Tune into our new show Fox League Live on Channel 502 at 5pm every day, and at 3pm on Saturdays.

The NRL has been shut down indefinitely as the growing coronavirus pandemic continues to worsen across the world.

On Monday, the Australian Rugby League Commission had a phone hook-up to discuss club funding which was voted on by the 16 teams.

Follow all the developments here.

THREE-GAME GF SERIES?

The NRL is hoping to return by July 1 and is looking at a remodelled 20-week competition.

The shortened season could be 15 rounds where every team plays each other once, followed by a finals series.

“It leaves you an extra week left over,” The Australian’s Brent Read told Triple M’s Rush Hour with MG.

“The NRL has kept that extra week for some innovation.

“The things that were thrown at me today were the potential for a three-game grand final series, a four-team play-off for the wooden spoon, the wildcard weekend is back on the agenda — all that stuff that would help them raise extra revenue.

“They want to generate as much money as they can over that 20-week season.

“That’s something they’re going to talk to Channel 9 and Foxtel about in coming weeks.”

NRL’S $40 MILLION FUNDS TO SAVE CLUBS

The NRL has guaranteed the survival of all 16 NRL clubs with a $40 million emergency funding package following Monday’s all-important phone hook-up.

Clubs will receive a one-off $2.5 million payment to cover operational costs from April to October, instead of their monthly $1.1 million grant.

In a bid to fund this, the NRL will reduce its operating costs by 53 per cent, including a 95 per cent reduction in staffing levels during the shutdown period and a 25 per cent cut in executive salaries.

The governing body reportedly spent $76 million in administration and operating costs for the first half of the game’s financial year and it’s set to be reduced to just over $20 million for the second half.

GREAT AUSSIE WINS pop-up channel 507 March 30 to April 5. Start watching on Foxtel Now with a 10-day free trial >

All 16 clubs unanimously supported the move.

In addition, the NRL has proposed a funding model for player payments to the RLPA which will be provided to its members for consideration.

“We have a consolidated plan and working with the clubs and the players, are united in our efforts to do all we can to protect rugby league,” ARLC chairman Peter V’landys said.

“We had no option but to stop the competition in the wake of advice from our biosecurity and pandemic expert but remain optimistic that the season will restart as quickly as possible, ideally by July 1. If that isn’t possible, then we need to be prepared for that option as well and are making the tough financial decisions now to reduce costs to ensure we get through this crisis.”

The NRL said the revised financial models provide clubs with the capacity to survive the financial year with either a remodelled 20-week competition, including final series and Origin, or a worst case scenario of no football being played again this year.

RLPA’S 10 DEMANDS OF GREENBERG AND V’LANDYS

The game’s leading players have put forward 10 demands ahead of a showdown meeting on Monday which will see head of the RLPA Clint Newton attempt to get clarity over the futures of his members.

CEO of the Rugby League Players Association (RLPA) Clint Newton Source: AAP

The Sydney Morning Heraldhas published his organisation’s list of demands which are:

1. NRL is transparent over what money it retains after giving cash to clubs

2. Ability to audit the NRL finances

3. NRL guarantee to repay the 2018 and 2019 retirement funds

4. Players get a minimum of 29.5 per cent of any extra revenues made by the NRL

5. Forthcoming years of every current player contract is guaranteed.

6. Any changes to salary cap and pay for 2021 or after are agreed upon by the RLPA

7. Clubs continue to pay private medical insurance

8. Agreement of representative fees for 2020

9. The RLPA wants direct involvement in talks with broadcasters and over how the schedule and structure of the NRL

10. The RLPA wants involvement in talks about other revenue streams the game can look at

Watch Foxtel in an instant. Catch up and settle in with no installation & no lock-in contract. Sign up to all of Foxtel Now with a 10-day free trial. New customers only.

WALTERS SAYS PLAYERS MUST BE READY TO GO

Queensland coach Kevin Walters believes the players need to be ready when the game returns and says the NRL can’t afford to wait while they get themselves fit.

They have to be ready to play,” Walters said on The Big Sports Breakfast.

“Even with the restrictions that they can’t train with teammates. We can laugh about it all we like but these are the rules.

“When they say this game is on they need to be ready the players. Taking a month to get ready for a game of football that is pie in the sky stuff.

“We do not have that time. The players don’t have anything to do right now except look after their bodies and maintain their strength, their conditioning and their fitness and skills.”

DCE SLAMS NRL OVER MISSING MILLIONS

Manly skipper Daly Cherry-Evans led a heated showdown between the game’s senior players and the NRL over millions of dollars of missing funds.

A two-and-a-half hour meeting between the Rugby League Players Association and the NRL was labelled “tough” and “uncomfortable” by RLPA boss Clint Newton.

Up to 30 players took it in turns to direct their frustration at NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg and ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys over the game’s precarious financial state.

The players are dealing with a pay cut of 75 per cent and have now discovered that the NRL has raided their retirement fund to the tune of $10 million.

