The NRL and Rugby League Players Association are reportedly set to head back to the negotiating table on Wednesday over the collective bargaining agreement.
News Corp are reporting that the warring parties have agreed to sit down again on Wednesday in an effort to finalise the deal.
It's believed there are still plenty of unresolved issues on both sides, with a take-it-or leave-it approach from the NRL, and the RLPA wanting an industrial relations mediator who is independent of both parties to be involved.
Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V'Landys, who has been involved in negotiations, will reportedly be directly involved in the next round as the two parties attempt to broker a deal that will stop the Dally M Medal from being boycotted.
That is the next part of the plan for players, who have reportedly also discussed delaying kick-off times after media bans on game day, and a weekend where all NRL logos on jerseys were covered by tape.
V'Landys, however, said that he would be surprised if more than a few hours of negotiations over the issues remained.
"If we couldn't do it in a day I'd give it away because they're not big issues. If both parties came here in good faith you could settle those issues pretty quickly, probably a couple of hours, to be quite frank with you. They're not massive,โ V'landys said in an interview on Monday night's episode of 100% Footy on Channel 9.
โThe big issues have been settled: the funds, the management of the funds, the total money to the players, the salary cap, the minimum payment, the holidays. All settled. These are minor issues.โ
The RLPA's Clint Newton didn't seem so sure.
He suggested that the NRL have created bad habits to change attention and that the RLPA's objectives around the negotiations haven't changed.
"We aren't going to get into a habit of trying to maliciously attack people and discredit them. We just want to get back to the table with Peter with a mediator and get on with it and I think that can solve the problem," Newton said on Channel 9s Today show.
"What the NRL have developed is a bad habit of creating and sometimes making up problems to steal attention away from the truth and the reality is our claims haven't changed. They still remain, we just want to get back to the table with an industrial reaction mediator and get on with it."
Newton said there was nothing outrageous against the need for a mediator to be involved.
"Peter was the one that walked away from negotiations three weeks ago. It's great that he has stepped back to the table, that's fantastic, but you can't dictate terms to our members. Ultimately, they are going to decide who represents them, and ultimately, we do want an industrial relations mediator at the table to resolve it. I don't see what's so outrageous about that," Newton added.
The original deal - which was rolled over for 12 months as an emergency measure so teams could get on with playing rugby league in 2023 - was supposed to be signed last October.
