games.