NRL news 2023: Strike threat rocks rugby league as pay dispute explodes
Just a fortnight out from the first pre-season trials the NRL has been warned by disgruntled players over the code’s CBA crisis.
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The NRL’s pay dispute has exploded, with Broncos star Kurt Capewell refusing to rule out strike action as the players launched promotional boycotts on the eve of the 2023 premiership season.
ARLC chairman Peter V’landys has been urged to enter crisis talks with the NRL’s disgruntled stars, who will boycott all promotional activities until the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) crisis is resolved.
The Cronulla Sharks became the first team to action the boycott when players refused to take part in an NRL photograph and interview session on Monday.
And Capewell confirmed players at all 17 NRL clubs will follow suit, in what is threatening to become an explosive build-up to the 2023 season kick-off in March.
The Rugby League Players’ Association (RLPA) has been locked in an ugly stand-off with the NRL over CBA negotiations.
While the NRL announced pre-Christmas a record 2023 salary cap of $12.1m – a 25 per cent increase for men – other sticking points in CBA talks have hit a stalemate.
The players are pushing for increased funding and control of retirement, injury and medical funds, which the NRL does not want to relinquish, and a greater share of revenue.
The situation has become a powder keg and Capewell – a member of the RLPA’s men’s player advisory group – could not rule out strike action, with trial matches to begin a fortnight and the season proper in March.
“Hopefully it doesn’t come to that, we don’t want it to come to that,” the Queensland Origin star said.
“If the NRL are going to sit on their heels and not budge, then who knows where it’s going to go.
“I’m sure Peter (V’landys) and (the NRL) will be able to see we’re not happy as a playing group. They’ll see how connected we all are and how solid we are sitting. I’m sure they’ll come back to the table ready to negotiate.
“The way I see it is there hasn’t been enough discussion. The NRL have come back with another, what we believe, very unfair proposition for a CBA. We’ve had enough of sitting at a table and not being heard.
“As players, we don’t want it to get to that (strike). We love the game and would never want to not see it on the TV screens and letting the fans down.
“What we want, as a playing group, is for the NRL to come to the table ready to negotiate. We’re just not seeing that at the moment.
“As players, we’re all united in taking a stand. But I’m sure the NRL can finally come to the party and negotiate a fair CBA to make sure it doesn’t hinder our game.”
Where the situation ends remains to be seen.
Cognisant of the game’s previously perilous financial state when Covid brought it to a grinding halt in early 2020, V’landys and NRL CEO Andrew Abdo want to future-proof the code’s position.
That includes increasing the NRL’s non-football asset base – as evidenced by the purchase of Gambaro’s Hotel last year – and further investments that do not rely on broadcast revenue.
The NRL also wants the RLPA to prove it can sensibly manage the funds it wants to control over five years before passing over full control.
The players claim that while the NRL’s salary cap increase is generous, it is technically a lower revenue share than the previous CBA.
Capewell said the NRL was trying to paint the players in a bad light and they would not be fulfilling promotional requirements.
“It’s obviously their strategy – they try to paint a picture of us,” he said.
“They waved a shiny toy (salary cap) in our face, hoping we were silly enough to run into that CBA but there’s still so many parts of the CBA where they’re nowhere near it.
“We are prepared to fight for what we think is fair. We want a fair revenue share and genuine seat at the table when it comes to discussions. We just want to be heard.
“It’s not about the wage we’re getting. It’s about setting up funds for past players, looking after our younger boys, welfare, some of our tertiary education stuff is not where we want it to be.
“Until they’re willing to negotiate, we’re ready to draw a line in the sand and will make a stand.
“That (boycotts) is something as a playing group we’ve all decided to do. Hopefully it grabs the NRL’s attention and shows we’re not happy.
“At the moment, we’re not doing the NRL (promotions). Hopefully Peter and Abdo can get to a table and realise it’s starting to have an effect on the game. We’re ready to negotiate and we hope they are too.
“This is the most united the playing group’s ever been. We’re all like brothers and sisters. We go through the same things every day, train our backsides off and put our bodies on the line.
“We’ve all got a limited career. As a collective we’re trying to get the best and fairest deal for players.
“It’s simple from our point of view. We’ve only got a few things the NRL have to budge on.
“But when they throw back the deal they’ve already thrown at us, we’re not going to stand here and cop it. If they’re not willing to negotiate, then things have got to start moving somehow.”
Capewell’s comments were echoed by fellow Queensland State of Origin star Christian Welch.
