Telstra sensationally threatened to walk away from its $15 million naming-rights sponsorship of the NRL if the governing body didn’t take a strong stance on player behaviour.

Summer of woe: the Jack de Belin case was one of several which prompted Telstra to consider pulling its sponsorship of the NRL. Credit:AAP

The NRL implemented its “no fault” stand-down policy, the legitimacy of which is being tested in the Federal Court, in February for players charged with serious criminal offences. The new protocols were brought in to help allay sponsor concerns about off-field incidents which had damaged the game and their own brands by association.

Rugby League Central is currently attempting to renew eight sponsorship contracts, worth a combined $12 million, that will expire at the end of the season. Many of those firms expressed concerns about renewing due to a spate of incidents that prompted NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg to label the off season a “trainwreck”.

The Herald can reveal the game’s biggest backer, Telstra, threatened to tear up its contract due to the damage the dramas were causing its brand. Telstra had signed on as the competition naming-rights partner until the end of the current broadcast deal, which expires after the 2022 season. The telecommunications giant is also a digital partner of the NRL in a lucrative deal understood to be worth about $20 million.