The Rugby League Players’ Association has been left underwhelmed and disappointed by conversations with the ARLC over negoatiations for the next collective bargaining agreement, says board member Christian Welch.
Negotiations between the two bodies took a turn earlier this week when The Age revealed auditors hired by the RLPA had uncovered $60 million not revealed by the NRL in revenue-sharing talks.
But Melbourne Storm star Welch says the NRL has taken a significant amount of time to get to the negotiating table and the process has been dissatisfying from the RLPA's point of view.
“It’s been a bit disappointing because there’s been comments like, ‘Oh, we’re not going to negotiate in the media’, but then all this leaked info … private, confidential info goes public,” Welsh said on ABC’s Offsiders.
"I think the RLPA have acted in good faith, and it's really frustrating to see how it's playing out at the moment."
— ABC SPORT (@abcsport) November 20, 2022
Melbourne @Storm star Christian Welch shares his disappointment over the stalled pay negotiations with the @NRL.#Offsiders #NRLW #NRL pic.twitter.com/6Wac1B3HvY
“I’m on the board for the RLPA and I’ve been in some of those negotiations and I think we’ve been really respectful, to be honest, throughout the year.
“There was $11 million on the table and then we sent some auditors in and it turns out there’s $40 million there buried.
“No one really talks about the broadcast deal that was negotiated early in the middle of a pandemic … I understand why Fox and Channel 9 don’t want to talk about it for obvious reasons but I think we’ve really acted in good faith and it’s really frustrating to see how it’s playing out at the moment.”
Welsh also suggested one of the major problems with the NRL’s holdup relates to the NRLW CBA.
At present, all NRLW players are without a contract. Given CBA negotiations have also progressed well past the expected timeframe, Welsh acknowledges they are the players suffering the most.
“The people who are suffering now are the women, we’re going to do our first CBA for the women, so all those women who won the World Cup tonight, they can’t sign any contract with any NRL clubs at the moment, if one of them did an ACL overnight, the likelihood of them securing a contract for next year, there’s no chance of it,” he added.
“It’s been pretty disappointing to be honest, but hopefully we can build a healthier relationship with the NRL and really build towards a really positive next five years, which will hopefully be the CBA.”
Welsh’s comments come after the Jillaroos claimed a massive World Cup win with a crushing defeat of New Zealand.
He added it remains unclear when the deal will be done but said the ARLC had acted if negotiations would be over “in a week” when discussions started earlier this year.
Welsh said further: “I think they thought it’d be over a bit quicker, which is a bit surprising for us at the RLPA.”
ARLC chairman Peter V’landys has previously said “clubs and players will be better off than ever under our proposal” for the CBA.
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