The NRL and The Nine Network must discuss a long-term plan during Tuesday’s critical discussions about their broadcast deal, according to Phil Gould.

The league and the free-to-air channel will sit down for anticipated talks around what a restructured season will look like should it return as planned in late May.

It comes after Nine launched an extraordinary attack on the NRL, accusing them of financial mismanagement and breaching their contract agreement.

Gould, a long-time commentator for the network, defended the game’s decision to give itself a time-frame for when the season would resume.

“It’s probably optimistic, but they’ve got to start somewhere,” Gould said on Channel Nine on Tuesday morning.

However, he claimed Nine were upset with being left out of the plans.

“The NRL last week made an announcement that May 28th was its goal but with very little detail around that about whether it would be a revised, modified or shortened competition,” Gould said.

“And I think that’s what started to get broadcasters nervous, that they hadn’t been included in those discussions.”

He said Nine’s outburst was needed for the game, before predicting Tuesday’s talks would be “significant” for the league’s future.

ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys will sit down with Nine chief executive Hugh Marks, while NRL CEO Todd Greenberg meets with Fox Sports.

There is widespread speculation Nine is looking to extend its current broadcast arrangements, which is due to expire at the end of the 2022 season.

At the moment, Nine is paying $125 million a year, however it is unclear how much it will attempt to lower their payments in the long-term.

“I have great confidence in the NRL chairman Peter V’landys and I think their meetings will be quite significant in the future of the game,” Gould said.

“They have to work out a long-term plan as well as what they do in the short-term, and I think they are the two best people to do it.”