Poaching catches attention of NRL

NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg says the governing body is open to introducing laws to prevent clubs from attempting to lure coaches out of current contracts at rival teams.

Greenberg admits last week’s developments surrounding Penrith’s decision to approach West Tigers mentor Ivan Cleary about his coaching future wasn’t a good look for the game.

Cleary has since declared his intention to see out the final two years of his deal with the Tigers, but refused to answer questions about the saga.

“I don’t think the headlines of the last week are particularly pleasing. I can understand the frustration of fans,” Greenberg said yesterday. “But as we sit here today, what’s in front of us is this: a coach has agreed to terms to leave his club and the assistant coach has taken over.

“That’s what’s happened in the last two weeks.”

While clubs are banned from talking with rival players until the final year of their contracts, Greenberg has previously said there is no need to put guidelines on coaches.

But the topic was to be broached yesterday in a meeting with club bosses.

“Clearly we have rules in place for our players about not being able to talk to a player until the last year of their contract, we don’t have that for coaches,” Greenberg said.

“We didn’t see a need up until the last few weeks. There’s been speculation and media innuendo about the need for that.

“There’s obviously corporate law, contract law when it relates to people and their contracts. We’ll talk to the clubs about that today.”

The Panthers’ decision to axe Anthony Griffin last week has been the catalyst for a wild week of speculation surrounding the game’s coaches.

Seven-time premiershipwinner Wayne Bennett is believed to be on the outer at Brisbane and reportedly favours a move back to the Dragons.

South Sydney coach Anthony Seibold has also opted to wait until the end of the season to decide whether to accept a contract extension amidst interest from the Broncos.

Manly players say they expect Trent Barrett to stay on as coach and believe he’s trying to do the best for them by pushing for improvements at the club.

— AAP