Media lockouts, Dally M threats and logos: It’s time for a lock-in to get the CBA sorted

It might have disappeared from the headlines during the first half of the 2023 NRL season, but the collective bargaining agreement - or lack thereof - has certainly returned to the fore at an alarming ferocity in recent weeks.

What is clear is that the NRL and Rugby League Players Association are still butting heads on a number of issues.

It was a constant talking point over the off-season leading into the 2023 campaign, but then magically went away as the on-field action began.

But it can't be forgotten just how messy this situation had become. At one point, clubs were forcing players onto train and trial deals just so they could take part in pre-season training under insurance, with the warring parties unable to come to an agreement on the salary cap, let alone anything else that is supposed to be covered under the CBA.

The stalling negotiations have well and truly come back into the public eye in recent weeks though, with players going about their business away from the media, and both parties threatening further action.

The RLPA has upped the ante on their industrial action in recent weeks in a big way.

Players don't want to speak to the media? Fine.

Players want to cover the NRL logo on their jerseys? Who cares? Certainly not the average fan.

Players want to boycott the Dally M Medal? I mean, fine. Weird that you'd give up the night all about the players, but fine.

And now there are suggestions it could ultimately go further in the coming weeks. Depending on which reports you listen to, we are about to see players look to delay kick-off, and the NRL consider blocking all funding for the RLPA.

If it doesn't get sorted, then the salary cap could ultimately cease to exist, with the emergency rollover of the last CBA not likely to be brought forward for yet another 12 months if the two parties can't come to an agreement.

But where does this end?

Ultimately, every decision the RLPA make for the playing group in terms of industrial action only serves to hurt the people who pay their wages, that being, the media.

Delaying kick offs will go down like a lead balloon with Channel 9 and Fox Sports. The lack of player interviews already has.

Yes, it will hurt the NRL as a whole if the two media organisations suddenly block payments, but that in turn hurts the players. Breaches of contract will no doubt be able to be found and the whole thing will just get uglier before it gets better.

Already there have been reports that the covering of the NRL logo has brought Telstra - who sit on the NRL logo as naming sponsor of the competition - to the party as a frustrated customer.

And so as it stands, the RLPA is only jepoardising the players' wages with the actions they have taken.

That said, they have every right to do what they are doing. Looking at it objectively, both parties appear to be dragging their feet through the mud and not coming to the table to meet in the middle over a number of issues.

The fact an independent arbitrator hasn't even been granted access to the situation potentially goes to show just how far the two parties have differed on their views, and where the relationship is at.

Ultimately, the playing group and their union are running out of cards to play.

The holy grail will likely remain a strike or lockout action. Any such action though hasn't been taken yet despite not being categorically ruled out, and realistically, that all bubbles down to money. Players aren't going to get paid if they don't show up to work, and the game could collapse.

So there is little wonder that everyone has done everything they can to avoid that, but surely the consideration for it must be growing in the ranks of the players as this ridiculous now nearly year-overdue negotiation continues.

The NRL must know they have to tread carefully with such action hanging over their head, but to this stage, all reports suggest on their part a 'take it or leave it' offer has been presented.

And that's the issue.

If the two parties continue to leave the room with no progress being made, this will continue to go around in circles until one of the sides snaps and ultimately ruins the game for good.

You could argue the relationship between players and the NRL has already been damaged to the point of no repair, at least for the immediate future.

So it's now time for drastic action.

Get Peter V'Landys, Andrew Abdo, Clint Newton and whoever else needs to be there, shove them in a room and throw away the key until they have signatures on the same piece of paper and are reading from the same hymn sheet.

It doesn't matter how long it takes.

It's time for the egos and power plays on both sides of the coin to sit down and be realistic about what the game can afford, what the players need and what the game needs.

Because with every passing day that this isn't sorted, the risk to the future of the game grows.

The risk to ruin a generation of fans and the future of the sport grows.

It's time to stop throwing the toys out of the cot and get this sorted, because ultimately, as fully functioning adults and not a pack of five-year-olds, this has gone on for way, way too long.

Remember that October deadline from last year?

Drastic times call for drastic measures.