The international game won't be able to grow unless both the NRL and the ESL competitions are reduced in length. Regardless of what people think, the human body needs time to rest and recover, so adding more and more games will not improve the quality. It will do the reverse and lilely to see an increase in injuries or burn out to your elite players.
As such I think the RLA have a point on this.
In relatiopn to the RLPA funding, from some reason the NRL provides the funding direct to them. Every other Union I know of, members pay their fees direct to the Union itself or (in rarer occasions now via payroll deduction). It is not funded by the employer. FYI - A lot of unions abandoned pay roll deductions after a number of Governments ended payroll deductions of union fees without telling the effected staff, nor the Unions (it was to try and make themn insolvent).