It's time for either John Grant or Todd Greenberg to go. Credit:Christopher Pearce Grant sent his email ahead of a meeting on Tuesday with club chairs who were angry about yet another meeting the week before when Greenberg and chief financial officer Tony Crawford told club chief executives the NRL was short on cash and would struggle to give them all of their $13 million in funding next year. In the email, which Fairfax Media has obtained, Grant doesn't so much throw Greenberg under the bus as reverse back over him. Like a mother berating her naughty toddler in a crowded shopping centre, Grant writes the "proposal regarding alleviation of the NRL's short-term cash flow requirements understandably caused concern, including within the Commission". In other words, he didn't know about it.

ARL Commission chairman John Grant believes the game can be expanded to China and the US. Credit:NRL He then adds that commissioner Tony McGrath will now provide "direct oversight" over Greenberg and Crawford as they try to make the numbers work. In other words, we'll be checking their homework from now on. The email from John Grant. Then comes this final jab at Greenberg: "Separately, the Commission will meet with Todd to understand why this issue arose and discuss the steps needed to ensure future executive actions that relate to the Deed receive the appropriate oversight and consideration by the Commission."

Just on the basis of that sentence alone, many self-respecting chief executives would tell Grant to shove something large somewhere small, pack up the office and leave the building. Greenberg has established a reputation as being the best politician in the game. He can't condemn his chairman publicly, but the worst kept secret in the game is that the chairman and the chief executive are not getting on. He has every right to be angry because Greenberg and Crawford are trying to make Grant's decision to cave in to a club funding model work when clearly the NRL cannot afford it. Several reliable and well-placed NRL sources say that both Greenberg and Crawford told Grant the game could not afford to give clubs an annual grant of 130 per cent on player payments ($13 million based on a $10 million salary cap) from 2018. Sources say they told him in December 3, 2015, when a memorandum of understanding was first drawn up, and then just before Christmas last year after Grant reneged on the deal in November before backflipping weeks later, which saved his position.

As for last week's proposal to cut club funding by $1 million next year because of the game's cash flow problems, Grant has said he knew cash flow was an issue but didn't know of the final figure. Others in the NRL find this hard to believe. While this is all very titillating for those behind the scenes, especially after midnight in the sports bar at The Star, the poor old fans out there are shaking their heads at the madness playing out before them from the people assigned to run the game. Some don't really care as long as their footy comes on at the right time, but others take a broader view and they are growing angry at an independent commission that was supposed to rid rugby league of self-interest when it was formed five years ago: the self-interest of half-owner News Corp; of the old blazer wearers of the ARL; of clubs that have more sway than others. Whether the perception is correct or not, they now believe Grant is more interested in survival than anything else, blindly holding on so he can present the trophy at the World Cup when it's held here at the end of the year. Grant scoffs at this. He also believes that the angry minority – a few disenchanted club chairmen – is getting smaller.

To some extent, that's true, but expected when the NRL owns two clubs (the Knights and Titans) and has pumped money into two more (the Tigers and Dragons). Other club chairmen remain bemused that Storm owner Bart Campbell, once their nominated representative, has become passive in the cut and thrust of funding discussions. While this happens, questions remained unanswered about why the game that has put together two record broadcast deals has a $60 million black hole in its budget. They have committed $100 million to "grassroots" footy, but won't say where it's going. They have committed $150 million to a digital strategy that's yet to be explained. What's clear, though, is that Grant's time is up in February next year, we can expect more meetings, more showdowns, more brinkmanship, more emails. Grant did not want to talk when contacted but he has told others he didn't send his email about Greenberg at 2.45am. He'd sent it earlier in the day but for some reason it didn't go through until the wee small hours of Tuesday.