NRL players meet to be briefed in pay war and discuss the next options in the battle

BOYCOTTING the Dally Ms and the World Cup remain options after more than $60 million worth of NRL talent met on Monday night to be briefed on the pay war.

NRL players during a mass group meeting to finalise huge new pay deal. Picture: Brett Costello

BOYCOTTING the Dally Ms, the captains’ calls during the finals and the World Cup remain serious options after more than $60 million worth of NRL talent met in Sydney on Monday night to be briefed on the pay war.

About 200 players joined forces in an unprecedented gathering of talent that included Sam Burgess, James Graham, Andrew Fifita, Boyd Cordner, Daly Cherry-Evans, Aaron Woods, Mitchell Pearce and James Tedesco, as well as another 100 players from interstate tuning in via video link.

They listened to Rugby League Players Association boss Ian Prendergast discuss the latest deal tabled by the NRL.

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NRL players during a mass group meeting to finalise huge new pay deal. Picture: Brett Costello

While the $9.4 million salary cap proposed for 2018 is likely to be accepted, the RLPA have concerns over a number of other issues, including privacy issues relating to players being forced to hand over phone and bank records.

RLPA board member and Cronulla Sharks playmaker James Maloney said the breach of privacy “seems unreasonable’’.

Fourteen months since negotiations first commenced, the RLPA and NRL are yet to sign off on a new collective bargaining agreement — and if Monday night’s massive show of support did not send a clear message to League Central, then talk of boycotts certainly will.

“We can’t rule out taking action,’’ Prendergast said. “We certainly didn’t discuss the World Cup as to whether players would consider boycotting that.

“We think it can be avoided. We believe by locking ourselves away we will get this deal done.

“Having said that, we can’t rule out taking further action.

“The players have been extremely committed to securing a fair deal, and they’ll stand up and fight for what they think is fair.

“We still have a month before the Dally Ms and I believe by locking ourselves away we can avoid taking that action, but we certainly can’t rule that out.

“We discussed next steps if we can’t secure the outstanding objectives we need to deliver a successful CBA, not only for players but for the game.’’

James Tedesco and Jake Friend arrive for the meeting. Picture: Brett Costello

Maloney, who has been one of the key voices during the marathon negotiations, said: “We haven’t ruled anything out at this stage.

“There are things we’ve got we can use as leverage if the NRL didn’t want to come to the party. We think it’s going the right way.

“Since Todd (Greenberg) has been involved in the negotiations, it’s been really positive and the gap has been bridged.

“There’s only a small way to go and we’re confident it will sort itself out in the coming weeks.

“We’ve said the whole time we want a fixed share of revenue. We can’t do a deal that gives us a set amount of revenue, then over five years when the game makes well above what it is predicted to make, we end up getting a hell of a lot less.’’

The RLPA hopes to resume talks with the NRL this week.

The NRL and clubs agreed to a cap of $9.4 million last Thursday, and said it was a wonderful deal the players would find difficult to refuse.

This did not go down well with the players who wanted to make it clear they were not being greedy.

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