The Rugby League Players Association has acknowledged the National Rugby League cannot change next season’s draw following a meeting with league officials, but "it has gained an all-important seat at the table to discuss limiting the number of five-day turnarounds in the run to the finals," according to Stuart Honeysett of THE AUSTRALIAN. The news is "not so good for Manly," which faces playing three games in 10 days in the opening rounds of the season but will help the Sydney Roosters, which had a "potentially tough season finish with three five-day turnarounds in the final six rounds." Newly appointed RLPA CEO Ian Prendergast and President Clint Newton met NRL Head of Football Todd Greenberg and Head of Integrity Nick Weeks to "discuss the situation that threatened to disrupt the start of the season." Newton said that the NRL had "admitted it made a mistake" in not honoring a promise to include the RLPA in a scheduling meeting with the broadcasters but "the union would be included in the talks before the final six rounds were made public." Newton: "The understanding is we'll be engaged in that process and that's going to be key" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 12/2).
EQUAL FUNDING: In Sydney, Brad Walter reported NRL clubs are "expected to demand equal funding for all 16 franchises" when they meet with Australian Rugby League Commission Chair John Grant on Wednesday to "discuss how the spoils of the game's new broadcast deal are distributed." The meeting, which had been "predicted to be one of the most dramatic" in the four years since News Corp. handed control of the game to an independent commission, is "likely to be heated as club bosses haggle over funding." But there will be "no move to oust Grant" after his role in securing the A$1.8B ($1.3B) deal. That figure is the amount the club chair used to calculate its bid for A$13M ($9.5M) in annual grants if the salary cap was to rise to A$10M ($7.3M) and "they will now tell Grant he has the money to meet their demands." Grant is expected to use a A$50M ($36.7M) advance from Channel Nine "to appease the clubs," which would receive A$3M ($2.2M) each (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 12/1).
