NRL players are expected to be consulted on the final pay deal on Thursday as Wests Tigers centre Joey Leilua became the first to break ranks and criticise the league.
Leilua on Wednesday afternoon claimed players wanted NRL executives to take the same cut as the game’s athletes, warning the league it was upsetting the stars of the show.
Players are expected to be consulted again on Thursday, after the Rugby League Players Association spent Wednesday going over the finer details of their agreement with the NRL.
A deal for the duration of the coronavirus suspension is then expected to be finalised either that afternoon or on Friday.
That final deal is likely to include around a 75 per cent cut on wages for the remainder of the year, which equates to players receiving around 54 per cent of their entire 2020 contracts given they have been on full pay since November.
NRL executives have taken a 25 per cent pay cut, with head office running on skeleton staff in a bid to slash costs.
Chief executive Todd Greenberg could also take unpaid leave beyond that cut if required, although it’s unclear when that would be.
“All I’m reading is the NRL are getting a 25 per cent cut, and all the players are getting a 72 per cent cut,” Leilua told Fox League Live.
“All they (the players) want is a fair share. Just get the same amount. A 50 per cent difference between the players and the NRL, that is a big difference.
“As players we want a fair share. We probably want 50-50. The NRL get a cut and we get the same cut as them.
“Because we’re the product. The players who go on the field every week and entertain the crowds.
“If they don’t want to give us that I don’t think there will be players.”
Leilua said he was speaking on behalf of other players who did not want to speak up, and also questioned his union in the spray.
But RLPA director and Manly forward Joel Thompson urged players to keep calm, and insisted the NRL had been extremely transparent in the discussions.
NRL expenditure is believed to have been one of the key talking points when representatives from each club spoke to Greenberg and ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys over the weekend.
V’landys had told AAP on Sunday that Greenberg could take unpaid leave at some point, but there was a lot of work to be done before then.
“He’s already indicated he is going to take a 25 per cent pay cut,” V’landys said.
“But if worst comes to worst and we’re months and this thing isn’t done, he would have to.
“But at this stage he certainly won’t be because there is a lot that’s got to be done.”
Clubs have also been forced to stand down hundreds of staff between them.