The truth, as they say, is out there – it’s just impossible to find in the ongoing melodrama between the NRL and the RLPA.
In this week’s exciting episode, two NRL employees stand accused of conspiring secretly to record a meeting between chief executive Andrew Abdo and disgruntled players who feel a 22 per cent pay rise isn’t enough.
We know of this dramatic revelation because an email from RLPA chair Deidre Anderson to the ARL Commission complaining about the covert recording was seen by The Age’s Jon Pierik on Tuesday. The Age and the Herald are owned by Nine Entertainment Co.
At face value, the secret recording appears to be an act of war.
Apart from potentially being illegal because a recording has been made without consent, it has eroded any semblance of trust between the league and the players during these very tense collective bargaining agreement negotiations.
We shouldn’t jump to conclusions so quickly, though. Truth is a fluid commodity in rugba leeg.
NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo.Credit:Dean Sewell
The two staffers – who cannot be named for legal reasons – are determined to clear their names and have already painted an entirely different set of events. One of them has defamation lawyers amassed on the border, ready to pounce, so all concerned are treading carefully.
Abdo was invited months ago to be one of the keynote speakers at the RLPA’s Leaders in League conference held at Sydney Olympic Park at the weekend.
Other speakers included All Blacks legend Dan Carter, former Socceroo Craig Foster and GWS Giants veteran Phil Davis.
It was a tough gig for Abdo because he’s been locking horns with RLPA chief executive Clint Newton for weeks over the CBA – yet he fronted anyway because it was the right thing for the boss of the game to do and would’ve appeared weak if he had not.
ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys and RLPA chief Clint Newton.Credit:Janie Barrett, Getty
A short question-and-answer session after his speech would be a perfect chance to clear the air with the players in the room.
Abdo was initially scheduled to speak at 9am on Friday but was pushed back to later in the day.
The day before, an NRL executive asked – in front of several staffers – for Abdo’s speech to be recorded because he had other commitments that afternoon.
Another NRL staffer who was present recorded the meeting but neglected to ask for permission, rousing suspicions among those present that it was clandestinely recorded. Storm centre Justin Olam alerted RLPA officials to the fact that recording was being made. Then RLPA employee Tom Symonds stepped in.
According to some at the NRL, the episode is merely a misunderstanding that should have been handled far better, particularly in light of the delicate negotiations currently at play. It is completely plausible to ask for a recording of the boss’s speech. Abdo insists he didn’t know the recording was being made.
According to the RLPA, though, the secret recording is an abhorrent act of skulduggery; a secret recording scandal to rival the Nixon White House Tapes. Senior players in attendance are still seething.
ARLC chairman Peter V’landys was devastated when I spoke to him shortly after the story broke online on Tuesday. He understood the significance of the allegations, which are being investigated by the NRL Integrity Unit.
Others at the NRL, though, were flabbergasted someone at the RLPA revealed details of Anderson’s email to the media, clearly using it as leverage in this never-ending pay dispute. Newton is going to great lengths to tell anyone who will listen that he didn’t leak.
That the email came to light a day after superstars Latrell Mitchell and Jack Wighton were arrested and charged after play-wrestling on a drunken night out in Canberra is a coincidence too tantalising to ignore.
CBA negotiations are always robust in sport. In the US, the NFL, NBA and MLB have locked out players. Australia’s cricketers were locked out for a month in 2017.
Rugby league is edging closer to that reality as players, like Christian Welch and Shaun Lane, flag the prospect of strike action.
Abdo and Newton have been locked in talks for two weeks, but there appears to be greater preference in winning the public relations battle than getting a deal done.
The players were furious when the NRL announced its salary cap for 2023 on December 23, without scant consultation. Then, last week, Abdo did a round of face-saving interviews the very day before meeting with the RLPA.
The gloves came off in this pay dispute long ago. Might be time to put them back on and sign a deal and put us all out of our miseries.
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