Of the December 2016 negotiations, he said, "The suggestion that I negotiated on the club funding last year to save my own skin flies in the face of the facts. While I was the point person for the commission as Bart Campbell was for the clubs, neither of us acted without the authority of our stakeholders at any time. During the discussions I presented two offers to Bart which were endorsed by the full commission and Todd and his management team.

Referring to the six-month period between the resignation of chief executive Dave Smith and the appointment of replacement, Todd Greenberg, during which Grant fulfilled two roles, he said, "With (ARL Commissioner) Tony McGrath beside me, we started with a difficult situation but ultimately ended with the memorandum of understanding."

He insists his involvement with clubs mainly occurred when negotiations had gone off the rails.

Australian Rugby League Commission Chairman John Grant has called on all parties in rugby league – including the dissidents planning to throw him from the locomotive – to get on board. Credit:Christopher Pearce

He charted the long chronology of debate between the ARLC/NRL administration and the 16 clubs, NSWRL and QRL over demands, pointing to areas where Rugby League Central may have created expectations in terms of funding and releasing NRL properties.

"I specifically said to Bart that I did not have the right to negotiate. The commission's final proposal, which became the basis for the deed, was signed by all Commissioners and Todd, and the final aspects of the deed were worked up late in the afternoon in the board room at RLC with all club Chairs, the Commission and the NRL management team present. The deed was then signed by all clubs, the NSWRL and the Commission. Describing that process as me saving my skin is preposterous."

In terms of the latest challenge to his leadership, where clubs have considered calling another EGM to remove him, he pointed out that the projected cash flow problem was small both in size and time.

"We have two soft areas," he said of the exposure forecasts over the five years of the 2018-22 TV deal. It involves a deficit of $11.2 million out of $2 billion in revenue. We're not heading to a train wreck, unless someone wants to crash the commission.

"Why would the game want to crash the commission over such a small amount of money?" He pointed out that in the near six years he has led the ARLC, the major outcomes for the game have been delivered – " two record broadcast deals, record club funding that applied diligently can see all clubs sustainable for the long term, significant improvements to player safety and rule changes which have made the game even more exciting, a greater level of integrity than ever before and almost $2 billion in stadia and infrastructure investment."

Grant repeated his strong desire for ARLC constitutional change and refuted strongly any suggestion he had derailed it in the past.