Players from top-eight teams could make an extra $36,000 outside the salary cap under a radical plan to provide State of Origin-style match payments across all four weeks of the finals.
More than $2 million would be pooled in match fees for players from clubs who qualify for the finals in the biggest non-salary cap shake-up to the payment system in years.
Just like NSW and Queensland players command a fee for featuring in Origin matches, the proposal involves players receiving extra income just for stepping foot on the field in a finals match.
Every Penrith and Parramatta player would have received $16,000 for featuring in the grand final under the planned model, which would mean more than $500,000 would be doled out in match payments for the biggest showpiece of the year.
Players from week-one finalists will receive $4000 per game and those who are named in the semi-finals and preliminary finals matches would be owed $8000 each.
For example, Eels players who featured in all four finals matches this year after their week one loss to eventual premiers Penrith would have banked an extra $36,000 for Parramatta’s finals run.
Jarome Luai and every Panthers player would have pocketed $16,000 each for playing in the grand final under the proposal.Credit:Getty
The plan has been tabled by the Rugby League Players Association during collective bargaining agreement talks with the NRL and is designed to increase the earning power of the game’s biggest stars in the finals.
“Playing finals is a reward for the players, clubs and fans,” RLPA chief executive Clint Newton said. “And the players who train for and play the biggest games of the season should be rewarded for that and share in the game’s success.
“Playing finals is more revenue for the game and more games for the players, which involves additional heavy contact, and they’re the most intense games outside of Origin because of what’s at stake.
“Our proposal means each player is paid the same match fee for each finals game and is separate to what clubs would otherwise receive [in grants from the NRL].”
The NRL is aware of the plan, which is part of the delicate pay talks as both parties try to find common ground on a number of issues, including salary cap projections for the next five years.
Panthers Group chief executive Brian Fletcher took a swipe at the NRL for this year’s prizemoney allocation on the eve of the finals – the premiers pocketed just $200,000 under agreed cuts due to the COVID-19 pandemic – and League Central is preparing to lift that significantly from next year.
The prospect of players receiving match payments throughout the finals will again create debate about whether it will prompt players to take less money to sign for successful clubs than struggling outfits knowing they can top up their earnings in the play-offs.
The plan also has a component for NRLW players with each to earn a $4000 match fee in a first final and $8000 for appearing in a grand final under a two-week play-offs format.
Central to the players’ union claim is clarity around payments for international football just days after Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga stressed he was desperate for parity between the Pacific nations and World Cup holders Australia.
“We want to give the nations clarity and the players a clear direction so they can appropriately choose where they want to play, because they’re going to be able to decide and say, ‘right, I know I’m going to be playing X amount of matches per year or over a three- or five-year cycle’,” Newton said. “Then they can declare their allegiance.
“Our claims for the next term of the CBA are fighting for what’s fair and lifting the players from the bottom up. This CBA isn’t about demanding big lifts in salary caps. The players have made that very clear.
“This negotiation is about building strong foundations of fairness and respect and finally becoming those true partners of the NRL and the Commission.”
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