National Rugby League Making Push To Ban Agent-Player Contact Until Players Turn 18

The National Rugby League wants to "ban agents from approaching juniors until they turn 18," according to Chris Garry of the COURIER MAIL. A document compiled by NRL COO Jim Doyle, dubbed the "Doyle Dossier," reveals a "major push from NRL clubs to ban contact with agents until the player is officially an adult." There is "growing unrest from NRL clubs at the influence agents hold over their players." Doyle's Elite Pathway Update dossier reveals NRL clubs see "player managers as a 'threat' and claim they are affecting the welfare of teenagers." Until this year, there were "few rules governing an agent’s approach to a talented junior." The NRL this season ruled that a junior "must be 15 before contact with an agent was allowed, a law which was widely accepted by player managers" (COURIER MAIL, 9/12).