News NRL to investigate changes to lessen back ended contracts

B-Train

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Too bad it's too little too late and cost us our best assets and juniors over the years. And here I was hoping Des would do the same thing at Manly again...

Press release from the NRL:

Back-Ended Contracts

The NRL will tighten the rules relating to back-ended contracts in a bid to prevent the salary cap problems which have been created at some clubs in recent years.

CEO Todd Greenberg said the NRL would always support clubs offering higher value contracts to players as their careers developed.

But he said club CEOs today agreed that restrictions were needed to stop back-ended contracts.

The Salary Cap Auditor will finalise a model so that any changes can be in place for the new year.

Mr Greenberg said back-ended contracts might help a club in the early years of a player’s contract, but they could severely impact that same club’s salary cap in the latter years.

“These deals can also give clubs an unfair salary cap advantage in the early years of a contract,” he said.

The Salary Cap Auditor will draw up new guidelines restricting how much a player’s payment can rise from one season to the next in their contract.

Mr Greenberg said approval would still be given for contracts where a rising star was offered a significant lift in their playing fee.

“We are not going to stop any player receiving what they are worth on the open market,” Mr Greenberg said.

“But we have to stop clubs pushing payments to later years to reduce salary cap pressure in the short term.

“Our salary cap keeps the competition close and we want to ensure no club gets into salary cap problems because they have back-ended contracts.”

The meeting of Club CEOs also decided to set up a working party to look at the feasibility of a trade window for players. The review will also consider the need for regulations covering coaching contracts.

Mr Greenberg said any changes will ultimately go to the Commission for approval.
 

Kaz

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Teams will just use front ended contracts instead.
 

Shire Dog

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The NRL hierarchy and in particular T.G are such a joke in running this game.
It’s taken years for certain clubs including ours to recover and get back on a level playing field due to these back ended contracts
To think we would pay players very little then prop them up at the end is a recipe for disaster,it isn’t the way to win a title
But try telling Des/Dib that
They have just sat back for years watching clubs in strife.
The CEO of the AFL was asked this year about the policy,he said it was not allowed in their game.
League is an amateur organisation,no wonder it hasn’t grown in the last 30 years
 

Smirrors

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To think that the NRL is the one that approves all contracts so they knew this was happening. Would have been a red flag when they did the sums...
 

JackDog

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So, could it be as simple as the average of the contract is what counts for the cap. $1.5m over 3 years is $500k/yr flat rate. If clubs front end contracts and tries to offload players early, any amounts that haven't already counted as part of a previous year's cap (what's left from either what they've the player or the original contract amount, whichever is greater), would count against the club in the next year's cap.
 

Mr Invisible

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Commission still need to approve any new ideas... which means Peter Beattie gets involved LOL.

Step in the right direction but they should abolish them COMPLETELY and be done with it.

Pay the player how much they are worth each season.

I dare say this news will be making some clubs a tad nervous, in particular those that have been buying up big this year ... *cough* Newcastle *cough*
 

The_Chimpster

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Has-lice's rules: 1 pass to the prop on the forth tackle
2: Don't put a kick in to complete a set of six
3: play an unimaginative boring brand of attacking football.
4: employ useless staff that seemingly do sweet fuck all other than take away a paycheck
5: it isn't about winning, it's all about stats
 

bigstix

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Teams will just use front ended contracts instead.
Don’t think so, what if the player takes the big bucks on offer at the start then asks for a release at the back of his deal. Whole sport is a joke the way it’s run
 

CroydonDog

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I not sure i'm a huge fan of this.

Whilst I know these back ended deals have fucked us up in the cap, isn't it up to the individual clubs as to how they organize themselves?
 
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Bad Billy

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Teams will just use front ended contracts instead.
Front ended contracts are fine. You have to have the money to front end a contract. Back ending is basically gambling that you will lose enough players to cover the increase.
 

Spoonman84

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I not sure imagine huge fan of this.

Whilst I know these back ended deals have fucked us up in the cap, isn't it up to the individual clubs as to how they organize themselves?
I agree! The NRL should only be policing if a club exceeds the cap, nothing else!
 

dogluva

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So........third party deals will become extremely important and that will hurt clubs more who don't have easy access to them
https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/11/14...5&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=article2_1411

The NRL will refuse to register back-ended contracts from next year, while player transfer windows to coincide with State of Origin and the end of the season may be introduced by 2020.

NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg declared a ban on heavily back-ended contracts after a meeting of club bosses on Wednesday and also announced that a working party had been established to investigate the feasibility of a trade period for signing players.

