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The NRL is reportedly considering clamping down on players breaking contracts to ink more lucrative deals with rival clubs amid a rise in the trend in recent seasons.
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The Sydney Morning Herald reported the NRL are trying to prevent players from breaking their contracts when their managers have already lined up a bigger deal at a different NRL club.
Fans have grown frustrated with the practice of contracted NRL stars agitating for a release, often on compassionate grounds, before immediately inking a more lucrative deal elsewhere.
Privately, many of the clubs who release the player feel they are being taken advantage of, with managers offering conflicting and sometimes fake reasons for seeking a release, if they feel they can get them a bigger deal elsewhere.
NRL HQ has no issue with players moving clubs for genuine family reasons or on compassionate grounds if both parties mutually agree.
However, the NRL want to stamp out rewarding disloyalty with a pay rise.
The idea of capping contracts for wantaway stars was first explored five years ago and now the Australian Rugby League Commission will revisit the issue.
“I’m an old-fashioned person and if you do a contract, you honour it,” ARLC chairman Peter V’landys told The Sydney Morning Herald.
“A contract is a contract, unless there are circumstances well beyond your control – if it’s unforeseen, then fair enough. You get the benefits of the contract, so you should honour the contract, that’s my view.
“Your word is your word. To be fair, a lot of the time it’s caused by the manager, not the player.
“We will certainly have to look at it because you can’t leave it the way it is. We will work on the RLPA with it to ensure it’s balanced.
“The RLPA’s argument is that sometimes the clubs get rid of the player, so it’s got to go both ways.”
Dragons prop Francis Molo is the most recent player agitating for a release from his contract just nine months after re-signing with the club until the end of 2026, citing an interaction with a club staffer.
The Dragons rejected the request and Molo remains on leave, while the matter remains unresolved.
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The Dragons pulled out of negotiations Reagan Campbell-Gillard, Daniel Saifiti, Stefano Utoikamanu and Terrell May in part because Molo was on their books.
Molo’s request comes on the back of the Dragons also releasing their two best players Ben Hunt and Zac Lomax after they requested to leave the club mid-contract.
V’landys believes the issue of players requesting releases mid-contract needs to be looked at.
“I believe a contract is a contract,” V’landys said.
“You go through your club, you build your brand through a club and then, because you’ve built your brand at that club, you’re getting more money somewhere else? No.
“You have to show some loyalty and honour the contract.
“I’m a man who believes in loyalty and honouring contracts. Honour your word. That’s my principle, that’s what I believe in and that should be the case here.”
The NRL is considering a host of changes to the game that have been proposed by a Pathways Steering Committee, which could result in an under-21s pathways competition and raising the age when players can engage a manager.
“We will be revisiting [the issue of the contracting system] because we’re doing the whole player management analysis as well, it will form part of that,” V’landys said.
