Canberra had hoped to get salary cap dispensation to sign another player, but the NRL declined their request. The issue is set to raise its head again in June when England plays against New Zealand in Denver, Colorado on the same weekend as State of Origin. The Raiders will likely have Jordan Rapana, Joe Tapine and Elliott Whitehead travelling 28,460 kilometres in the two-week period around the Test. Canberra hoped they might get some salary cap dispensation for Hodgson, but the NRL declined their request. ​"It is definitely on the table and we definitely think to incentivise clubs to continue to commit to promoting and supporting international footy," Greenberg said at the Channel 9 season launch in Sydney.

"We obviously have insurance in place for players' contracts, but salary cap relief is something we need to consider in the rules. "If we set ourselves that marker for the middle of the year, we can probably get something through in that time frame. "Changes to the rules are important decisions and we need to think through them carefully, but it will be very important to the clubs as they release players." Raiders chief executive Don Furner said Canberra copped a "double whammy" when Hodgson was injured, with the Green Machine having to include his pay in the cap and then also buy hookers to replace him. The USA Test at the Denver Bronco's Mile High Stadium has drawn criticism for the strain it will place on NRL players.

"I'm a big fan of the international scene and what [Australian coach] Mal [Meninga]'s doing, but when you've got promoters running your scheduling in regards to international games the question should be asked, 'How much is the promoter making out of all this? Where's the goodness for the welfare of the player?'," Stuart said. "There's none. You can't travel hours and hours and hours on a plane and have for example St George play three days later when they get home. And they'll have a number of English players in their team. "So for me, if you're going to be fair dinkum about welfare, be fair dinkum." Greenberg said the NRL was also looking to have more transparency surrounding third-party agreements. TPAs have been a bug bear of Raiders fans during the off-season, given the Green Machine can't attract the same level of corporate support as teams in big cities like the Broncos and the Storm.

Greenberg said it was a difficult area because you wanted the stars of the game to be able to earn extra money outside of their playing contracts. The NRL have set up a working group, made up of their own people, a couple of club bosses and the Rugby League Players Association, which will report back to Greenberg with recommendations. He was open to making TPAs more transparent so fans knew where their clubs stood. "The correlation between third parties and representative players are incredibly high, so you would imagine that last year in Melbourne Cameron Smith, Bill Slater and Cooper Cronk had a significant number of opportunities to earn outside their current contracts," Greenberg said. Loading

"That's a good thing. If those players potentially played at another club you would expect those agreements to continue. "It's difficult to find that equality piece, but that's part of the digesting of the rules that we'll try to find a way that maybe evens that up a little bit."