Todd Greenberg working for the good of NRL family, not himself

NRL boss Todd Greenberg has dismissed talk that his relationship with the players has been strained by the haggling over his pay packet.

NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg: ‘Sometimes in life you are confronted with big decisions and you have to put the personal element of that to one side.’ Picture: Getty Images

NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg has dismissed talk that his relationship with the players has been strained by the haggling over the size of his pay packet.

Rather, Greenberg says his relationship with the playing group — long considered one of his strengths — has only been fortified over the past fortnight.

“Remembering that what you describe as one of my great strengths has also been one of the great criticisms of me — my relationship with players,” Greenberg told The Weekend Australian.

“I have been criticised regularly for taking meetings with (players), whether it be Sam Burgess, Greg Inglis, Cameron Smith or Cooper Cronk.

“In difficult moments like this, there are times when players need to look at you and trust you. How on earth can they trust you unless you have put years and years and years into (developing) a proper relationship?

“The starting point is we have a relationship with these people, we have some trust, let’s ask some of the hard questions. That’s not to say there weren’t some hard moments throughout it. We got to a point the other day when I was explaining to the players how the commission had landed on pay cuts for the executive and the difference between the players and the staff, where the staff are still working and trying to get the game back on.

“What was clear to me was that it was an opportunity to show the players that I was listening to them and to give them a tangible sign that we are in this together.

“I said I was happy to take the same remuneration as you if it aligns our interests and we get this deal done.

“Sometimes in life you are confronted with big decisions and you have to put the personal element of that to one side and ask yourself what is the right thing to do. That is what I did.”

Greenberg was initially asked to take a 25 per cent pay cut by the ARL Commission at a time when the players were confronting cuts of 70 per cent or more for the remainder of the year, albeit on the proviso that the game did not ­resume.

Talks late on Thursday aimed at striking a deal with the players culminated in Greenberg falling in line with the players. Whatever they lose in percentage terms, so will he.

It brought to a close a period Greenberg describes as extraordinary. In the space of less than two weeks, as the game grappled with the devastating fallout from COVID-19, rugby league players and officials agreed on changes that have effectively guaranteed the survival of the code itself.

“It is not even 14 days since Parramatta played the Titans up on the Gold Coast to end round two,” Greenberg said.

“Inside 11 days we have reset the entire cost base of the game. That is a task that would ordinarily take from 12-18 months.

“The conversations I have had one to one — I have spoken to 50 players one to one, I have had zoom calls with anything up to 50 players on at one time — if anything it has strengthened (my relationship with them).

“Probably in some respects a crisis will either do two things — it will either pull you apart or bring you closer together. I think particularly between the RLPA (Rugby League Players Association) and ourselves, we have been pulling further apart over the last 12 months on the back of the no-fault stand-down (policy). This has been an opportunity for us to retain some trust and if anything bring us closer together.”

As for the future, Greenberg insists his only focus is the present. He, like everyone else in rugby league, is determined to get the competition up and running.

There are talks to be had over the salary cap for 2021 and 2022, the likelihood that the cap will drop in both years as the impact of COVID-19 eats away at the game’s revenues.

The broadcast dollars — money the game receives from the Nine Network and Foxtel that makes up over 60 per cent of the game’s revenues — are likely to hold firm but revenue from elsewhere seems certain to drop.

That gives the NRL the right to blow up the collective bargaining agreement and start again. There is also the small matter of Greenberg’s own future to be resolved.

“To be fair, in this environment, the last thing we should be talking about is me individually,” Greenberg said. “I have said to (ARL Commission chair) Peter (V’landys) and the board that I will rip in, I will roll the sleeves up and I will work hard. We don’t need to make those decisions right now. I know it came up earlier in the year … but to be honest there are a lot more bigger issues to confront than my own personal circumstances.

“I have said to the board I will keep working hard and we will pick it up in the year when there is a bit more time to spend on it.”