Manchester: Rugby League Players’ Association boss Clint Newton has defended under-fire star Harry Grant after the Australian hooker was criticised for comparing NRL salaries to those of tradies.
Grant expressed concerns over the protracted collective bargaining agreement negotiations and said the NRL was “low-balling” the players.
The Storm and Kangaroos hooker, one of the better-paid players in the competition, has been left hurt by the backlash to his comments referring to minimum-wage players who he said in some cases were “better off getting on the tools”.
Expressing his frustrations with the criticism directed at Grant, Newton told the Herald on Thursday: “I was disappointed. It was taken completely out of context.
“What Harry was trying to do was protect the guys at the bottom. Of course players at the top end of the list are on decent money, and so they should be. Like any industry, those that are performing the best need to be rewarded the most. That’s no different from any other industry.
“Harry has now been carved up with some of the comments from other people in the industry. That’s not what he was saying. Players are very happy to play rugby league and they love the game.
Harry Grant has taken aim at the NRL.Credit:Getty
“They just want to make sure their share of revenue reflects their contribution and that the guys at the bottom of the list and past players are looked after.”
Sources with knowledge of the matter told the Herald that Grant had been hurt by claims he was ungrateful for the money he earns.
Newton said players had to be encouraged to speak their minds and not be crucified for sharing their views on important matters.
RLPA boss Clint Newton.Credit:Getty
“Those that know Harry Grant know he’s a very humble guy – he has a lot of humility and he’s a guy that’s doing his very best for players that don’t have a voice like he does,” Newton said. “What do we want? Do we want players to be pot plants where it’s this ‘shut-up-and-play’ type attitude?
“The fact is [that] players advocating for improvements in their terms and conditions absolutely has an impact on the future of the game. If it was just left down to administrators, we wouldn’t be having the improvements that we’ve secured over the last two terms of our CBA.”
While tension between head office and the players’ union has been simmering for some time, Newton has revealed he has no desire to lead a revolt against ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys and NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo.
“There’s no William Wallace here,” he said. “We’re not putting heads on spikes.One of the things that often gets spoken about behind closed doors is that players or us, we’re looking to remove people from the game.
“That couldn’t be further from the truth. What we want is passionate people leading our game. Peter’s clearly passionate people about the game.
“What I’d like to believe is that the commission, which is clearly led by Peter as chair, is they understand our claims, they respect our claims and they respect the role of the players. If we were all moving in the same direction, we could be an absolutely formidable force in Australian sport.”
