This is gonna get ugly

The NRL's decision to open its books over the weekend is indicative of a long, most likely painful, PR war ahead. The League, the clubs and the players all want different things and the spin will be incessant, bewildering and above all, depressing. But the picture that presented itself over the weekend was one none of them will be pushing: of stadiums so empty that the effects mics picked up players talking to each other; of 8½ loss-making businesses cannibalising each other in one city while a governing body props them up without asking for them to do anything to grow the competition or the sport in return; of a sport whose world is getting ever smaller, whose stars imitate NBA players when they score, while journos who usually cover the NRL are focusing on that same competition. The sooner John Grant quits, the players get their strike out of the way and clubs either relocate or go broke, the better. Wake me when it's over.

Pay war: Cameron Smith says the NRL has misrepresented the players' pay proposal. Credit:Getty Images

Could World Cup boycott work?

Last week's Discord argued that the players will be hurting every governing body in rugby league but the NRL – the one with whom they have a quarrel – if they were to boycott this year's World Cup. An eagle-eyed reader, however, pointed out that former NRL CEO David Smith had supposedly in 2014 guaranteed the Rugby League International Federation a minimum profit from the tournament in order to get the South African bid, which did have a guarantee, off the table. Therefore, it was argued the players can hurt League Central if the tournament was to tank and they were forced to cough up this guarantee, which would be – say – between $7 million and $10 million. Set of Six has made some enquiries and as best as we can ascertain, any undertaking Smith made was not put in writing and the ARLC will not be held to it. Which is good news if you are the ARLC and if you oppose a player strike … not so good if you were involved in the failed South African bid.