Greenberg said clubs were in favour of ending the practice whereby players are paid below market value in the first year of their contracts and then receive an over-inflated amount in later years to manipulate the salary cap.


Canterbury officials have banned the practice after becoming hamstrung in their ability to recruit and retain players due to back-ended deals negotiated by the previous regime, while Manly, Parramatta and Penrith are other clubs to have had salary cap problems blamed on the practice.

Greenberg said the clubs had wanted the NRL to "help us help ourselves".

"In really broad terms what we are not going to allow is a contract to come on the table for $200,000 in the first year and $600,000 in the second year. We are just not going to allow that to happen anymore," Greenberg said.

"Historically we have left the decision up to clubs to manage their salary caps but there is a clear appetite from the clubs for us to put rules in place.

"There is a very small number of examples, albeit problematic ones, where clubs have got into trouble ... and that has hurt so there's a desire for us to get involved and ensure that doesn't happen again."

Greenberg said the NRL salary cap auditor would still register contracts in which a rising star was offered a significant increase in the value of his deal.

"We are not going to stop any player receiving what they are worth on the open market," Greenberg said. "But we have to stop clubs pushing payments to later years to reduce salary cap pressure in the short term.


"Our salary cap keeps the competition close and we want to ensure no club gets into salary cap problems because they have back-ended contracts."

He said there was also support for the introduction of trade periods to restrict when players could move clubs.

Under the NRL's current anti-tampering policy, players can negotiate with rival clubs from November 1 the year before their contract ends.

However, they would be able to move clubs immediately if they signed during a mid-season transfer window, which is likely to coincide with the stand-alone representative weekend.

"I think there is an opportunity mid-year, particularly around State of Origin. We could look at that as a mid-season window as well as an end-of-season trade window," Greenberg said.



The NRL working party will study the transfer windows in other sports, including soccer and AFL, while discussions will need to take place with the Rugby League Players Association before any changes are made.

The RLPA is supportive of the proposal to ban back-ended contracts as players are unfairly targetted for the amount they receive in later seasons, despite having played for below their value at the start of the deal.

Recent examples include Bulldogs forward Greg Eastwood and Robbie Farah at Wests Tigers before leaving the club for South Sydney last year.

However, the RLPA is likely to need more convincing before agreeing to trade windows replacing the current player transfer model.

"Players are always open to considering new initiatives that will help improve the NRL Premiership, which the NRL and clubs are well aware of," RLPA chief executive Ian Prendergast said.

"The RLPA demonstrated this throughout the Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations last year and even since, where we have agreed to balanced changes around the new NRL contract model.

"While we are open to discussing new concepts, we believe it is important to look at issues such as player movement in totality.

"We currently have one of the most balanced competitions in the world, which has driven huge interest in the NRL Premiership.

"The free labour market is something that past players and the Association have fought hard to establish.

"Together with the salary cap, it has served the game well in terms of providing players with a fundamental right to choose their employer and helping balance talent relatively evenly across the competition.


"Any changes to the player movement system would need to be evidence-based and consider the intended and unintended consequences of how they would work in practice, while ensuring the rights of players, key stakeholders and the competition are protected.

"There are a range of factors that will need to be looked at regarding player movement across the competition, such as improving the stability at clubs around coaching and football staff and ensuring clubs manage their salary caps responsibly.

"We look forward to working through this process with the NRL and clubs on behalf of players."
 

GoTheDoggies

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Greenturd was the one who gave Des full control and allowed heavily backended deals. He recruited Des knowing how he kept players at Manly.

GREENTURD THE RAT.
 

dogluva

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To think that the NRL is the one that approves all contracts so they knew this was happening. Would have been a red flag when they did the sums...
Todd Greenberg already said as much when it became apparent we would be in such trouble. Talkin Sport asked him to come on and talk about the exact situation and of course he didn't. All he could say was that he warned us that we would be in a world of pain when push came to shove.

Pretty irresponsible and now they decide because of the bad press in relation to it all that it is perhaps something that should be illegal. I don't know but I seem to remember something about them considering doing this years ago but nothing came of it, maybe because it didn't have any type of effect on other teams if you get the drift...but as we know several were caught out eventually but not by the NRL but by a disgruntled ex employee.....

Typical piss poor reactivity rather than being pro active. It just makes me think that other clubs who can seem to sign whomever they want whenever they want obviously have a way around back ending contracts that is money up front.........the contracts registered by the NRL are considered all that the player is getting but yeah a blind eye is turned to third party deals which perhaps are not what we would consider " kosher" under the supposed rules relating to them.....
 
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