RLTD club officials fury over deadline farce that delivered Kyle Laybutt to Souths

The process has been slammed as unfair by some Rugby League Townsville clubs, who claim a promise made to club powerbrokers last year had been ignored.

Kyle Laybutt traininng with the Cowboys in 2021. Picture: Alix Sweeney

Local rugby league officials have expressed their frustration after they claimed league rules were relaxed to facilitate the return of a high profile former Blackhawk ahead of the finals.

Some officials have accused Rugby League Townsville of using discretionary powers to rubberstamp Papua New Guinea international Kyle Laybutt’s return after the June 30 transfer deadline.

The accusation has been refuted by the Queensland Rugby League, who took responsibility for greenlighting Laybutt’s signing.

Laybutt had been selected to debut for Souths on July 29 - four weeks after the deadline’s close - despite his permit to play being ruled null and void by the QRL the night before.

Laybutt had resigned from the Blackhawks to play for Sunshine Coast in the Queensland Cup but, due to a QRL clerical error, had not been removed from Souths’ eligible player database as required.

Edwin Ipape and Kyle Laybutt of Papua New Guinea warm up prior to the Rugby League World Cup 2021 match against Cook Islands. Picture: Getty Images for RLWC)

An email sent to clubs by QRL major competitions manager David Maiden on the night before Laybutt’s return game confirmed he was ineligible to play.

In the hours between that email and kick-off, a new permit was obtained from Sunshine Coast Falcons allowing Laybutt to take the field.

Kyle Laybutt of Papua New Guinea. Picture: Getty Images

The process has been slammed as unfair by some Townsville clubs, who claim a promise made last year to prevent similar signings had been broken.

The whistleblowers have been granted anonymity to speak candidly about perceived breaches of fairness because of a ’positive or pointless’ clause in the QRL media policy that empowers the league to sanction those who speak out publicly.

Multiple officials have warned this masthead that the saga has set a dangerous new precedent for the league.

“We’ve all spoken about the precedent it sets,” one official revealed.

“What is to stop any of us going to any Q-Cup club? You could even pay under the table and say, ‘you’re not going to play finals, let us throw you $10,000 to throw us three players for a game.’

“That’s why it is a loophole and it has got to close.

“If you’re a rich club with no scruples you can pay under the table and do all sorts of things to get people to play for you (under the current rules).”

There is no suggestion that any under-the-table payments have been made.

Two other officials criticised the actions of Rugby League Townsville, claiming the organisation had broken neutrality to intervene in securing Souths a game-breaking recruit.

QRL spokeswoman Renae Kunst, Region Manager North, dismissed the concerns raised as “disappointing and disturbing.”

Blackhawks against Capras at Jack Manski Oval. Blackhawks Kyle Laybutt. Picture: Evan Morgan

Kunst wrote that the QRL had approved Laybutt’s reinstatement at Souths, not Rugby League Townsville, because four key criteria had been satisfied.

1. Sunshine Coast Falcons approved the permit after QRL involvement on Friday evening, before the match

2. Laybutt was returning home to live in Townsville

3. QRL Major Competitions Manager Dave Maiden supported the permit

4. Kunst herself supported the permit.

“RLTD is an affiliate of the QRL and one of the organisation’s key priorities is ‘Accessibility – Enable everyone to be involved in our game’,” Kunst wrote.

“Denying an opportunity for a participant to play our game completely contradicts the priority above and would have greater implications for the league should this have happened.”

The QRL and RLTD did not respond to questions asking why the transfer had been greenlit after the league’s transfer deadline.

The QRL and RLTD did not respond to questions asking if a precedent had been set where players from other Queensland Cup clubs would be granted permits to play in Townsville after the deadline.

The QRL and RLTD did not respond to questions asking if the league had broken a 2022 promise that Queensland Cup players from outside the region would not be permitted to swing the balance of power in the competition via short-term deals.

Mackay SHS principal Felicity Roberts, Cutters head of football Kim Williams and Mackay SHS coach Jack Brock pictured in 2021. Picture: Max O'Driscoll.

Frustration has grown considerably among clubs because it has been 12 months since presidents demanded an explanation over why Mackay Cutters prop Jack Brock was permitted to sign with the Burdekin for a July 30 match last year.

Four officials, from different clubs, told this masthead the RLTD had promised to stamp out the controversial process of importing Queensland Cup representatives without a pre-existing Townsville permit at a meeting of the game’s top powerbrokers last year.

“Lo and behold, here we are again,” one official said.

“A player from an out-of-town Q-Cup club comes in and plays local A Grade with four weeks to go until finals and well after the June 30 transfer deadline.”

Another official said the loophole had clearly not been closed.

“They have allowed it to happen again, though it isn’t exactly apples and apples,” the second official observed.

Kyle Laybutt during the 2022 Cowboys pre-season. Picture: Alix Sweeney/Cowboys

“To me it is a moral thing. They have found the loophole and used it, as much as we don’t like it. I certainly wouldn’t (use it) - you are s---ing all over a bloke who has done it all for you this year. You’re dropping someone who has played for your team, your club, all year for someone who hasn’t played.”

A third official said a can of worms had been opened.

“Everyone is saying why don’t we ring up the Pride and ask them for some players to come and play four games for us to qualify for finals?” they asked.

“With the precedent they have set here, they could not stop us from doing that.

“We just want it fair across the board so everyone is playing by the same set of rules.

“There are rules in place. June 30 is the cut-off deadline and you can’t sign anyone after it.

“It’s a fairness issue. Why are there rules if they don’t bother following them themselves? It’s not an agenda we are pushing, we just want to be fair and even across the board.”

Originally published as RLTD club officials fury over deadline farce that delivered Kyle Laybutt to Souths