Titans fear pay grab

collective bargaining agreement saga that has left more than 100 off-contract stars, including Johnathan Thurston, in limbo.

The RLPA is adamant a $10 million salary cap is reasonable given the sport’s $1.8 billion broadcasting deal but Annesley argued almost every NRL club is struggling under the current $7 million cap.

“This is our once-in-ageneration chance to ensure the viability of clubs for the long term and that would be the real benefit to the players,” Annesley said.

“When clubs die, the people who get hurt the most are 2018 COMMONWEALTH GAMES HOST CITY TITANS CEO GRAHAM ANNESLEY employees, which includes the players.

“At the moment, we have 15 of the 16 clubs who consistently year after year lose money and our biggest cost is the salaries paid to players.

“It is beyond logic to pay more in salaries than you are able to generate in revenue.

“No business in the world can consistently sustain losses and remain viable.

“We’ve seen in the past when clubs die, players are the losers

“I don’t begrudge players receiving what they are worth but it must be affordable for our clubs.

“The NRL’s initial proposal was based on what is affordable and the Titans’ position going into the meeting is that the salary cap must be affordable.

“We can’t continue to give benefits to players if it means clubs continue to return losses – it’s not sustainable.”

Under the RLPA’s proposal, $9.1 million would be spread across a 26-man NRL squad next season.

A further $900,000 would be available for a “supplementary contract list” of between four to 14 players.

The RLPA is also pushing for the minimum wage for players to rise from $84,000 to $120,000 – an increase of 42 per cent.

One NRL chairman slammed the attitudes of some clubs, notably the Bulldogs and Parramatta, who are heavily reliant on leagues-club funding to cover the huge debts incurred by their football arms.

“The clubs with leagues clubs don’t care because if they lose money – they just put their hand out to their leagues clubs to fix their problems,” he said.

There were fears a civil war would break out between the 16 bosses over the salary cap but NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg is confident clubs are on the same page.

“I can say that we believe we have all landed on a fair position to be discussed with the RLPA which has the backing of all 16 club chairmen and CEOs,” he said.

“We look forward to discussing that proposal further with the RLPA in the coming weeks.”