"The value of the rights, they will be lucky to get $1.4 or $1.5 billion," Smith told Fairfax Media. Big bucks: (From left) The AFL's Mike Fitzpatrick and Rupert Murdoch and Robert Thomson announce the AFL broadcast deal. Credit:Simon O'Dwyer "The NRL has brought this on themselves. "What's left for the NRL to sell to pay television and digitally for exclusive content is not great. This has proven to be a brilliant deal for Channel Nine but not so for Fox Sports or Telstra. "The problem they've got is all of the things important to Fox Sports have been lost. They've lost Saturday, they've lost Monday and the simulcast they get from Nine is what we call a dirty feed, with their ads. That's far less attractive.

"I would have thought there are some people at Rugby League Central thinking 'Oooooh, what have we done here?! We've rushed into it.' "Frankly, they have outsmarted themselves. "The clubs would have been basking, thinking this is fantastic last Monday. I bet they wouldn't be saying the same thing now. There is going to be a massive shortfall, back to the old days, between the AFL and NRL rights." Smith believes the size and the haste of the AFL deal is a pointer to how angered Rupert Murdoch was about his treatment in NRL negotiations. Industry insiders claim Fox Sports CEO Patrick Delany wasn't informed of the Nine deal until it was announced via press release and that the Seven and Ten Networks weren't included in the official tendering process. Requests for an interview with NRL CEO Dave Smith were declined, with a spokesperson saying: "The TV rights negotiations are still continuing.

"Dave has indicated he will not be discussing them further until they are concluded." Club CEOs and chairs are privately concerned about Tuesday's AFL announcement, believing rugby league has again sold itself short. There was already some resistance in club land about signing new participation arrangements and the latest development wouldn't have helped the governing body's cause. Speaking just hours before the AFL deal was trumpeted, Canterbury CEO Raelene Castle reserved judgment when asked if the NRL had negotiated a good deal. "You'd have to think that it looks like good number, but only half the deal is done, so let's see what happens with the other half," Castle said. "Let's not get the champagne out until we see what the rest of it looks like and until we, from a club's perspective, see what that means in terms of salary cap amounts for player implications around contract negotiations and also what the grant will be for the clubs, it's hard to say ...

"Until you're at the negotiating and behind the scenes, you don't know what's happened. You're presuming there is a good reason why we've ended up in this situation and Dave certainly thinks he can deliver the other half of it. I hope that's the case." Colin Smith predicted "disruptors'' such as Netflix would be more prominent in the next broadcast deal but would likely only pay "low fees" if involved in this one. "[The NRL] are between a rock and a hard place," Smith said. "They need to pull some rabbits out of a hat. Frankly, the only one they could do, and should do, is look at expansion in Queensland. "To me, there is no other answer. That could also be threatened because they might have done a deal with Channel Nine where they have first option on that as well. Dave was smart to negotiate the rights early, but then he's outsmarted himself."