Paul Kent, Comment, The Daily Telegraph
May 1, 2020 8:26am
After all the lobbying, all the negotiations and even all the apologies, the enemy came from within.
What a week it has been for the NRL players.
The country is going broke, millions are out of work.
And just when the NRL is finding a way to get them back to work they threaten to boycott if their share is not big enough.
Entitled does not even begin to cut it.
Particularly after
the week they have just had — they nearly tear the competition down one day, and now plan to the next.
So far, the NRL players have not sacrificed one cent of their wages even though it is now May and they have played just two games of their contracted season.
They will be paid in full this month, like they were last month, even though they won’t play until the last weekend.
In recent weeks, ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys has lobbied four governments in two countries,
renegotiated a new broadcast deal to give the players enough games to generate considerable income, apologised for some truly dumb behaviour from players and, just as it all looks set to be kicked off after today’s National Cabinet meeting, the players undermine from within.
And the sadness of it all?
It is all being orchestrated by a player manager but the players and their association are too dumb to realise.
He timed it perfectly.
The RLPA fell into it because it has the intelligence of a bar stool.
It shows a shocking lack of character from the players that, at a critical time for the game’s future, at the most critical time the game needed to be united, the players undermine the very person who has done more than anyone to ensure they resume playing, and continue to be paid. And they do it, controlled like puppets with small brains, without even realising they are being manipulated.
It is so embarrassing.
It shows a distinct lack of respect for V’landys who has delivered for the players at every trip to the negotiating table.
Even when the administration, previously under the charge of Todd Greenberg, reneged on promises they had made to the players, V’landys apologised and ensured the mistake was set right by the end of the day.
Some NRL players showed this week they do not act as part of society.
But above society.
And now this, all of them united behind their union, a player manager pulling the strings.
They are losing fans by the day and soon they will not have any left.
