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SENIOR representative stars are fed up with a chronic lack of support from the Rugby League Professionals Association (RLPA), which will soon be led by a solicitor with links to the NRL.
On the back of a disgruntled groundswell among players, a special Daily Telegraph investigation into the RLPA's activities has discovered:
The RLPA has not lodged a single financial report to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) since 2004.
The RLPA is primarily funded by the 16 clubs, with each franchise siphoning $20,000 from their NRL annual grant to pay the union. The Top 25 players are then charged $300 each for membership, leaving their employer to foot the rest of the bill.
Incoming RLPA boss David Garnsey is a partner with top-tier law firm Minter Ellison, which has represented the NRL in a number of matters and is currently handling Canberra's defence of Bronx Goodwin's unfair dismissal claim.
Goodwin and fellow industrial claimant Reni Maitua were only availed a one-off briefing with RLPA-sanctioned law firm Slater & Gordon. Neither has received any further support from the RLPA, with former boss Matt Rodwell "overlooking" Maitua's hearing in April.
After de-registering from the AIRC in May last year, the RLPA spent eight months without any corporate reporting requirements until it re-registered in January.
Players are now preparing to abandon the union in favour of the newly-formed Player Agent Association (PAA), which is on standby to represent them in the upcoming round of negotiations for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.
At present, over 90 per cent of the 400 contracted players are RLPA members. But a ballooning segment is now having second thoughts, questioning how membership fees have been appropriated in the absence of any breakthroughs in longstanding grievances such as rep player toll, third party sponsorships, medical expenses and royalties.
At the heart of their concerns is the perceived conflict of interest the RLPA has carried since agreeing to accept club funding in 2007. Players feel their union no longer has the independence to fight their employers - who effectively balance its books each season.
After starring in Wednesday night's Origin opener, Jonathan Thurston and Craig Wing decided to speak out.
"I'm not really sure where our money is going," Thurston said.
"As a rep player, I've got major concerns about the toll of playing so much football takes on my body and what it will mean for me after football. We've made these concerns pretty well known publicly, but the RLPA seems to do nothing about it.
"You'd have to have serious thoughts about signing up again next year. I just can't see the benefit any longer and I know a lot of blokes feel the same way."
Wing, who was instrumental in enlisting players to the RLPA as a delegate at the Roosters three years ago, added: "They told us we'd have far better bargaining power if everyone signed up, so that's what we did,
"Now we've done our bit, I'd like to ask the question, what's being done in return?"
The RLPA issued a written response to The Daily Telegraph, claiming it had lodged financial returns to the AIRC in 2005 and 2006.
But an AIRC official it was still waiting for the past three years' accounts to arrive.
It said Garnsey will no longer work at Minter Ellison upon assuming the reins from Rodwell on 1 July, but didn't address conflict of interest concerns that Goodwin's legal team have raised.
Asked about Rodwell's failure to accompany Maitua to April's hearing against his former club the Bulldogs, the RLPA replied: "The Maitua affair is clouded by misinformation.
"The matter is still being investigated internally and the Association will make its position clear once the investigation has concluded."
With the current CBA expiring at the end of next season, the RLPA now has a fight on its hands to represent the players.
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/sport/nrl/story/0,26799,25593196-5006066,00.html