If the NRL and players can’t strike a deal soon, the salary cap might not be enforceable
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The NRL salary cap, which has been used to equalise rugby league talent for more than 30 years, might not be enforceable if the governing body and players cannot strike a new pay deal before the end of October.
The game’s leading stars have discussed the prospect of delaying their return to pre-season training if the dispute, which is now jeopardising the main lever available to the governing body to achieve balance between the 17 clubs, drags on.
This masthead can reveal NRL clubs are aware the salary cap is only covered under the collective bargaining agreement, which will lapse at the end of rugby league’s financial year.
The current agreement was rolled over for 12 months, but can’t be done so again, potentially throwing the system of player payment into chaos later this year.
A host of matters covered in the CBA including the salary cap, minimum wage, death and total permanent disability insurance and mandated player appearances will all end on October 31 if a new deal is not struck.
And at stake is the way clubs spread payments between $1 million-per-season earners and others at the lower end of the scale on just $120,000 to fit 30 players in the salary cap.
Latrell Mitchell and South Sydney Rabbitohs players celebrate their win over the Wests Tigers.Credit: Getty
The NRL announced last December it had reached an agreement with the players’ union on a salary cap increase of 25 per cent for 2023.
When contacted on Sunday, the NRL said preferred to wait until commenting on legal interpretations around the salary cap if no deal is struck.
After a weekend in which all male and female players covered the NRL logo with tape in protest over the stalled negotiations, the code’s stars are preparing to hold further talks this week about escalating action.
That could include delaying kick-off times for matches and a boycott of the Dally M Medal ceremony if there is no significant progress in talks, which have now spanned more than 20 months.
The players’ union remains steadfast on its wish for an industrial relations mediator to settle the feud, but Australian Rugby League Commission boss Peter V’landys says that would “be extremely counterproductive and inefficient” and accused the players’ union of not wanting to do a deal.
The RLPA is awaiting a formal position from the NRL following its request for an independent mediator, with V’landys and NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo attending an International Rugby League conference in Singapore over the weekend.
Leading employment lawyer Ian Neil SC said it would be one way for the dispute to be settled.
“It’s been tried and found effective in this country for decades,” he said. “I’ve seen [the NRL’s] justification, but that’s the kind of thing mediators and conciliators in industrial disputes encounter all the time. There’s nothing new about it.
“But if there is no replacement agreement, as I understand the position, there will be no agreement [on November 1]. It will no longer be in existence and impose no legal obligations on anyone, one way or the other.
“It is [worrying] both as a game and a code, as well as for the governing body and the players. I would say even more substantially for the governing body because the collective bargaining agreement is a way they exercise control over players.”
V’landys has argued the only way to get progress on a new deal is for Abdo and RLPA boss Clint Newton to be sidelined, with player directors to step into negotiations.
“The independent mediator is a plain and simple way to move forward and get the deal done as quick as possible,” RLPA director Kurt Capewell said. “It’s what we need.
“We’re willing to do whatever is needed to get a fair deal moving forward. Every player is together on this and we’re all on board.”
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