Australian Rugby League Commission Chair John Grant has "played down fears" that a meeting with club bosses the day after the second State of Origin game could "descend into rugby league’s version of World War III," according to Brent Read of THE AUSTRALIAN. Club chairmen are due to meet in Melbourne on Wednesday to "formulate a unified stance on a range of concerns," the most pressing centering on the game’s finances. They will then meet the commission, including Grant and National Rugby League CEO Dave Smith. There has been "widespread" speculation that the meeting between club powerbrokers and the game's governing body may "become more volatile than Origin II." Grant: "We have received a list of things a small number of clubs wanted to put on the agenda. They're on the agenda and we will deal with them." Those issues include the clubs' "pursuit of an increased share of revenue, their desire to have a greater say in the appointment of commissioners, and more transparency over the money used to prop up clubs" in financial difficulty. While there have been "suggestions of open revolt, the clubs -- as well as the Queensland and NSW rugby leagues -- are far from united on how their concerns should be addressed." On the financial front, they are also "competing with the players for a greater share of the pie -- the players union is currently undertaking a review of the game's finances" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 6/17). In Sydney, Adrian Proszenko reported there are at least a handful of clubs "unhappy with the performance" of the ARL Commission, "believing the body hasn't delivered since its inception" in Feb. '12. A dozen clubs were "invited to a secret meeting" at the offices of accounting firm KPMG to view an independent appraisal of the NRL's books. They were told that the governing body's "much-vaunted" A$50M ($39M) surplus for the financial year was "overstated" by about A$30M ($23.2M). Smith "vehemently dismissed the claims," saying that "every single dollar goes back into the game" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 6/16).
