Player strike

[insert.pause]

Considering guys like James Maloney and Cameron Smith are on the Board of Directors of the RLPA, with Cameron Smith being the President, I would not say that at all. Furthermore, how many people read every single page, of every single section of an industrial agreement when nit is being voted on?

I've been involved in enough industrial relations matters to know what goes on. If you think a rep like Pendergast is acting on his own and the players are just siting back and letting him do whatever he wants, you don't know much about industrial relations matters. Plenty of CEO's of the RLPA and its forebears have been punted when the players thought they were not doing a good job for them (just ask the President of the NSW RL Players Association when the Draft came in in 1991, he lost his job for not opposing it when Kevin Ryan was installed as the new President and supporter Terry Hill when he took the NSWRL to the High Court). Hell in my own Union, the previous Secretary of our Union got dumped for the exact same reason.

We are talking about rugby league players here, they are accustomed to their agents wiping their bums for them, they don't like to get drawn into details. The players role in negotiations extends to regurgitating soundbites for a proposal authored by prendergast and heavily influenced by player agents, who stand to benefit the most.

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

Maloney is the worst choice of spokesperson if they want to get public sympathy for their cause.

Went to Warriors for an opportunity, made a GF, then pissed off for more money

Won a premiership with the Roosters, cashed in and pissed off for more money

Went to the Sharks, won a GF, then Hunt got a big contract and since then Maloney on several occasions has said he wouldn't guarantee he'd be at the Sharks in 2018 despite being under contract because - more money.

 

[TIGER14]

Some players do quite well, i.e. the top players. However there would be players at the bottom of the RL food chain who wouldn't make enough to live a decent life in Sydney, for instance, and be able to set themselves up for life after football.
They can't help if the game can't generate enough money.

The minimum salary for an NRL player is $80k. I think you're pretty comfortable on that. And when average players like Ben Hunt are earning $1.2M a year I don't think people can complain about their not being enough money.

 

[TIGER14]

And as if players are going to strike anyway.

What are they going to fall back on if it goes pear shaped, the Certificate II they got in cinema toilet cleaning from an online course? Most players don't have any other career going for them.

 

[juro]

Clubs are currently running at a loss trying to pay the players. If the players want more, there needs to be major efficiency improvements or the whole thing will collapse.

 

[Captain Apollo]

The minimum salary for an NRL player is $80k. I think you're pretty comfortable on that. And when average players like Ben Hunt are earning $1.2M a year I don't think people can complain about their not being enough money.

Ok, so you think $80k a year is "comfortable" eh? Especially when you work 6 days a week, and the average career length of an NRL player is 3 years?! Try and buy a house anywhere in Sydney on $80k a year and see what luck you have.

 

[Captain Apollo]

We are talking about rugby league players here, they are accustomed to their agents wiping their bums for them, they don't like to get drawn into details. The players role in negotiations extends to regurgitating soundbites for a proposal authored by prendergast and heavily influenced by player agents, who stand to benefit the most.

There is no point us going on about this point as neither of us appears willing to concede anything. We'll just have to agree to disagree.

 

[Munted]

Ok, so you think $80k a year is "comfortable" eh? Especially when you work 6 days a week, and the average career length of an NRL player is 3 years?! Try and buy a house anywhere in Sydney on $80k a year and see what luck you have.

LOL
M8.
So what????
Plenty of people work 6 days a week across two jobs, get taxed higher on the second and still pull less than $80K in sydney to make ends meet.

If the average career length is 3 years, then its actually quite simple.
Get a solid education before or after your 3 year stint in rugby league so you can have a life after football.

Think of all the artists (musicians/actors/dancers etc) who try and 'make it' in their preferred profession, they spend YEARS chipping away, they WON'T earn a minimum of $80K while doing it...and guess what. MOST don't find success, and they start working from the bottom in their late 20's and early 30's to make ends meet.

