NRL and its clubs ready to ask players to take a pay cut for 2021

The NRL and its clubs are expected to ask their players to take a pay cut of as much as 10 per cent next season.

ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys. Picture: Nikki Short

The NRL has been treading carefully with the players’ union over wage cuts for next season but there is a push for head office to drop the hammer today and table a 10 per cent reduction in the salary cap that would save the game and its clubs more than $16 million in 2021.

A selection of clubs held talks on Wednesday, where it was agreed a 10 per cent reduction should be a starting point, the damage to player salaries offset to an extent by an agreement that would result in squad numbers being reduced from 36 to 30.

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The outcome would ensure the average wage was still north of $300,000 next year, and mean if the game’s elite players were forced to take a pay cut, it would be next to nothing.

Two months ago, ARL Commission chair Peter V’landys suggested he was optimistic player wages would be untouched.

However, there is an acknowledgment in clubland the players have to sacrifice some money given the carnage that has taken place on their own doorsteps.

Head office is also expected to be decimated, V’landys having foreshadowed cuts likely to save the game $50 million or more.

Amid the cost cutting, there is a school of thought that a salary cap reduction of five or 10 per cent would be a reasonable outcome given there were genuine fears when COVID-19 first hit that the salary cap could be slashed by as much as 40 per cent next season.

Players will receive 82 per cent of their wages this year, but there is an acknowledgment on both sides that further cuts will have to take place next year given the ripple effect of coronavirus.

The players are due to receive at least $10.08 million per club in 2021, that figure rising to as much as $10.46 if they use their long-serving player allowance and full development list.

The final outcome is set to have ramifications for a host of players who are off contract, and a handful of clubs who are yet to fill out their rosters for next season.

The Broncos are yet to finalise a deal for boom back rower David Fifita and they have limited room to move under their salary cap, the space likely to constrict if cuts take place.

Canterbury, on the other hand, has millions to spend and space on their roster.

Exactly how much money they have and how many players they can accommodate will hinge on the outcome of talks with the Rugby League Players’ Association as they work with the NRL towards finalising discussions by the end of July.

The Bulldogs, meanwhile, have confirmed that forward Adam Elliott was interviewed by the NRL integrity unit after a video surfaced of him dancing naked at a party five years ago.