That money has instead gone into NRL operational costs for the past two years.

The NRL has reportedly been spending $181 million annually just putting together the regular season rounds, finals series and State of Origin.

NRL CONSIDERS FLAT FEE

The NRL is said to be contemplating paying every player in the NRL $100,000 in 2021 to prevent the game from going bust.

WWOS reports that the proposal will be put forward at Monday’s meeting.

But it has already been met with opposition from the RLPA and some players.

“It has been discussed and while we hope it doesn’t come to that, the harsh reality is that it may,” one player told WWOS

“It means a huge pay cut for some of the game’s high profile players and a smaller cut for others – but in the end, it may save all our jobs … and the game.”

V’LANDYS’ MESSAGE OF HOPE FOR NRL SEASON

ARLC chairman Peter V’landys says he is optimistic the NRL season will resume in 2020, possibly as early as July.

“It’s a lot better than how it looked (when the season was suspended),” V’landys told the Sydney Morning Herald. “If it keeps trending like this, there is no reason we can’t recommence.”

V’landys pointed to two key reasons why NRL could be back in three months time

“You have to remember that the chief medical officers – up until we made the decision [to suspend the season] – allowed us to continue,” he said.

“It was only that we acted on the advice of our pandemic expert. Up until that point, the government had no problem with us continuing.

“As long as we have the support of the chief medical officers, we will be able to recommence. We’re looking at other options which minimise the risk even further.”

He also pointed to Australia’s flattening of the coronavirus curve in recent days as another reason to believe a rugby league return was possible.

The classics are back! Vote for YOUR favourite throwback match below, and see it LIVE on Fox League 502.

Settle in with the best entertainment for the whole family. No installation. No lock-in contract. Start your Foxtel Now 10-day free trial. New customers only.

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM MONDAY’S D-DAY MEETING

The financial stability of all 16 NRL clubs during the coronavirus will be a chief concern for the players’ union in one of the biggest meetings in the game’s history on Monday.

Both the NRL and Rugby League Players’ Association are confident a deal will be reached early this week on pay talks, with a Monday morning meeting set for all club bosses, player representatives and NRL executives.

In the teleconference, ARLC chairman Peter V’landys will tell clubs and the players he is still hopeful the season can resume by July 1, mitigating as much damage to the game as possible.

MORE NRL NEWS

NEARLY 500k PER DAY: The NRL’s extravagant operating costs laid bare

DISGUSTING GREED: Legend takes a swipe at the modern game

IKIN: Inside the rapid rise from schoolboy football to Origin stardom

But officials are still planning for the worst-case scenario as they plan player payments and club grants in case the competition doesn’t restart before the September 1 deadline.

Player representatives from all 16 clubs spoke with V’landys and NRL chief Todd Greenberg on Sunday, along with South Sydney CEO Blake Solly and Brisbane counterpart Paul White.

It’s expected the players’ pay cut for the remainder of the year will sit around 75 per cent, after they have already been paid the first five months of their annual salary in full.

Their pay will continue to come out of club grants, making the viability of each side paramount.

If any club falls it will hurt the financials of the game through broadcast deals as well as the direct impact of player losses.

MORE NRL NEWS

ON THE TOOLS: NRL stars brought crashing back to reality

WARNING: Gallen’s blunt advice over potential season restart

NRL NEGLECT FORCES PEOPLE TO ASK, WHERE’S THE MONEY GOING?

The NRL are facing serious questions over their savings for certain rainy day funds.

It has emerged that they have failed to cough up the cash for the last two years worth of retirement funds. This year’s amount has yet to be paid, and there are questions over what has happened to an amount set aside to help the NRL clubs should they fall on hard times.

All the while, the NRL is spending an eye-watering amount daily for its operational costs.

“It’s another example of financial mismanagement at the NRL and how they mislead us as a public,” said Daily Telegraph journalist Paul Kent on Fox League Live.

In his Saturday column Kent wrote that: “Limousines and hire cars, bloated staff numbers on bloated wages, unnecessary costs like the millions to stage February’s Nines in Perth, where there are no plans for expansion, which so no real gain, gifts of diamond rings” were what the NRL were frivolously wasting cash on.

Settle in with the best entertainment for the whole family. No installation. No lock-in contract. Start your Foxtel Now 10-day free trial. New customers only.

He continued on Fox League Live: “They failed to pay $5m in 2018, same again in 2019, and then this year. Add that up and it’s $15m.

“There’s also the stressed clubs fund where they’ve failed to pay which is $6m, all together that’s $21m which they were obligated to pay.

“The minute you try to make them accountable, you’re instantly betrayed as a nark or a critic. “This has been going on for years the NRL, for whatever reason, are not up front to their constituents which is the fans, who deserve to know what the game is.

“Head office is spending $182m, that’s nearly half a million per day. Less people are playing the game, ratings are stagnant, crowds are stagnant what are they spending their money on?”