Dally M boycott threat: NRL stars up the ante in industrial dispute

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Twenty years after Craig Gower was robbed of a Dally M medal due to a player boycott, the NRL’s biggest stars have discussed refusing to take part in the end-of-the-season awards in protest at stalled talks on a new pay deal.

The Rugby League Players’ Association and the code’s most senior players are preparing to escalate action against the NRL, who have so far refused an offer to engage an industrial relations mediator to settle the feud over a new collective bargaining agreement.

Part of that action has already included talks about whether players should attend the prestigious Dally M ceremony and participate in the traditional finals launch.

Premiership-winning halfback Gower was denied the chance to be crowned the game’s best in 2003 when players refused to attend the ceremony as they lobbied for better pay and conditions.

The NRL has never confirmed if Gower was the leading vote-getter at the end of the regular season, and the medal hasn’t been retrospectively awarded. Most judges believe Gower would have won the Dally M that year.

As the current players’ refusal to conduct interviews on any day an NRL, NRLW or State of Origin match is played drags into a fourth week, senior RLPA delegates have canvassed support for a number of other tactics if a resolution can’t be found.

Cronulla Sharks halfback and 2022 Dally M winner Nicho Hynes with mum Julie and (inset) Craig Gower was denied winning the 2003 medal after a player boycott of the awards.Credit: Getty

A refusal to attend the Dally Ms, rugby league’s night of nights in grand final week, would be embarrassing for the game, which has been trying for 20 months to negotiate a new pay deal.

Nicho Hynes was crowned the game’s best player last year and produced a heart-warming speech upon accepting his award at Royal Randwick racecourse.

Australian Rugby League Commission boss Peter V’landys told this masthead last week the players “didn’t want to do a deal” and the NRL would resist any attempt for the dispute to be settled by an industrial relations expert.

The NRL has also proposed its own chief executive Andrew Abdo and RLPA boss Clint Newton be frozen out of talks, with V’landys wanting to negotiate with player representatives such as Daly Cherry-Evans and Christian Welch directly.

But Newton said on Monday players had told the RLPA they were open to further action throughout the finals series without a resolution.

“The only reason player action will continue or escalate is if the NRL doesn’t come back to the table with an industrial relations mediator and work quickly to resolve the actual issues,” he said.

“The strong resistance from the NRL to step toward the players and agree to a normal and professional approach to resolving a dispute between two parties is clearly concerning. Questions have to be asked why the NRL won’t do that. But until then, further action will occur and players will continue to stand firm with each other.

“Why is it that the action of the players is challenged, but not the refusal of the governing body in agreeing to a reasonable request of an industrial relations mediator that is normal to every other industry?”

V’landys declined to comment on the Dally M threat, but told this masthead last week: “I’m at a loss as to what their agenda is, but over time I’m sure it will become apparent. In the meantime, the only loser is the game and the players.”

The RLPA claims it still has serious concerns about agreement rights over the length of the season, data privacy, payments for international matches and control over union funding, which the NRL has labelled as an excessive statement of claim.

Queensland State of Origin coach Billy Slater said it was time for both parties to “grow up” and come to a conclusion for the betterment of the game.

“Both parties need to grow up and work this out,” he said on The Billy Slater Podcast.

“The players not talking to the media, this is getting ridiculous now. Can we just grow up and work this out? To watch a game of footy and not hear from the players after the game … I don’t understand how we can’t sit down and work something out.

“For this to drag out for three weeks, people are just too stubborn. That’s all it is. Is this going to go through the finals? It’s not necessary. Just get it done. I can’t believe we’re still sitting there not talking to players.”

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