National Rugby League COO Jim Doyle said on Monday that the NRL is set to "finally unveil wide-ranging changes to the salary cap this week," according to Chris Barrett of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. Club CEOs are "due to be briefed on Wednesday after an exhaustive review of the cap," which was first set in motion by NRL CEO Dave Smith last July, and an "announcement is expected later in the week." Doyle said that "most of the changes would be implemented" for the '15 season but some would have to "wait until the expiry of the current collective bargaining agreement," which runs until '17. The cap now stands at A$6.3M ($5.8M) for a club's top 25 players, a figure that will increase to A$6.55M, A$6.8M in '16 and A$7M in '17 (SMH, 5/5). The AAP reported the NRL said that the "stand-alone representative weekend is here to stay." NRL Head of Football Todd Greenberg said that the game's governing body is "committed to supporting representative football over the long-term, despite calls for the window to be axed and claims a lack of NRL action gave a free kick to rivals" on the same weekend as the A-League grand final. Greenberg: "You have to be committed to rep football if you are going to be genuine about it" (AAP, 5/5).
