GrogDog
bad attitude
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- Chris Barrett and Michael Chammas
Canterbury's last-ditch bid for significant salary cap relief next year has suffered a major blow with NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg to be a no-show at a lunch on Monday called by Bulldogs chairman Ray Dib.
Greenberg was among those invited by Dib to a get-together at Canterbury Leagues Club at which the idea of a 'soft cap' for 2018 was set to be floated, with the Bulldogs having overshot an indicative cap figure of $9.2 million for next season.
Rival clubs determined not to allow the Bulldogs to wriggle their way out of their situation were angry at the prospect of the NRL chief attending the meeting on Monday.
Greenberg's non-attendance will therefore head off a potentially furious reaction from some who oppose raising the player payment spending ceiling for 2018 after they were advised to work around a figure of $9.14m in April.
The NRL chief had planned to go along and give the club officials in attendance an update on the collective bargaining agreement talks with the Rugby League Players' Association.
However, he is now expected to be instead tied up in the first of three consecutive days of intensive negotiations with the players' union.
It is understood Greenberg notified Dib on Sunday of his inability to attend the impromptu meeting.
Eels chief Bernie Gurr will be another absentee on Monday, with a club spokesman saying that "Parramatta will not be attending the meeting".
Penrith chief Brian Fletcher is away on a family matter and was considered unlikely that anyone else from the Panthers would attend. It was unclear on Sunday if officials from other Sydney clubs would turn up to Monday's lunch. Manly and Wests Tigers were not invited to attend the meeting organised by Dib.
As reported by Fairfax Media on Saturday the NRL is poised to effectively raise next year's spending limit on players to $9.5m by taking a $300,000 veteran players' allowance outside the $9.2m cap and permitting clubs to spend it at their discretion.
The expectation is that could be the solution to appease the RLPA, who opposed the long-serving player allowance being inside the cap, and the required 75 per cent of clubs despite reluctance from some about any lift beyond the number they were told to budget around four months ago.
The Raiders were another club who had spent beyond the indicative cap for 2018 but it is understood the NRL's concession on the veteran's allowance would help solve a lot of their problems.
The same can't be said for the Bulldogs, who are facing the likelihood of having to shed multiple players to be compliant with the cap by the first round of next season.
Canterbury have had the contracts of Aaron Woods and Kieran Foran provisionally registered by the NRL on the condition they are under the salary cap by round one next year.
However they still have a million dollars worth of talent to offload, hence the desire from the club to increase the cap next year.
There appears to be little appetite from rivals to come to their aid, with interest in the players Canterbury want to release diminishing by the week given the standard of football they have been playing.
Club chairmen and chief executives will on Thursday attend a meeting at Rugby League Central, where it is expected Greenberg will propose a finalised salary cap and collective bargaining agreement.
RLPA board member Tim Mannah last week said it was "presumptuous" of the NRL to consider the players would agree to a $9.2 million salary cap, but it is hope a lock-in with the NRL this week will see the two parties reach an agreement.
The clubs will need to vote on Thursday, before a large group of players will gather on Monday week to sign off on the agreement that could be finalised in the coming days.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/rug...h-bulldogs-chair-ray-dib-20170813-gxv939.html
It would certainly appear all is falling apart for the Club. Any Official of our Club who blows the salary cap in itself should be shown the door and banned for life!