“Everything’s on the table,” Welch said.
“Since last November – not the one just gone, I’m talking 2021 – that’s when we started to get the ball rolling, and that’s why it’s so frustrating. The NRL just hasn’t been interested in engaging with one of their main stakeholders to work out a CBA.
“We’ve been trying to do the right thing by not kicking up a stink, and the biggest thing for the players is that we don’t want to take away from the fans because they’re the ones who support clubs and buy season memberships and jerseys.
“Many times throughout the year out of our frustrations with the NRL, we wanted to take some action. You look at State of Origin, you look at the finals series and the World Cup – no player action was taken because we didn’t want to hurt the fans.
“It’s really frustrating when we’re acting in good faith but it’s all falling on deaf ears. That’s why all things are on the table.
“We’re still training and playing, but you would have seen that we’ve pulled back on NRL media commitments, and there’s a whole variety of action that we could take. Hopefully it doesn’t get to that, but it’s been so frustrating.”
PLAYERS WARNED OF CONTRACT BREACH OVER BOYCOTT THREAT
By Phil Rothfield and Adam Mobbs
Wests Tigers chairman Lee Hagipantelis has called for a swift resolution to the escalating conflict over the collective bargaining agreement, warning that the players’ boycott of official events “could be construed as a breach of contract”.
The Daily Telegraph revealed on Monday that Cronulla Sharks players had refused to take part in a planned photograph and interview session for the NRL’s website. Hours later, St George Illawarra cancelled a media event planned for Tuesday as a protest against the NRL over its handling of CBA negotiations.
Players across the league are expected to follow suit, with the NRL’s season launch also under threat just six weeks out from the season.
While forthcoming in describing the 17 clubs as the stakeholders of the game who “have a vested interest in it”, Hagipantelis, who is the principal of Brydens Lawyers, said the players’ actions could potentially have legal ramifications.
“What is being proposed by the players is tantamount to industrial action,” Hagipantelis told The Daily Telegraph’s Michael Carayannis on SEN Breakfast on Tuesday.
“No different to some other unions, where they boycott events and the like.
“But there are contractual obligations imposed upon the players, who are employees of the club, to participate in a certain number of functions at the direction of the club and the NRL.
“Strictly speaking, refusal to participate in these events could be construed as a breach of contract.”
“Now, that’s a path that the clubs and/or the NRL do not want to go down. Hopefully it can be resolved by the way of conciliation, but they really need to get their act together, and quickly.”
The prolonged negotiations, which have dragged on for more than a year, have already resulted in clubs and players participating in pre-season without a new CBA, and it threatens to spill into the 2023 season.
The frustrations from both sides of negotiations have Hagipantelis concerned that emotion is crowding the conversation.
“People need to park agendas,” he said. “The greater good of the game is obviously paramount. This is the negotiation of a contract, nothing different.
“I think people have got to stop being a little bit emotive and invested to that extent. I think everyone has to take a more objective stance and look to the benefit of the game.”
In late December the NRL took the unprecedented step of announcing its salary cap for the next five years, offering $1.347b in total player payments, up from $980m in the previous CBA.
The NRL announced the 2023 salary cap of $12.1 million, which is a 25 per cent increase on 2022.
As part of that, the minimum salary for players will increase from $80,000 to $120,000 and players who have a standard ratchet clause will have an 18 per cent increase in their playing fee.
However, that infuriated the players because they had yet to agree to the terms prior to the announcement.
North Queensland halfback Chad Townsend took to social media to lay out the players’ demands.
“We want a well-funded Past Players Program, better funding for the Injury Hardship Fund, funding for a Medical Support Fund, agreement rights on our employment conditions, match fees outside the cap, and a first-ever CBA for women,” Townsend posted.
Nothing is agreed until it's all agreed.#CBA#RLPApic.twitter.com/TbJ5N39GJc
— RLPA (@RLPlayers) January 13, 2023
Hagipantelis stressed the need for compromise and a whole-of-game approach.
“The players have been and will continue to be, well looked after,” he said.
“There’s no doubt about that. They are our priority. After all, they are the product.
Without the players, there is no game.
“But the long-term viability of clubs and the NRL itself has to be considered. You’ve just got to find a balance.”
Hagipantelis said the current standoff was causing angst right across the game.
“We are all very anxious about where we stand at the moment. We’re within sight of our first trial in four weeks. Our NRLW teams are in complete limbo at the moment,” he said.
“It is unsatisfactory, everybody acknowledges that.”
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