You are making this out like the players have no choice in their lives?
Once again, treating these pricks like special individuals.
Needing minders when going out in public to stay out of twubble..needing managers to wipe their ass and ask for their pay rise...f**k me.

 

[Front-Rower]

Get a solid education before or after your 3 year stint in rugby league so you can have a life after football.

What players can earn outside the salary cap:

Unlimited - Tertiary education fees, approved traineeships, medical insurance costs, relocation/temporary accommodation costs are not included in the cap but must be approved

http://www.nrl.com/nrlhq/referencecentre/salarycap/tabid/10434/default.aspx

 

[Front-Rower]

Lets be frank, let us say the salary cap went up from $6.1 Million (http://www.nrl.com/nrlhq/referencecentre/salarycap/tabid/10434/default.aspx) to $8 Million (conservative) that's an increase of $1.9 Million.

Let's guess that 5 of the top 25 currently are on $80, 000 and need a rise to $85, 000 next year plus and extra 5 players get added to the squad who also get the $85, 000. That means the club will need to spend an extra $450, 000 on playing expenses. Where will the remaining $1.45 million go?

 

[insert.pause]

There is no point us going on about this point as neither of us appears willing to concede anything. We'll just have to agree to disagree.

fair enough, I do appreciate your point, I just don't think it's necessarily applicable to the way the RLPA operates, it's a very unique workplace.

 

[Munted]

What players can earn outside the salary cap:

Unlimited - Tertiary education fees, approved traineeships, medical insurance costs, relocation/temporary accommodation costs are not included in the cap but must be approved

http://www.nrl.com/nrlhq/referencecentre/salarycap/tabid/10434/default.aspx

Sounds like a good deal to me! The club can prepare their players for life outside of football, which is a f**kload more than what other employers offer their people.

Look on the bright side, for the 3 years these merkins have they can at least count on an endless supply of shitty clothing, shoes, boots etc etc. At least that's what instagram shows me.

 

[adamkungl]

LOL
M8.
So what????
Plenty of people work 6 days a week across two jobs, get taxed higher on the second and still pull less than $80K in sydney to make ends meet.

If the average career length is 3 years, then its actually quite simple.
Get a solid education before or after your 3 year stint in rugby league so you can have a life after football.

Think of all the artists (musicians/actors/dancers etc) who try and 'make it' in their preferred profession, they spend YEARS chipping away, they WON'T earn a minimum of $80K while doing it...and guess what. MOST don't find success, and they start working from the bottom in their late 20's and early 30's to make ends meet.

You are making this out like the players have no choice in their lives?
Once again, treating these pricks like special individuals.
Needing minders when going out in public to stay out of twubble..needing managers to wipe their ass and ask for their pay rise...f**k me.

Yawwwwn irrelevant.
The only thing that matters is how much the NRL money makes off these blokes running around.
If the NRL gets $1b+ TV deal from us paying to watch, a good chunk of that money should go to the players. Because these pricks are special individuals. Otherwise we wouldn't bother watching them. There's always park footy.

Get back to me when your artists get a $1b TV deal lol

 

[ed-grimley]

In the overall scheme of things RL is a povvo sport and what the players get is basically what the game can afford. But is Smith worth 10x more than a journeyman second rower?

 

[adamkungl]

In the overall scheme of things RL is a povvo sport and what the players get is basically what the game can afford. But is Smith worth 10x more than a journeyman second rower?

Probably 20

 

[Munted]

Yawwwwn irrelevant.
The only thing that matters is how much the NRL money makes off these blokes running around.
If the NRL gets $1b+ TV deal from us paying to watch, a good chunk of that money should go to the players. Because these pricks are special individuals. Otherwise we wouldn't bother watching them. There's always park footy.

Get back to me when your artists get a $1b TV deal lol

LOL
How many NRL players are there that contribute to the game?
400 top tier, but 400 alone doesn't make a game. Need all the grassroots work to ensure talent is farmed and grown into more JT's and Smiths.
So multiple thousands and thousands of players, parents, local clubs etc all contributing to this $1B game.

