Though the public may widely believe that the salary cap issues between the NRL and RLPA have been resolved, the union has this week issued a fresh call for players not to sign any new contracts until a new Collective Bargaining Agreement is in place or face potentially perilous circumstances.
While the ARLC announced a record $12.1 million figure for the 2023 salary cap just prior to Christmas, negotiations related to the wider CBA are still at an impasse.
RLPA chair Deidre Anderson also hit back at the NRL for suggesting that union chief Clint Newtown has been scaremongering after expressing his concerns about the sudden announcement of a new deal.
Despite the attractive surface value of the announced cap figure, the RLPA have urged players not to rush into any new deals, spellbound by a dollar value without other conditions being confirmed.
“Our advice (to players) would be to ask, ‘where's the detail?',” Anderson told AAP.
“None of the CBA detail has been presented from the NRL. All we have is the salary cap amount.
“A young player is going to get very excited when he sees a few zeroes.
“If he gets injured part-way through, the money that should have been applied to support him medically may not be there and he could be left out on his own.”
It's also been reported that the RLPA have given NRLW players the same advice, especially as they don't yet know the length or starting date of the newly-expanded competition.
Anderson has urged V'Landys and the rest of the ARLC to remember that the players and their livelihoods, not monetary figures, should be the primary concern.
“It's a negotiation about people and that's probably the sticking point,” Anderson said.
“(V'Landys) is looking at it from a dollar value. I disagree with the way he's interpreted some of Clint (Newton's) comments.”
While the ARLC advised they would re-open CBA negotiations in January, the RLPA also confirmed they had received no correspondence in relation to the talks since the pre-Christmas announcement.