Blues legend Greg Alexander calls on NRL to play 2020 Origin series ‘no matter what':
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...s/news-story/840da6573313a88b42830e03590c2fbc
Todd Greenberg says some of the NRL’s biggest clubs are ‘the most vulnerable’:
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...e/news-story/2f90c7a99837d592bdaa58239b76ce55
Cronk: Our players have enjoyed riches of the game, they must now endure the tough times too:
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...o/news-story/31c586ab1ce5c4f5b7a154828306b90a
Ben Ikin - With the wider community hurting, NRL players don’t deserve special treatment:
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...n/news-story/2b5bf7aef4d9de8f1598dbd2ac741be3
NRL players could all be paid $3000 a month — Cam Smith and DCE included:
https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...r/news-story/40442a95f49ccbca24bb49f6789177ed
Leading sports lawyer warns NRL that sponsors could 'walk away in droves':
https://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/nrl-sp...n-droves/46acde9c-e7c7-4e5c-9693-24c05d90386d
Also, from Sporting News,
Damien Cook says players willing to take pay cuts
South Sydney Rabbitohs hooker Damien Cook says players are willing to take a pay cut as the NRL goes through the most turbulent period in its history.
On Monday, with two rounds of the 2020 season in the books, NRL bosses
Peter V'landys and Todd Greenberg suspended the season indefinitely as the coronavirus pandemic continues to escalate in Australia.
In a best case scenario, the
NRL will return on June 1, with other possible re-start dates including July 1, August 1 and September 1.
According to reports, a truncated 15-round season restarting on September 1 is the latest possible date the league can resume.
With so much uncertainty surrounding the immediate and long-term future of the NRL, Cook says players are more than willing to take pay cuts.
Cook also said the majority of rugby league players have more stability than many in Australia because they know the NRL will inevitably return.
"Everyone accepts that there will be some sort of pay cut taken," he told
Big Sports Breakfast on Wednesday morning.
"We're very lucky that there's a very high chance that footy's going to be around next year, and we will get paid and be in a job at some stage.
"But there are people out there who have lost their jobs and may not get it back.
"That's terrible. So when it comes to us, all the players have put up their hands to say we're definitely going to take a pay cut."
Cook's comments echo those of RLPA CEO Clint Newton who said - despite an erroneous report on Tuesday - that
pay cuts will be a likely option.
"Clearly the game is going through a cost-cutting exercise. Players will obviously have to share in that, which we've always maintained, and we'll have to have good faith discussions with the NRL moving forward,"
Newton said on Big Sports Breakfast on Tuesday.
"We'll explore every opportunity before we go into salaries with our player benefits and entitlements."
Those discussions between the RLPA and the NRL will continue this week, with Cook saying it makes sense for the players to take a hit as the game struggles.
"The best thing is the NRL and the RLPA have been communicating very well and giving that information back to us," he said.
"I'm not sure what the percentage is, but I'm understanding that it will be some sort of percentage cut from salaries.
"That's just what it has to be.
"The players, when they did the CBA agreed that if the game goes up, we get paid a bigger percentage, so it's only right that if the game goes down, that percentage as well that we take our share on as well."
It has been a common theme across rugby league over the past few days, with Greenberg calling on NRL clubs and players to prepare for a new financial normal.
"We want to try and keep all 16 clubs afloat throughout this difficult period but that will mean a re-set of the cost base,”
Greenberg told Channel 7 News.
“All of us, me included, the NRL staff, all our clubs, coaches and players. We’re going to have to rethink about the costs across the game as we go through a very, very difficult time in the game’s history."
Newcastle Knights CEO Philip Gardner also warned everyone involved in the game to
expect to "take a haircut."