5 year deal wasn't it?
So $200M a year game.
lol WTF.

My employer does $6b a year in revenue, its bigger than the NRL and James Maloney will ever be.
I am not asking for more pay, im happy to be paid a fair salary for my work, experience and contribution.

These merkins think they are God!
Look at the shit Ben Hunt is going to be paid.

For the work he does, thats just f**king mental.

 

[Ring Gids]

Not sure why the salary cap is such a big deal when it sounds like most of the merkins in the NRL are getting brown paper bags to supplement their wages. Especially around the Northern Beaches anyway.

 

[DiegoNT]

LOL
How many NRL players are there that contribute to the game?
400 top tier, but 400 alone doesn't make a game. Need all the grassroots work to ensure talent is farmed and grown into more JT's and Smiths.
So multiple thousands and thousands of players, parents, local clubs etc all contributing to this $1B game.

5 year deal wasn't it?
So $200M a year game.
lol WTF.

My employer does $6b a year in revenue, its bigger than the NRL and James Maloney will ever be.
I am not asking for more pay, im happy to be paid a fair salary for my work, experience and contribution.

These merkins think they are God!
Look at the shit Ben Hunt is going to be paid.

For the work he does, thats just f**king mental.

It's close to $2b over 5 years, so closer to $400m per year.

Soccer in Australia has more grassroots players/ people involved, so why don't they make a huge amount of money. Because no one pays to watch their elite level. Those 400 odd players are the reason we are making $400m per year so it's only reasonable they ask for their fair share. It's not like they are saying don't do grassroots either. Many players are heavily involved in grass roots rugby league themselves.

Seems to me theirs a lot of wallet envy on this topic.

 

[Munted]

It's close to $2b over 5 years, so closer to $400m per year.

Soccer in Australia has more grassroots players/ people involved, so why don't they make a huge amount of money. Because no one pays to watch their elite level. Those 400 odd players are the reason we are making $400m per year so it's only reasonable they ask for their fair share. It's not like they are saying don't do grassroots either. Many players are heavily involved in grass roots rugby league themselves.

Seems to me theirs a lot of wallet envy on this topic.

Apologies if I got the figures wrong, referred to an article on The Australian.

I don't know if it is wallet envy, I think the whole thing stinks for us as a consumer of this product.
I think of the money people spend on tickets, cable TV, jerseys, memberships etc I don't want an increase in pay to these merkins to result in higher costs to become a fan, which is something a typical business would do.

Operating cost go up, increase product cost to consumers to offset profit loss and maintain profit margins (whatever the % the players aren't getting).

I'll go off topic for a bit also.
With such high salaries, will come a lot of scrutiny and expectations from customers/fans.

Rightly so they will be paraded in the media for every f**k up on the booze, with dogs, drugs, piss drinking etc

No more 'Awwww they have feelings... They are just a rugby league player... They never choose to be a role model'.

Can't have it all.

 

[insert.pause]

We are talking about rugby league players here, they are accustomed to their agents wiping their bums for them, they don't like to get drawn into details. The players role in negotiations extends to regurgitating soundbites for a proposal authored by prendergast and heavily influenced by player agents, who stand to benefit the most.

like I said, for the most part, players have given prendergast & their agents free reign and wouldn't know much about their own unions proposal;

"We've got a CEO of the RLPA on board with all of the things he wants to do and he's doing that behind the scenes really hard," Moses said.

"It's up to the NRL to jump on board with what he's trying to do."

The RLPA penned a letter to player agents – obtained by Fairfax Media – updating them on the increasingly acrimonious CBA negotiations. In it, the union claimed "the reality is that there has been no increase on the NRL's original pay offer", despite its own concessions in excluding digital, contra and leagues club funding from revenue streams.

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...system-but-war-continues-20170705-gx5a0m.html