Jul 5th, 2017

Jul 5th, 2017

I genuinely fear for the future of our game.

The NRL is in a mess. The warning signs have been there for quite a while.

That will seem like a fairly negative statement.

It is.

It is also in direct conflict with my personal view that our game has never had greater potential.

Rugby League should be on the springboard to something really special.

Unfortunately, the game keeps getting in its own way.

By now, we should have assets on our balance sheet to guarantee our future. We should have the money and expertise available to grow our game both domestically and internationally.

In this time of great prosperity, (our game has never seen more revenue), the game's governing body, our clubs, and our players, should be united and excited and about the future of rugby league.

As it stands today, our game is fractured. Relationships between the clubs and players, with the game's governing body, have never been more strained.

Our game's leaders claim to be investing in rugby league's future. Evidence would suggest our game borrows from the future to survive the present . The vast majority of the game's revenue, across all levels, is spent on wages. How much of this is actually helping our future is debatable.

Next week we will witness the most watched game of rugby league in history. We should be ready to kick a big goal.

Cameron Smith has been part of the RLPA negotiations.

Expansion of our game, on a national and international level, should already be planned and implemented.

As it currently stands, our game is more likely to shrink. Participation levels are reportedly falling at an alarming rate.

The majority of our NRL clubs are under financial stress.

In reality, the demands of operating a professional sporting organisation in the modern era, are well beyond their financial means. Half our clubs are screaming at the other half to slow down, because they can't afford to keep up.

How did we get like this?

Many believe our current ARL Commission and management team, conduct their affairs like a political party.

If in fact they were politicians, I dare say they would be voted out at the next election.

Unfortunately no such democratic facility to implement much needed change is available.

Yesterday, we witnessed a new dimension to this chaos.

The NRL players, through their actions in showing such united support for the Rugby League Players Association (RLPA), showed us exactly where our game is situated at this particular point in time.

Using the profile of the game's marquee product, State of Origin, the game's most prominent players, all wore RLPA hats to their team photo and media sessions, to bring attention to the fact they are extremely unhappy with the progress of their negotiations for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

As if this wasn't enough, the players then proceeded to target NRL CEO Todd Greenberg, because they claimed Todd had not attended one meeting between the RLPA and the NRL during this protracted negotiation process. They highlighted this fact as a prime example of the game's management disrespecting the players. Not just any players either. Up there front and centre to face the media cameras and voice the player's concerns was our Australian Captain Cameron Smith, probably the most decorated and respected rugby league player in history.

Ian Pendergast of the Rugby League Player's association.

It was an extraordinary show of determination and solidarity by the rugby league playing group. They were speaking and acting on behalf of every current and future NRL player.

Already this week we have seen media headlines targeting the players, portraying them as greedy, unreasonable and defiant in their demands for a fixed percentage share of the game's revenue. There were also extraordinary reports yesterday that the players had staged a "walkout" from the latest meeting between the RLPA and the NRL to negotiate this matter.

The RLPA insist there was no staged "walkout".

The belief of the RLPA is that the NRL is responsible for these media stories as part of the NRL's negotiation tactics. They claim this is just the latest in number of "leaked" stories, deliberately placed in the media by NRL strategists. In having the players portrayed as unreasonable and militant, they believe the NRL is trying to apply pressure to the players by having them criticised in the public domain.

I'm pretty certain the general public sees straight through this kind of reporting, however, the players are obviously very upset by these antics.

Basically they are sick of the FAKE NEWS (I had to get that line in there somewhere lol. Don't take it to heart).

So, just a quick snapshot of where our game sits at the moment.

NRL CEO Todd Greenberg.

The new television Broadcast Rights deal is due to commence in season 2018. This deal with the broadcasters was completed prior to Christmas 2015.

Here we are in July 2017. We have no Collective Bargaining Agreement in place for next season. We have no offical salary cap level. We are about to witness the introduction of a new Competition Pathways Model, (the details of which is also yet to be finalised), which will totally change the way our game develops the future generations of NRL players.

The NRL, despite billions of dollars coming into the game over the past five years, from their own admission, is having to source a bank loan to meet this year's financial commitments.

The new Broadcast rights deal for the next five years will bolster the game's total revenue to record levels. Yet the people who actually put on the show, the players, are last on the list when it comes to allocating the spending. The NRL has allocated all the money elsewhere and wants to give the players what's leftover.

Added to this, the RLPA claims the NRL CEO has not given them the time of day during any of these negotiations.

More than this, the game now chooses to demonise the players, through a strategic media campaign, as the ones most responsible for sending the game broke.

At a time when our game should be making giant strides and capitalising on the popularity of its brand, we continue to look inwards and engage in ridiculous political rhertoric over money.

Can we call an early election please?!